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thedrifter
04-11-07, 07:28 AM
The Times, Multicultural Center team to preserve wartime history
Monthlong display seeks contributions from readers

April 11, 2007

By John Andrew Prime
jprime@gannett.com

War, a big part of life now for tens of thousands, has been a shadow over the lives of many generations of people from the Ark-La-Tex.

Letters and images of these conflicts are being sought for display in May at The Multicultural Center of the South, 401 Texas St., in downtown Shreveport.

Letters and pictures, postcards and mementos from military personnel to their families, from the War on Terror to struggles as distant as the Civil War, are being sought for the display. Items sent in will join those selected from the J. Frank McAneny Museum group to bring "Letters from the Front" to life.

"Hon, I hope you are not at all worried as to my behavior over here," sailor D.J. Rogers penned to his wife, Jan, in one letter typical of many from fighting folks to loved ones in 1944. "If you could see me, you would surely be proud of me. I guess that sounds a bit egotistical, but it is the truth. How could I ever do anything you wouldn't like after experiencing your love?"

The display will be in several rooms on the third floor of the museum, which is open Tuesdays through Saturdays.

The McAneny Museum is dedicated to preserving and exhibiting a very large and diverse collection of artifacts left by the late photographer and collector J. Frank McAneny. Portions of the collection, on display at eight locations in northwest Louisiana, include a 16th-century cannon, a sizable Civil War collection covering both the Union and the Confederacy, an antique doll collection, the original document signed by Capt. Henry Miller Shreve and city fathers to open Red River and tributes to World War I soldiers and soldiers from northwest Louisiana.

TO CONTRIBUTE
People who want to add to the display should send items to John Andrew Prime, The Times, 222 Lake St., Shreveport, LA 71101.
Items that cannot be mailed but can be scanned should be sent by e-mail to japrime@gmail.com.
Items need to be sent to The Times by no later than April 18.

Ellie