Remembering the Boys: First World War Monuments in Des Moines, Iowa, and Nashville, Tennessee

Abstract

Following the trend of widespread memorial construction following the Civil War, cities such as Nashville, Tennessee and Des Moines, Iowa built several monuments in remembrance of the First World War. This study goes beyond the examination of artistic styles to explore questions surrounding the local communities that created these monuments. Using Southern and Midwestern cities for comparison, this work uses monuments as objects of material culture to expose reflections of past communities and their struggles to collectively remember themes of national trauma, industrialized warfare, patriotism, racism, new American imperialism, and shifting cultural attitudes on death and commemoration.