CHESTERTOWN, MD—Do you or a family member have artifacts, documents, photos, mementos, or stories from World War II you’d like to see preserved?  If so, bring them to the Kent County Public on Saturday, October 10, from 9:00 a.m. to noon, when students and staff from Washington College’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience will be on hand to scan and digitize them. Also sought are items that capture life in Chestertown and Kent County during the war years.

This World War II History Preservation Day is part of the Starr Center’s StoryQuest Project. One goal is to create digital resources that will help future historians and others around the world chronicle average citizens’ experiences of World War II on the “home front” as well as on the battlefront. 

Last summer, StoryQuest students and faculty archived the stories and experiences of more than 60 local participants in World War II.  Since early 2015, the program has concentrated on documenting the World War II experience at home, in and around Kent County. Last summer marked the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, and with each passing year more stories and memories of that era are lost. 

If you can’t be at the Kent County Public Library on October 10th but would like to share a story or some artifacts from the World War II era with the project, please contact Michael Buckley (mbuckley3@washcoll.edu, 410-810-7156) or Lani Seikaly (laniseikaly@me.com). StoryQuest is generously sponsored by Dr. Davy McCall, for whom the World War II project has been named.