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09/20/2018 12:00 AMOne hundred years ago on Nov. 11, 1918, as the chill of winter was beginning to settle across the northern hemisphere, Germany and the Allies (Britain, France, Italy, and the U.S.) met in France to sign the armistice for a ceasefire. The Treaty of Versailles was drafted afterward, officially ending World War I.
Before that moment, more than 67,000 men from Connecticut had said farewell to friends and family, donned their uniforms, and headed to battles around the world after the U.S. joined the war in April 1917. During the roughly year and a half of fighting, about 1,100 of these Nutmeggers succumbed to injuries or influenza.
Some of these soldiers were members of the Knights of Columbus, the world's largest fraternal, Catholic-based charitable organization, which was founded in New Haven in 1882. Approximately 59 local councils had members who served in World War I, according to Bethany Sheffer, the curator and registrar at the Knights of Columbus Museum in New Haven.
The Knights of Columbus operated numerous recreation centers, known as huts, throughout the United States and overseas, and continued providing assistance to veterans after the war had ended, Sheffer said.
In honor of them, and in memory of the first global war, the museum has a feature exhibition that opened in April 2017 and will be on display until Dec. 30, called World War I: Beyond the Front Lines. The American Association for State and Local History selected the museum as a 2018 Award of Merit recipient for the exhibition.
"The Knights of Columbus played a large role in the war relief efforts during World War I, so we had always planned on doing an exhibition during the centennial of the U.S. involvement in the war, which was 1917 to 1918," Sheffer said. "Some research began over five years ago, but the majority of the work was done beginning in 2016 and continued right up to our opening date on April 6, 2017."
The museum staff researched the war's history and paid a visit to several museums with WWI displays, including the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Mo., for inspiration.
"We have a large number of artifacts on display, including military uniforms, shell art, and equipment used during the war," Sheffer said. "Most of these materials we borrowed from museums, private collectors, and family members of those who served."
The exhibit also features a large number of Knights of Columbus related materials from the museum's own collection, which very few people have seen before, Sheffer said.
"This includes WWI war relief posters, letters and postcards, and supplies that were given out to the troops for no charge," she explained. "The Knights of Columbus motto for their war relief efforts was 'Everybody Welcome, Everything Free.'"
One of the more popular pieces in the exhibit is not actually an artifact, she said.
"We created a replica of a WWI trench in one of our gallery spaces, complete with lights and sounds to give the feel of actually being in a trench during World War I."
The public's response to the museum has been "excellent," Sheffer said. "Quite a few people who have never visited our museum before have come specifically to see the exhibit. It is also nice to have visitors coming back to see the exhibit and bringing friends and family along as well."
The Knights of Columbus Museum is located at 1 State Street in New Haven. It is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily with free parking and admission. For more information, visit www.kofcmuseum.org.
To learn more about Connecticut in the war, explore the Connecticut State Library's extensive project at www.ctinworldwar1.org.