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.
The unwritten rules of many facets of social behavior, including public displays of affection, began to shift during the Great War. This is demonstrated by a report from Camp Funston, Kansas, where women visiting their husbands or sweethearts would indulge in what the Journal-World called ...
Two Lawrence women received thanks this week from a Navy man who was grateful for having received a “knitted helmet” made by Mrs. Belle Wilmot, with yarn purchased by Mrs. Fred Morris. The item was probably of a type produced by Red Cross knitters across the nation in 1917. Daniel Sherry, ...
On Oct. 20, 1917, the Journal-World announced a new way for citizens on the home front to ease the trials of U.S. soldiers serving overseas:“To make the soldiers in the trenches a little more happy and to add pleasure to their idle hours, the Journal-World is today starting a Tobacco Fund for ...
Lawrence news in October 1917 included several war-related items. The “Great War” was having an effect on KU’s chemistry department this semester: “There are nearly 700 students taking work in the department and there are fewer professors than usual. The cost of laboratory fees has gone ...
In early October, the Journal-World interviewed several University of Kansas faculty members and found many in favor of compulsory military drill for students. The policy was officially adopted a few days later at a meeting of the University Senate: “Compulsory physical exercise for every ...
Although several individuals had departed Lawrence since the war’s outbreak to serve in various positions on the front and at home, the first large-scale departure of troops didn’t take place until autumn, 1917. The Lawrence Journal-World of Oct. 1 described the scene: “The Lawrence units ...