Local writer Sarah St. John pulls from the Journal-World archives to compile reports of what it was like to be in Lawrence decades ago.
In mid-April, 1917, the Journal-World reported a “raid of newly enlisted students and student farmers” on Dean Olin Templin’s office. Sixty students had filled out university withdrawal cards, and 35 of those were approved by noon that day. Most of the student had joined the military, but ...
On April 30, 1917, the Lawrence Daily Journal-World reported that Governor Arthur Capper had sent a letter to all Kansas schoolchildren, asking their help in “doing their bit toward winning the war.” Addressing them as “Dear Friends,” the governor made an urgent call for students to ...
In the months leading up to the U.S. entry into the war, there were a few articles in local newspapers mentioning the high cost of living and suggesting ways to combat it. On March 1, 1917, Lawrence’s Mayor Francisco began to organize groups in an attempt to use the city’s vacant lots for ...
Admitting to an attraction to old things during a tour of his Vermont Street garage, Conrad Altenbernd suddenly pointed to a porch swing hanging from the rafters.His uncle crafted the swing in a long-ago Eudora High School woodworking class, using walnut harvested from trees that grew on a ...
More than a month before the U.S. entry into the conflict, the “European War” was on the minds of faculty at the University of Kansas. On March 2, sixty-three members of the KU faculty signed a telegram to President Woodrow Wilson, pledging “their support in any measure which may be ...
In June 1916, nearly a year before the U.S. entry into the war, Lawrence resident and Red Cross worker Charles Griesa left for Europe, where he began working with the ambulance corps.Griesa wrote frequent letters home, and in spite of censors, his family was able to piece together enough ...