Manchester City Library

Today, November 11th, 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, celebrated here in the United States as Veterans Day. On the eleventh hour of the eleventh month, in Compiègne, France,the Allied Powers and Germany signed the Armistice, marking the end of World War I, known then as The Great War.

Copy photograph looking east up Lowell Street from Elm Street at a parade forming showing a large group of young men forming a long line with two to three abreast. The occasion is unknown but it is possibly Armistice Day. – photo credit: Manchester Historic Association.

Too much has been written on the war–its causes, the battles, the lives of the soldiers and civilians, and the reshaping of the world in its aftermath–to summarize here, so your best option is to check out the dozens of titles we have on World War I here in the library. When searching the catalog by subject, instead of searching for World War I, be sure to search for World War, 1914-1918.

We’re marking the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day with two displays in the library rotunda. One display honors all veterans, past and present. The second display focuses specifically on World War I and the Armistice. Read the newspaper headlines from 11/11/18 in The New York Times, as well as the more local papers, The Manchester Leader: ARMISTICE TERMS DISARM GERMANY, and the French language newspaper, L’Avenir National: VICTOIRE! You can also go beyond the headlines and read those newspapers in their entirety on microfilm in our NH Room.

The Manchester City Library is also a federal government document depository, so we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out all the government documents available on the subject as well.