Liberty Memorial - The National World War I Museum

The National World War I Museum

Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri houses the official World War I museum of the United States. Designated in 2004 by the United States Congress as America's official museum dedicated to World War I, the new museum opened to the public in December 2006. The new subterranean facility was designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates and greatly expands the original facilities that are still housed on the main deck of the Liberty Memorial: Exhibition Hall and Memory Hall.

The National World War I Museum tells the story of the Great War and related global events from their origins before 1914 through the 1918 Armistice and 1919 Paris Peace Conference. Visitors enter the 32,000-square-foot (3,000 m2) facility across a glass bridge above a field of 9,000 red poppies, each one representing 1,000 WWI combatant deaths.

The museum consists of:

• Two theaters that provide visitors with an educational narrative
• Exhibitions with period artifacts including:

• A Renault FT-17 tank
• Uniforms such as Paul von Hindenburg’s Model 1915 Field Jacket
• Guns
• Maps
• Photographs of major forces
• Propaganda posters

• State-of-the-art interactive displays
• Replica trenches
• A research center and library carrying 60,000 archival documents and three-dimensional objects and nearly 6,000 library titles
• Multi-purpose conference room and classroom
• Museum store
• The Over There Café

The first part of the museum focuses on the beginning of the Great War pre-U.S. involvement, while the last group of museum galleries focuses on the United States' military and civilian involvement in the war and President Woodrow Wilson's efforts for peace.

Throughout the year, the museum hosts special guest lecturers, authors, exhibitions, plays and films related to World War I. Actors Kevin Costner and Louis Gossett Jr. are members of the museum's honorary board.