World War I: A Centennial Exploration Through the Words of Americans Who Lived It

FAIN: GI-235149-16

Library of America (New York, NY 10022-1006)
Max Rudin (Project Director: August 2015 to December 2021)

Implementation of nationwide library programs, a traveling exhibition, a website, and a publication of an anthology exploring how World War I reshaped American lives.

The Library of America requests a grant in the amount of $702,345 in partial support of World War I: A Centennial Exploration Through the Words of Americans Who Lived It, a major national program marking the centenary of the country’s entry into the war in 1917. The project has two related objectives. The first is to bring members of the veteran community together with the general public to explore the transformative impact of the First World War by learning about, reading, discussing, and sharing insights into the writings of Americans from diverse backgrounds who experienced it first-hand. The second objective is to develop, curate, and make permanently and widely available an annotated narrative collection of firsthand American World War I writings in print and ebook form that will encourage exploration and discussion of the war’s meanings and resonances long after the centennial is over.