During three of the last four years, one part of the tenth-graders’ exploration of World War I in European History has been a project that investigates the participation of Thacher students in the Great War.  Librarians Bonnie LaForge and Jenn Finley-McGill helped me greatly in the creation of a unique project that allows our students the opportunity to open the student files of the eleven Thacher boys who died in World War I.  While we have constructed a digital archive to house many of what we deem to be the most interesting documents, students this week put on cotton gloves and carefully handled letters, report cards, and other papers from the early 1900s.

During the week, Dr. Delvecchio and I marveled at the enthusiasm students exhibited during our two days in the library looking at the documents.  On Wednesday evening, at least twenty students gathered in the library during study hall to spend extra time churning through the files in search of hidden historical gems.  By the end of the project, students realized that they were actual historians, who, coming into direct contact with primary sources, had to piece together these documents, give them meaning, attempt to fill in gaps of understanding, and create a narrative.

As each student delved into the life of a boy who had died in the war, individual students talked about the similarities and differences between their experiences and those of Thacher students from over one-hundred years ago.  To be sure, photos in old yearbooks reminded us that the boys who died in World War I had belonged to a very different world, one of hand-written correspondence, wool suits, and lower grades.  But our students also recognized some of the mainstays of Thacher life: horses, rushing to formal dinner, finding the balance between play and studies, staying in touch with one’s family, and all sorts of mischief.

This time around, I was particularly struck by a connection one boy made.  Choosing to look at the file of his great-great uncle, James Palache, the student entered into a realm of family history that few of us are able to access.  Not only did he come face-to-face with a great-great uncle who had walked the Thacher campus and had died in the war, but he also discovered a note from his own great-grandfather who survived the war.

See letter from James Palache to his father just days before Palache was killed in France.