“Over There: Missouri & the Great War” is a statewide collaborative digitization project to document Missouri's role in World War I.
The project is a digital collection of historical documents, photographs, artifacts, oral histories and other primary source material from museums, archives, libraries and private collections from across Missouri.
After the conclusion of World War I, Missourians honored the service and sacrifice of the state’s 156,000 military veterans with an unknown number of memorials of all shapes and sizes, from plaques and memorial halls to statues.
Many of them still exist like the Soldier’s Memorial in downtown St. Louis. Others were lost to progress.
“There used to be a memorial on Kingshighway Boulevard that no longer exists,” said Patrick Allie from the Missouri History Museum. “It was built in the 20’s. It had 1185 bronze plaques running in the median of Kingshighway with a sycamore planted next to each of them.”
Some of those plaques are in the Missouri History Museum’s collection that has been digitized and made part of the “Over There” website, a virtual archive and museum. The Missouri History Museum is one of the partners of the Springfield-Greene County Library District, which created the project.
“We combined 22,000 pages of primary source material across our state into one digital platform,” said Brian Grubbs, head of the history and genealogy department of the Springfield-Greene County Library District. “From there we created interactive online components and a traveling exhibit.”
Among the features of the “Over There” website is an interactive map with the location of Missouri’s World War I memorials.
“With this project, we’re trying to help Missouri rediscover their community history and their involvement in the war,” said Grubbs. “So, we’re wanting to go around to every corner of the state and try and find these monuments and put them onto this database. That way we can help promote their history, rediscover the counties’ roles in the war, and then also promote tourism across our state, to see the diversity of these memorials.”
Patrick Allie, military and arms curator at the Missouri History Museum, said the museum played a large role in the “Over There” virtual museum project.
“We’re one of the larger contributors to the project. They catalogued and digitized dozens of archival collections,” said Allie.
There are several ways the public can help. The “Over There” website is trying to create a profile for each of the 156,000 Missourians who fought in World War I and is asking families to supply information about loved ones who served.
If families have World War I memorabilia, they’re asked to take a photo or scan it and send it to the website. If you know of a World War I memorial not listed on the interactive map, supply that information. Send email inquiries to missourioverthere@gmail.com.
