New Exhibit Highlights Student Experiences During WWII

Personal stories from World War II, told through the letters of former Kean University students who served, are currently on display in Kean’s Nancy Dryfoos Gallery in a student curated exhibit entitled Newark State Teacher’s College Goes to War. The exhibit documents life on the campus of Newark State Teacher's College (NSTC), which later became Kean University, during the war. NSTC librarian Nancy Thompson corresponded with 185 students who served on the frontlines and at military bases across six continents. Her collected letters offer a glimpse into the experiences of students serving the war effort abroad and on the home front.  

“These letters capture a slice of World War II history, through the eyes of students whose lives were transformed by the experience,” said Jonathan Mercantini, Ph.D., chair of Kean’s history department.

In one letter, an African-American student stationed in the American south writes about encountering Jim Crow laws for the first time. In another, a former Kean student openly grapples with the mental toll that the war has taken on him. 

Kean students engage in original research across a variety of disciplines. Newark State Teacher’s College Goes to War was thoughtfully curated by students for students, drawing from newspapers, yearbooks and the more than 800 letters comprising the Nancy Thompson World War II Scrapbook. 

“We want people to be able to see this exhibit and invite them to be a part of history through it,” said student researcher Jessica DiFranco.

Thompson saved the letters mailed to her, but the ones she wrote are scarce.  Anyone with a Nancy Thompson wartime letter is asked to contact the Kean University history department at honorshistory@kean.edu.  For more information on the project, visit the history department website at history.kean.edu/.