WWI Speaker Series
To commemorate the United States entrance into World War I, the Brown County Historical Society (BCHS) and New Ulm Public Library presented a speaker series exploring Minnesota's connection to the war. The series ran February May. Speakers and topics presented were:
? Stephen Osman: Minnesota and the Great War: The Military Experience
? Mary Wingerd: So Long, Civil Liberties: World War I and the Rule of the Minnesota Commission for Public Safety
? Christopher Gehrz: Lest We Forget: WWI Memorials
? Greg Gaut: The Minnesota Home Guard in WWI
The grant covered the above four programs. However, the World War I Speaker Series began in January 2017 (funded by the Friends of the New Ulm Public Library) and continued in June and July 2017 (funded by the Brown County Historical Society).
145 participated
Participants will:
?learn something about the people and events of Minnesota during WWI
?gain a greater understanding of Minnesota's WWI history
?be interested in reading/watching stories about WWI
?indicate they would share a positive review of the program with others
In addition, library staff would observe a majority of attendees actively engaged in the program by
listening attentively and asking questions. Anecdotal responses from attendees would confirm their
enjoyment of the program.
Written surveys were distributed to all attendees at each program, and the compilation of results is included. In combining the survey results from all four programs, the majority of survey respondents indicated that they:
?learned something about the people and events of Minnesota during WWI (96%)
?gained a greater understanding of Minnesota's WWI history (94%)
?would be interested in reading/watching stories about WWI (84%)
?would share a positive review of the program with others (90%)
In addition, library and historical society staff and volunteers observed a majority of attendees
actively engaged in the programs by listening attentively and asking questions. Anecdotal responses
from attendees confirmed their enjoyment of the programs. For example:
?Very interesting presentation.
?Speaker was riveting. I hung on every word.
?Excellent. Please have more on other historic topics.
?Very interesting and explained very well.
Brown County Historical Society (BCHS), New Ulm Park and Recreation Department, Friends of the New Ulm Public Library, Dan Gislason, New Ulm Public Library