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LEWISTON — A photo exhibition featuring Anne Morgan and the 350 American women volunteers who helped rebuild France in the wake of World War I will open at the University of Southern Maine, Lewiston-Auburn College on Monday, Aug. 28, and run until Friday, Sept. 22.
The exhibition, American Women Rebuilding France, 1917-1924, features 29 World War I-era photographs and silent film footage that illustrate the work undertaken to help the civilian population in Picardy, in northeastern France.
The leader of the effort was Anne Morgan, daughter of financier J.P. Morgan. She and her volunteers helped feed the hungry population, brought back livestock, planted crops, rebuilt homes and provided needed services for the children of the region.
The traveling exhibition originated at the National World War I Museum in Kansas City in 2010, and was then displayed at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. It has been shown at more than 14 locations, including galleries, historical societies, universities, several venues of the Alliance Française and elsewhere across the U.S. The photographs come from the Anne Morgan Archives at the Franco-American Museum, Château de Blérancourt, with the support of American Friends of Blérancourt and the Florence Gould Foundation.
American Friends of Blérancourt is an American philanthropic group based in New York created in 1985 to support and promote the Franco-American Museum, Château de Blérancourt in Picardy. Anne Morgan founded the museum in 1931 out of the destruction of World War I, celebrating the triumph of French-American friendship and solidarity. Organizers say it is the only museum worldwide dedicated to French-American relations. The museum’s collections include historical documents and ephemera and artwork. After extensive renovation and expansion, the Franco-American Museum re-opened on June 24, on the 100th anniversary of the U.S. entry into World War I.
For more information, visit americanfriendsofblerancourt.org.
