AUGUSTA — With the 100th anniversary of the United States’ entry into World War I to be commemorated next April, the Maine State Museum invited people to bring in their own artifacts from those war years.
They were displayed Saturday as part of a Pop-Up Museum set in the entryway to the Cultural Building and in the anteroom of the Maine State Museum, the Maine State Archives and the Maine State Library.
“We are working on a World War I exhibit that will open next year,” said Joanna Torow, chief educator at the Maine State Museum.
She said the exhibit will focus on the experience of Mainers both at the homefront and in the war itself, and the museum staff and others wanted to see what those in the community have.
At one of the tables, Richard Colton, who recently retired as a historian for the National Park Service at the Springfield (Massachusetts) Armory, said someone brought in a poster from that period.
Christopher Montagna, of Manchester, brought in a soldier’s field gear, including a backpack, a canteen, a mess kit, an ammunition belt and a trench lighter. He also had a small bound copy of “The President’s War Message,” a copy of the declaration of war.
“It let people know why they’re fighting,” he said.
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