Liberty Bond Day, Groton Iron Works, Noank

Liberty Bond Day, Groton Iron Works, Noank, 1918 – Mystic Seaport and Connecticut History Illustrated

World War I (1917-1918)

When the United States entered Europe’s Great War in 1917, Connecticut manufacturers provided the military with munitions, clothing, and other goods. From Manchester silk and Waterbury brass to Bridgeport’s Remington Arms, which produced 50 percent of the US Army’s small arms cartridges, the industrial ramp up—and curtailed immigration from Europe—produced labor shortages. African Americans migrating from the South sought to fill these jobs. Many found opportunity and settled, but they also encountered racial discrimination from whites and class prejudice within established black communities. In addition to the men and women who worked on the home front, roughly 63,000 state residents served in the US or Allied forces. Among those remembered today are flying ace Raoul Lufbery and Stubby, the canine mascot of the 102nd Infantry, 26th Yankee Division.

More on World War I from the CT Digital Archive

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The wreck of Major Lufbery's machine, May 19, 1918

World War I Flying Ace Raoul Lufbery

Although his time as a Connecticut resident was short, this aviator left his mark on Wallingford and a generation fighter pilots.  …[more]

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Websites

Connecticut State Library. “Connecticut in World War I,” 2016. Link.
Remembering World War One. “Connecticut State Library Collections: Manuscript, Posters, Photographs, State and Local Collections,” 2016. Link.
Connecticut Military Department. “Stubby the Military Dog,” 2016. Link.
CRIS Radio. “Voices of WWI,” n.d. Link.
Connecticut State Library. “World War I Veterans Database,” 2016. Link.

Places

“Greenwich Historical Society,” 2017. Link.
Gunn Memorial Library & Museum. “Gunn Historical Museum,” 2017. Link.
“Mattatuck Museum,” 2017. Link.
“Middlesex County Historical Society,” 2017. Link.
“New England Air Museum,” 2016. Link.
“The Litchfield Historical Society,” 2017. Link.
“Weston Historical Society,” 2017. Link.

Documents

CRIS Radio. “Audio: World War I Archives - Audio Access for People Who Are Blind or Print-Challenged,” 2016. Link.
CRIS Radio. “Audio: World War I Archives, Diaries of World War I Servicemen from Connecticut, Charles F. Watrous - Audio Access for People Who Are Blind or Print-Challenged,” 2016. Link.
Connecticut State Library. “Digital Collections: World War I,” 2016.
Connecticut State Library. “Finding Aid to the Frank A. Lajoie and Gary J. Horton World War I Poster Collection, circa 1917-1918 (PG 740),” 2016. Link.
Connecticut State Library, Connecticut Digital Newspaper Project. “Guide to Digitized Newspaper Content - American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief in World War I-Era Connecticut,” 2017. Link.
Connecticut state Library, Connecticut Digital Newspaper Project. “Guide to Digitized Newspaper Content - Connecticut Women and World War I,” 2017. Link.
“Guide to Digitized Newspaper Content: Free Speech & Seditious Speech in World War I Era Connecticut.” Connecticut State Library, Connecticut Digital Newspaper Project, 2016. Link.
Western Connecticut State University. Archives and Special Collections Library. “World War I Era Publications and Propaganda,” 2016. Link.
Western Connecticut State University. Archives and Special Collections Library. “World War I Pamphlets and Bulletins, 1917-1918,” 2016. Link.

Books

Strickland, Daniel Walter. Connecticut Fights; the Story of the 102nd Regiment. New Haven, CT: Quinnipiack Press, Inc., 1930. Link.
Drury, David. Hartford in World War I. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2015.
Hamden. War Bureau. History of Hamden Men in the World War. New Haven, CT: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, 1919. Link.
Baldwin, Simeon E., Richard M. Bissell, Marcus H. Holcomb, and Connecticut State Council of Defense. “Made in Connecticut” Interviews on the World War: A Second Message to the Makers of Public Sentiment in Connecticut. Hartford, CT: Issued by the Connecticut State Council of Defense, 1917. Link.
Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution, and Elizabeth C. Barney Buel. Report of War Work of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Connecticut During the Great World War, from August 15, 1914-November 11, 1918, with Supplemental Reports Since the Signing of the Armistice, to and Including June, 1919. Meriden, CT: Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution, 1919. Link.
Service Records: Connecticut Men and Women in the Armed Forces of the United States During World War, 1917-1920. Vol. 2. Hartford, CT: Office of the Adjutant General, State Armory, 1941. Link.
Service Records: Connecticut Men and Women in the Armed Forces of the United States During World War, 1917-1920. Vol. 1. Hartford, CT: Office of the Adjutant General, State Armory, 1941. Link.
Service Records: Connecticut Men and Women in the Armed Forces of the United States During World War, 1917-1920. Vol. 3. Hartford, CT: Office of the Adjutant General, State Armory, 1941. Link.
Hall, James Norman, Charles Nordhoff, and Edgar G. Hamilton. The Lafayette Flying Corps. Vol. 1. Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1920. Link.
Hall, James Norman, Charles Nordhoff, and Edgar G. Hamilton. The Lafayette Flying Corps. Vol. 2. Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1920. Link.
United States Employment Service, Dorothy Weir, and United States Department of Labor. Training Opportunities for Connecticut Women. Hartford, CT: Woman’s Division Connecticut State Council of Defense, 1918. Link.
Fraser, Bruce. “Yankees at War: Social Mobilization on the Connecticut Homefront 1917-1918.” Columbia University, 1976.
Sax, Margaret F., and Watkinson Library. Your Country Needs You! : Hartford’s Part in World War I. Hartford, CT: Watkinson Library, Trinity College, 1986.

Articles

Johnson, Kathleen Eagen. “Greenwich Women Face the Great War: Our Contributions from the Home Front.” Connecticut Explored, Winter /2015 2014. Link.
Jenkins, Jessica. “Join the Brave Throng: Posters Exhorted Litchfield Residents to Join the Fight.” Connecticut Explored, Winter /2015 2014. Link.
Leukhardt, Bill. “Sgt. Stubby, The Canine World War I Hero from New Haven.” Hartford Courant, May 27, 2014, sec. Moments In History | Courant 250. Link.
Close, Stacey. “Southern Blacks Transform Connecticut.” Connecticut Explored, Fall 2013. Link.