Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Friendship And Gratitude
UA Museum curator shares unique story of World War II
My interest was sparked when I noticed that we hold a small carved statue from France,” says Laurel Lamb, curator since September 2018 at the University of Arkansas Museum in Fayetteville. “I was curious about its story; why would a seemingly random French statue end up in the history collection of a museum in Arkansas?”
What Lamb’s “digging” revealed is a largely forgotten story of World War II — “which is unfortunate because it’s really a testament to the generosity of people,” she says.
The tale begins when “citizens across the United States banded together to send boxcars full of food and supplies to Europeans who were in desperate need of aid,” she explains. “The Friendship Train traveled from L.A. to New York in the fall of 1947, adding boxcar upon boxcar from each state. The Lions Clubs of Northwest Arkansas led efforts to raise a carload of canned goods, [and] in total, the state of Arkansas sent at least four carloads of rice and five carloads of canned goods. While a small portion of the supplies was distributed to other countries, France received most of the aid.”
In response, the people of France shared their gratitude two years later by sending one boxcar to each state in the U.S., including Arkansas. They called their effort the Merci — thank you — Train.
According to Lamb, the French people filled each boxcar with “items of cultural, historical and sentimental value, such as historical documents, medals, flags, artwork, photographs, postcards, cookbooks and toys. … A sword of Napoleon’s was even sent along — though not to Arkansas, from what I can tell.”
Lamb says the Merci Train arrived in North Little Rock in February 1949, and its contents were temporarily displayed at the Capitol.
“Afterward, they were distributed across the state to various museums, [and] the University of Arkansas Museum was one of them,” she explains. “The UA Museum holds appropriately 200 Merci Train gifts for the state of Arkansas. The collection includes mainly artwork, including sketches made by the French artist Maurice Delavier while held in a German POW camp during the war. His work was published after the war, and the museum ended up with a set of those prints from the Merci Train. We also hold a French cookbook, jewelry box, a carved wooden chair, posters, photographs and postcards.”
The Merci Train itself is now in Helena, Lamb says, but the Merci Train’s story is being dusted off in Northwest Arkansas when Lamb speaks at 6 p.m. Jan. 14 at the Bella Vista Public Library in the first lecture of the 2019 Adult Speaker Series.
“Probably what I enjoy most about history is finding stories that really resonate,” she says. “History for me is less about memorizing a multitude of significant dates and more about learning how people in the past interacted with the world around them. The Merci Train is a great example of that. We often remember the events that occurred during World War II. But the Merci Train journey is a forgotten story about what happens after a war is over. It’s a tale about the people who survived despite it all and faced a long road to recovery. It’s a tale of picking up the pieces and lending a hand to those in need.”