Eastern Shore Public Library To Host Profiles of Honor Traveling Exhibit

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The “Virginia World War I and World War II Profiles of Honor Tour” will be at two locations on the Eastern Shore of Virginia in April, hosted by Eastern Shore Public Library.  The walk-in traveling exhibit will be in Nassawadox on Friday, April 12 , where it will be located at in the downtown municipal parking lot.  It then travels to Parksley on Saturday, April 13, and Sunday, April 14, where it will be located in the Town Hall parking lot. The events will also include a family archives scan-a-thon.  The exhibits and scan-a-thon will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. 

The mobile museum, free and open to the public, features stories and artifacts from dozens of Virginians who served in WWI and WWII. The tour, which brings to life Virginia’s integral role in world history, is part of a statewide commemoration marking the 100th anniversary of WWI and the 75th anniversary of WWII.

In addition to its mobile exhibit, the tour brings document scanning equipment, supported by the Library of Virginia, to each site it visits. Visitors are invited to bring WWI- and WWII-related images, letters, and documents to be scanned, preserved, and made publicly accessible in the Library of Virginia’s archives.   

“The Eastern Shore Public Library wants to ensure that the Shore is represented in this Virginia memory project,” said Cara Burton, library director. “Also, as part of our program plan for the future Eastern Shore of Virginia Heritage Center, we want to teach families about the importance of family records and how to share them with others.” Virginia images scanned to date can be viewed at  www.virginiawwiandwwii.org/scanning

“The ‘Profiles of Honor Tour’ honors the Virginians who fought for our freedom and helps to ensure that their legacy remains for new generations as WWI and WWII slip further away from public memory,” said Virginia House of Delegates Speaker M. Kirkland Cox, who serves as the Chairman of the Virginia World War I and World War II Commemoration Commission. “Both wars were fought not only overseas, but from the shipyards, factories, military bases, and homes of Virginians. The ‘Profiles of Honor Tour’ revitalizes that history, from the home front to the frontlines.”

An initiative of the Virginia World War I and World War II Commemoration Commission, which is a commission of the General Assembly, the traveling exhibition is managed in partnership with the Virginia Tourism Corporation and the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. A number of Virginia’s noted museums and historical societies contributed.

For more information on the “Profiles of Honor Tour” and other initiatives of the Virginia World War I and World War II Commemoration Commission, visit www.VirginiaWWIandWWII.org or call Eastern Shore Public Library at 757-787-3400 or click on the “news” tab atwww.espl.org

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