December 9, 2015 to May 7, 2016

With the onset of hostilities in the summer of 1914, Europe hurled itself into a conflict of enormous proportions, the ripple effects of which were quickly felt in New Orleans. Nearly three years later, on April 6, 1917, the United States officially entered World War I when the House of Representatives voted in support of a declaration of war against Germany.

Using collections of letters, scrapbooks, photographs, and other sources, At Home and at War: New Orleans, 1914–1919 explored the many contributions made by New Orleans service people abroad, as well as the various impacts WWI had on daily life in New Orleans, from the spring of 1914 through the celebrations of peace and victory in 1919.

A float reproducing a British Mark series tank rolls down Canal Street during the Fourth Liberty Loan Parade on Saturday, September 28, 1918; photograph from the scrapbook of Henry Groffman; gift of Arthur R. Bedient, 91-11-L.1