Memorial Park Association launches Life Scrolls exhibit at MOSH
More than 70 guests attended the Nov. 12 opening night reception hosted by the Memorial Park Association for its exhibit of The Life Scrolls at the Museum of Science & History.
The exhibit provides an intimate look at some of the 1,771 men and women from Florida who gave their lives serving the United States during World War I. In addition to the six restored original scrolls, the display includes the original unearthed two-piece vault, artifacts from the Great War; photos and memorabilia; a video about the excavation and restoration of the scrolls following Hurricane Irma in 2017, and QR codes to enable visitors to find family members at memparkjax.org/florida-fallen/.
Memorial Park Association Board President Michele Luthin welcomed guests to the event, which included a brief talk about Jacksonville during World War I and the period immediately after by Dr. Alan J. Bliss, CEO, Jacksonville Historical Society. Keynote speaker was Dr. R.B. Rosenburg, professor emeritus of History at Clayton State University, Morrow, Georgia. Rosenburg discussed the methods used during his four-year research project tracing the names on the scrolls and finding more than 500 additional names of war dead who were not listed when Memorial Park was unveiled December 25, 1924.
Following Dr. Rosenburg’s presentation, Luthin presented him with an award from The Florida Trust for Historic Preservation, noting his contributions to Memorial Park’s Outstanding Achievement Award for restoration and rehabilitation of the Riverside-based park.
“The evening’s program was excellent,” said Suzanne Perritt, who attended as a representative for the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America.
After the exhibit finishes at MOSH next March, it will be on display July 1-December 31, 2022, at the Sky Gallery at Jacksonville International Airport.
Major sponsors for The Life Scrolls exhibit include William J. Hicklin, Jr. Fund; BDO USA LLP; Wingard Design & Communications; Preston and Joan Haskell; Jacksonville Historical Society; VyStar Credit Union, and the YMCA of Florida’s First Coast. The exhibit was designed by Wingard, a Jacksonville creative agency which also recently completed a redesign of Memorial Park Association’s website, memparkjax.org.
In 2017, the U.S. Department of the Interior acknowledged Memorial Park as significant by listing it in the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places. That same year the United States World War I Centennial Commission designated the park’s bronze sculpture, Spiritualized Life, as a World War I Centennial Memorial.
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