April 5- October 2, 2016: National World War I Museum and Memorial (Kansas City, MO)

February 6- August 11, 2017: Levine Museum of the New South (Charlotte, NC)

Individual Americans immediately volunteered for humanitarian and military service primarily with the Allies after World War I broke out in 1914. They volunteered as ambulance and truck drivers with organizations like the American Field Service, as hospital works, pilots, and as doctors and nurses. They volunteered for adventure. They volunteered to see the world, even one torn by war. They volunteered for the better good. They volunteered because their friends did. They volunteered because they wanted to make a difference.

The Volunteers: Americans Join World War I, 1914-1919 is a panel exhibition presenting individual accounts, documents, and photographs showing the significant contributions of these volunteers. The special exhibition was produced by the National World War I Museum and Memorial in cooperation with AFS Intercultural Programs, using historic collections from both institutions, and complements The Volunteers: Americans Join World War I, 1914-1919 free secondary school curriculum. For more information on bringing The Volunteers exhibition to your organization, please view the traveling exhibition specifications or contact Museum Registrar Stacie Petersen at spetersen@theworldwar.org. To access the curriculum, visit thevolunteers.afs.org. 

Principle funding for the exhibition was given by The Florence Gould Foundation, with additional generous support from Associazione Intercultura onlus, Fondazione Intercultura onlus, the General Representation of the Government of Flanders to the USA, Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, Inc., New York Council for the Humanities, Richard Spencer, and The Wilder-Guiles Family in memory of Amos N. Wilder.

Curators and Scholarly Advisers: Christopher Capozzola, Kathleen Hulser, Axel Jansen, and Nicole Milano

Exhibition Curator: Doran Cart

Exhibition Design Direction: Megan Spilker