Featuring 29 World War I-era photographs and rare silent film footage, this exhibition brings to life the extraordinary work undertaken by 350 American women - all volunteers - who left comfortable lives in the U.S. to devote themselves to humanitarian aid in France. Excluded from the right to vote or serve in active combat, American women otherwise directed their considerable energy toward international relief work to counter the Great War's devastation.
The dynamic leader of the group was Anne Morgan, daughter of prominent financier John Pierpont (J.P.) Morgan, who dedicated her life to humanitarian causes, collecting private funds and founding the American Committee for Devastated France.
In the tradition of Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale, this group of women lived alongside the rural people of Picardy, a region in northeastern France ravaged during World War I.
Anne Morgan and her volunteers helped feed the hungry population, brought back livestock, planted crops, rebuilt homes, and provided needed services for children.
This exhibition also illustrates how Anne Morgan and her colleagues cannily employed film and photography including that of Harry B. Lachman to publicize their work and instigate social action.
Anne Morgan's War was organized by the Franco-American Museum, Château de Blérancourt, France, with the support of American Friends of Blérancourt and the Florence Gould Foundation. The Franco-American Museum, Château de Blérancourt (Blérancourt, Aisne, France) was founded after World War I by Anne Morgan and is today a French national museum devoted to the history of friendship and collaboration between the United States and France. It is the only museum worldwide dedicated to French-American relations.