Remembering Connecticut’s Doughboys: The World War One Memorials of Connecticut

In honor of the commemoration of Veterans Day 2023 the Brooklyn Historical Society will sponsor the illustrated lecture Remembering Connecticut’s Doughboys: The World War One Memorials of Connecticut, presented by Cromwell Town Historian Richard Franklin Donohue. As the First World War ended, American communities hurried to memorialize the great efforts of their sons and daughters. Changes in cultural and civic ideals since the American Civil War led to extensive public discourse about what memorials should and should not be. Government leaders, artists, historians, and the monument industry itself promoted ideas from simple tablets to monoliths rivaling those of Egypt and Rome. The result is a stunning collection of monuments ranging from simple, elegant tablets to elaborate works of art—full of allegory and majesty. The myriad of memorials—numbering more than 235—in Connecticut exemplify this entire range of monumental styles.