CARIBOU, Maine — A World War II museum is coming to Caribou on Wednesday, March 11, comprised of local artifacts placed on display by students.
Held in the lower library of the Caribou High School, artifacts on display are slated to be everything from helmets and uniforms to Christmas letters and ration coupon books — even a laundry box used to ship clothing and personal items back home.
Students of Kenneth Atcheson and Steve Burden’s history classes will furnish displays for the Pop-Up Museum for viewing by their classmates and community members from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. next Wednesday.
“We hope to achieve a greater understanding for the students that these are real things, and this is not ancient history,” Atcheson said.
Burden is even bringing his own display to the Pop-Up museum — the uniform of his father, Fred Burden. Fred was a sergeant with the Army, spending time in France and Germany with his code-breaking unit.
Though more eyes will view the artifact when the museum officially pops up, Burden’s piece of history has received a warm reception with students already.
Burden described how one student was able to point out what every patch and insignia on the jacket meant, while another found it to be pretty neat and a third student was surprised to learn about the material used to fashion the uniform.
The Pop-Up Museum concept came from Burden, Atcheson and fellow history teacher Roy Alden’s attendance to the National Council for Social Studies annual meeting in Boston, and the educators are eager to see what kind of impact the event will have on their students.
“Most of the kids are of the age where it’s not a grandparent— it’s got to be a great-grandparent that was in the war,” Atcheson explained.
Burden and Atcheson described how bringing in these local pieces of history together for a collection will detail the different ways WW II touched the lives of folks right here in The County.
“I think we’re hoping [students] will see a host of new things that were from Aroostook County and that this was not something far away,” Atcheson emphasized. He wants his students to understand that soldiers served for the good of others — while some came back, others did not.
Should members of the public wish to share their own artifacts with the community during the Pop-Up Museum, they are encouraged to email the instructors to set up additional details. Atcheson can be reached at KAtcheson@RSU39.org and Burden can be reached at SBurden@RSU39.org.
“We’re excited about it and if the WWII Pop-Up Museum works and people like it, then maybe next year it will be a ‘50s museum or a Vietnam War museum,” Burden said. “This whole thing is about students having conversations about their artifacts and the people who the artifacts belonged to.”
