Activity 1: WWI Museum vs Imperial War Museum
Objective: Students will explore both digital museums and pay attention to how they utilize digital technology through various online exhibits. Students will then critically analyze two different exhibits and compare how and why specific events were portrayed in different ways such as the Imperial War Museum's Trench Experience compared to the National WWI Museum's Trench and audio recordings.
Student Outcomes: Students will be able to ask historical questions, compare how the United States and the United Kingdom viewed the conflict, and consider the purpose of memorials within the context that they were created.
This activity should take approximately one hour to complete.
Background Reading: Great Britain entered World War I on August 4, 1914, as an island nation disconnected from Europe but surrounded by water. Their soldiers were present at various conflicts such as the Battle of the Somme.
The United States joined the war on April 6, 1917, after Congress issued its Declaration of War. Both nations had conflicting experiences in the war that emerged from when they joined the conflict and their reasons for joining the war.
Directions for Professors:
1. Have students navigate to the National World War I Museum website. Begin by obtaining a feel for the site's layout and ask questions such as how user-friendly is the site, what is the overall purpose of the website and the larger museum, and what is the museum trying to convey about the Great War?
2. Select the online exhibit "The Poster: Visual Persuasion in World War I" and have students take a virtual field trip and analyze the digital aspects of the exhibit. How is it conveyed, is it user-friendly, does it move in a set direction or allow the visitor to go at their own pace and explore? How does this exhibit provide a useful framework for analysis and set the tone for the museum's purpose as well as other online exhibits? Consider how the online experience is different from visiting a museum in person.
4. Navigate to the museum search bar and read through their collection of primary sources and other documents. What do the artifacts convey about how soldiers of a certain nation chose to remember the war? How were the artifacts selected?
5. Repeat steps 1-4 with the Imperial War Museum website. Select the Learning Resources entitled "First World War Recruitment Posters" Analyze similarities and differences between the two museum exhibits. What do their different propaganda posters reveal about their ideas behind fighting in the war?
6. Have students take a step back and consider the historical context that the nations were immersed in. Students should ask questions such as how did geography influence how the United States and the United Kingdom conceptualize and memorialize the war? How have their past experiences throughout wartime influenced how they created monuments and memorials?
7. Compare the experiences of WWI soldiers from the US and the UK. How were their experiences different because of when they joined the war? Did the US, who joined the war in 1917 have a different perception of war memorialization, fighting in the conflict, and collective memory than the UK, who became immersed in the war since its inception in 1914?
8. Have students discuss with a partner their thoughts, ideas, questions, and emotions from steps 1-7. Students will ideally meet with different people and speak with a majority of the class over the assignment.