The newest exhibition from the National WWI Museum and Memorial opens Friday, Aug. 27. Empires at War: Austria and Russia explores aspects of the war often less surveyed: the Eastern Front and the cataclysmic results to the millions affected. By the close of World War I, four empires had collapsed, including both the Russian and the Austro-Hungarian Empires, and a new world order followed.
The National World WWI Museum and Memorial is America’s leading institution dedicated to remembering, interpreting and understanding the Great War and its enduring impact on the global community.
Drawing from original objects recently added to the Museum and Memorial’s collection, the exhibition features an extraordinary collection of never before seen Austrian and Russian material culture – uniforms, equipment, flags, hats, helmets and more. Although the Museum and Memorial has been collecting internationally since 1920, material culture for the Eastern Front of the war has been difficult to acquire due in part to the collapse of their dynasties.
100 Years of Collecting, the current exhibition in Exhibit Hall, will close after Sunday, Aug. 8. To commemorate the occasion, the Museum and Memorial is celebrating over a hundred years of collecting the objects that have helped make it America’s leading institution for interpreting and understanding the Great War and its enduring impact on the global community. Also on Aug. 8, at 2 p.m., the program Reflections on 100 Years of Collecting will feature Senior Curator, Doran Cart, who has helped steward the collection for over 30 years, and host, President and CEO Dr. Matt Naylor, reflecting on the meaning, anecdotes and the trajectory of the Museum’s collection.
On Thursday, Aug. 5 at 7 p.m., the Pershing Lecture Series returns with Embattled Weimar, 1920. Dr. Scott Stephenson of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College will explore how the two assaults on the Weimar Republic highlighted the fragility of Germany’s tentative experiment with democracy. This event will be presented in-person in the Museum and Memorial Auditorium and on YouTube Live.
Friday Film Series: Anastasia will be Friday, Aug 20 at 8:30 p.m. Families are invited to enjoy a free showing of the family-friendly, fictional film Anastasia, the colorful, magical and musical story of Anastasia as she falls in with con men, princes and the evil sorcerer Rasputin. The movie will be shown on a 23-foot jumbo screen on the Southeast Lawn. Anastasia is rated G. Runtime is 1 hour and 34 minutes.
Living the Great War Weekend will return to the southeast grounds of the Museum and Memorial. This annual summer event features the Living History Volunteer Corps and other World War I living historians sharing their knowledge and inviting the public to inspect their collections in a camp setting. The Kansas City Dawn Patrol will have several replica WWI-era aircraft on display (weather permitting). Museum staff will offer educational programs each day at 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. This event is free and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 28, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021.
Media interested in covering any of the Museum and Memorial’s offerings should contact Karis Erwin at 816-888-8122 or kerwin@theworldwar.org.
August National WWI Museum and Memorial events
- Thursday, Aug. 5, 7 p.m.: Pershing Lecture Series: Embattled Weimar, 1920
- Sunday, Aug. 8, 2 p.m.: Reflections on 100 Years of Collecting
- Tuesday, Aug. 10, 5:30 p.m.: Members Only: Toast the Tower
- Saturday, Aug. 14, 10:30 a.m.: Mrs. Wilson’s Knitting Circle
- Friday, Aug. 20, 8:30 p.m.: Friday Film Series: Anastasia
- Saturday-Sunday, Aug. 28-29: Living the Great War Weekend
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice