“Anne Morgan’s War”: Exhibit Highlights the Efforts of American Women Rebuilding France 1917-1924

photo: Girl With Bread: From Anne Morgan archives at Franco-American Museum, Château de Blérancourt
Girl with bread. From the Anne Morgan archives at the Franco-American Museum, Château de Blérancourt, Picardy, France.

An exhibition featuring remarkable photos and film footage depicting France’s devastated Picardy post-WWI and the American women volunteers who helped rebuild the region, will be on display in the UWM Golda Meir Library’s Fourth Floor Exhibition Gallery from February 16 to May 18, 2018.

“Anne Morgan’s War: American Women Rebuilding France 1917-1924” is sponsored by the American Friends of Blérancourt; Alliance Français de Milwaukee; UWM Dept. of French, Italian, and Comparative Literature; UWM Libraries; Florence Gould Foundation; French Ministry of Culture and Communication; RMN l’agence photographique; UWM Dept. of History; and UWM Women’s and Gender Studies.

In conjunction with the exhibit, the UWM Libraries will host two special events in the fourth floor Conference Center of the Golda Meir Library:

■  The official exhibition opening on March 6, 2018 features a discussion between Elaine Leary, former director of the American Friends of Blérancourt, and  Miles Morgan, grand-nephew of Anne Morgan. The program begins at 6 p.m., with a reception at 7 p.m.

■  Both return on April 24, 2018 at 6 p.m. for the premiere of the documentary film Anne Morgan’s War / L’Autre chemin des Dames, with a reception following at 7 p.m.

Leary has over 45 years of experience promoting French language and culture and has received three French government awards. Morgan, a musician and a conductor, is a board member of the American Friends of Blérancourt.

Anne Morgan, daughter of the financier J.P. Morgan, was a philanthropist who provided aid in France after WWI and WWII and supported working women in the US and in Europe in the fight for fair labor standards.

The exhibit is comprised of 29 photographs and an 18-minute compilation of black-and-white film footage commissioned by Anne Morgan for fundraising purposes and now held in the archives of the Franco-American Museum, Château de Blérancourt in Picardy.

Flier: “Anne Morgan’s War: American Women Rebuilding France 1917-1924”

For more information about the exhibition and associated events, please call 414-229-4345.

For information about parking, visit https://wwwdev.uwm.edu/transportation/visitors/