The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-05-15
WAR MUSEUM IS ATTRACTION IN
 PARIS STREETS


 Visitors in Paris are now attracted by a new Institution. the creation of which is the result of the great World War It Is the Bibliotheque ct Musee de la Guerre (War Library and Mus eum) of the French Government The first thought that led to 'ts 's- tablishment was due to private and not to official origin. From the out set of the conflict, Monsieur ct Mad anne Henri Le Blanc thought of col lecting all the printed and figured material, such as posters, photo graphs. badges, etc., relating to it. As the conflict, which most people at first thought likely to be of short duration, began to lengthen, they found that their collection decidedly outgrew the limits of a private con- cern, and they decided to donate it to the French Government, provided it was agreed to turn it into permanent institution. A charter was obtained from the Council of State, and soon the Library and Museum which had outgrown it's original quarters, Avenue Malakoff, was transferred to a special building located at 39 Rue du Colisee, not far from the of ficiaI residence of the President of the Republic.
 The object of the institution is two fold. It is to be- first, a repository
 of everything that may remind one 1 of the various phases of the great conflict, and is open to visits from | the public. Its second and more inn | portant object is to provide the flu ! ture historians of the War, at least i those of them who are anxious to | present the facts in their true light, with all the material needed by them | for their labors. It is well known to the French authorities that early in the conflict steps had been taken in l Germany with a view to attract his i torians to Berlin, and to have them | perform their labOrs in an atmosphere l entirely sympathetic to Germany It iJ expected now that they will resort
 to Paris rather than to Berlin, un- | less decided in advance to present the l facts in a. light favorable to Germany 1 Even before the U. s. decided to | join the Allies, it was felt that a great rlace must be reserved for the Amer
 ican section of the Collections. While 1 the American government itself was neutral, there were many agencies at work in the country favorable mostly 1 t.. the Allies, but also some to the 1 enemy, as is shown by the evidences
 Of German propaganda which are 1 known to everybody. Societies were started for the relief of the suffer s; co1um"s of periodicals were 1 filled with expressions of opinions and controversies relating to the war. All 1 this deserved Q place in the new h.
 Stttution. Of course, as soon as war was 1 dt clareG by the Government of the 1 United States, the Importance of tho 1 American section b ecarle Vestly great CT. It was, therefore, decided by the authorities of the BibLothecLe Le ct
 ' 'usee dc la Guerre to establish in
 this country an agency having for it's
 objects to collect everything, whether
 official or unofficial that relates to
 Il war activities of the United States
 since the fourth of August 1914. 1 This agency cooperates with the l Smithsonian Institution which re- 1 ceives, as a rule, everything that ori- | ginates or has originated with the l Governr ent f the United Stetes Everything else, all that comes fro~. l State Governments edrcR+ional ir-
 stitutiors, private concerns a,:d so-
 c;eties and individuals, must be sent
 tc the above named agency. It has
 collected a, great deal of material, but
 it's collections are far from complete, 1 and all we'll wisherS of France can perform not only an act of kindness but a great service to the future by communicating with said agency, and
 whenever possible. donating to it what may be in their possession. The mater
 ials mostly needed are files of i'm portant newspapers, whether com plete or incomplete, back numbers of
 magazines containing articles or pie | lures relating to the war, posters,
 photographs. badges, medals, flags of
 all kinds. articles of societies, etc, in
 fact it is almost impossible to give a, complete list of the kind of mater ial that will be welcome.
 All persons interested are therefore
 requested to kindly communicate with
 the representative of the BibIiotheque
 ct Musee de la Guerre, Professor
 Adouphe Conan, Columbia Universi-
 ty, New York City, If they feel in any
 way inclined to contribute to the suc-
 cess and prosperity of this interesting
 Institution of our Sister Republic.
 It may be added that Professor Conan has in his possession a number
 of sets of French war posters which
 he would be glad to exchange for the
 kind of material that would be vel comed by the Bibliotheque ct Musee
 de la Guerre.