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AUGUSTA — The Kennebec Historical Society’s September program will focus on Maine in World War I, presented by state historian Earle G. Shettleworth Jr. and Jason Libby, who have co-authored “Maine in World War I.”
The illustrated lecture will be at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 19, at South Parish Church, 9 Church St.
The program is free, but donations to benefit the historical society are accepted. The program will present newly discovered historic photographs, including real photo post cards of the period, to tell the story of recruitment, bond drives, shipbuilding, war-related industries, and knitting socks for the soldiers. This chapter in Maine’s past comes alive in these century old pictures.
More than 35,000 men and women across the state joined the armed forces in 1917-18 to fight in aid of America’s European allies against the Germans, as well as to redress German destruction of American vessels in the North Atlantic, according to the society.
Mainers also provided vital support to the United States and the Allies through war-related industries, like shipbuilding, munitions, textiles, and agriculture, while buying more than $100 million in war bonds and donating bandages, books, and other comforts of home to the troops.
The program will be preceded at 4:30 p.m. by a potluck supper and at 6 p.m. by the society’s annual meeting and election of officers and directors.
PHOTO: Troops march down Water Street in Augusta on May 8, 1917. (Maine Historic Preservation Commission photo)
