WWII History Alive in Rockford, Illinios

29 September 2010

Polish Mission Staff Sups With Soldiers at Premier Living History Event

Wow! On Sunday, September 26^th, Polish Mission staff had the exciting opportunity to visit a HUGE WWII reenactment in Rockford Illinois! Seeing the over one thousand (!) reenactors, you can understand why the event organizers claimed the distinction of the biggest WWII reenactment in the country. Check the photos!

Midway Village is usually a quiet living history museum, nestled amidst peaceful woods and nice open areas that contrast with downtown Rockford’s big businesses. On a normal day you might expect to watch a blacksmith make a hinge or door handle, or maybe hear about the Victorian Hotel or General Store along the lovely reconstructed old village, similar the our local gem, Greenfield Village. But this was no normal day. The nice trails through the woods became tank paths, the buildings were converted into makeshift barracks, and every corner of the village bristled with allied and axis reenactors and equipment. Horses of the Wehrmacht cavalry filled the streets of the village while the Sherman tank roared in the nearby open field to re-create an assault against German infantry and artillery. And talk about loud—with over a dozen antique armored vehicles and artillery pieces booming away with a regular chorus of small arms fire, your ringing ears and accompanying startle give an intense and exciting experience!

The community of reenactors was very diverse. As you made your way through the woods, you found soldiers from every theater of WWII, and from nearly every nation. British, Japanese, Italian, Soviet, Polish, German, and American soldier-reenactors were everywhere, all of them excited to share their knowledge with the public. After the day was done and the village was closed, Saturday saw a fast night of swing dancing in Midway Village’s new hall. Too fun!

Living history is one of the best tools to inspire people to learn more about the past, and the Polish Mission supports those organizations that raise awareness about the past and spark interest in the study of history. If you’re in Rockford around this time next year, make sure to look up Midway Village and make their WWII reenactment a stop on your trip.

Museums Cataloging Program

07 July 2010

Over a period of two days, casual strollers on the OLS campus may have noticed lights in Ark's upper windows during the night, or heard a song or two drift out of the window as artifacts and documents were brought before the lens and shot in multiple positions to ensure no detail was hidden from the photographer's eye.  Among the newly documented items, you would find the official letter box of Marshal Josef Pilsudski, the personal papers of Poles secretly serving in the Home army under the German occupation, and even a Polish bar of soap from 1939.  After many hours, those volunteers broke ground in the most ambitious project our museums have ever seen.

Combined with ongoing historic document and photograph scanning, the total digital image archive of our museums stands at over 2,500, but that's just the tip of the iceberg.  The scope of this project is massive; our collection of artifacts is staggering, and the old organization system is precarious.  Carefully digitizing our collections is the first step in bringing our museums into the 21st century.  Using our newly acquired cutting-edge museum software PastPerfect, each artifact and historic document we hold can be identified, translated, described in detail, and published online to aid historians across the globe.  In addition to this immeasurable contribution to historic scholarship, having a definitive record of our holdings will allow us to create new and exciting historic exhibits, and also to identify select artifacts for conservation and archival storage.  The collections of the Polish Mission's museums make up an objectively priceless treasure to Polonia, and we'll keep the Good News updated as we continue to safeguard that treasure, and proudly bring it to a 21st-century audience.

Commemoration

07 July 2009