Maddy McDonald, “On Serving as the Undergraduate Intern in European and Digital History”

In my final year as an undergraduate student at UW, I served as the undergraduate intern in European and Digital History at the George L. Mosse Program in History. My primary focus was on a project called “1914: Then Came Armageddon,” a digital exhibition created in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin Libraries. The project aims to explore various facets of World War I. My own focus has been on medals, comics, and memorials produced during the “Great War.” 

The experience has been immensely rewarding for me, blending my personal travel experiences abroad with the skills I’ve gained by working in historical archives as part of the Program. It stands out as one of the highlights of my academic journey. 

Before receiving the internship, I spent time in Vienna learning and visiting various World War I sites. I saw the car and the uniform that Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in, the event that precipitated the war; I visited the Hofburg Palace. I also learned about the history of the Habsburg Empire and the buildup of World War I. I was not familiar with the George L. Mosse Program at the time, but when I returned, my predecessor (and a good friend), Rachel Lynch, suggested I build on my experiences abroad by applying to take over her job when she graduated. Much to my surprise and delight, I was hired. 

Maddy in the Margareten, or Fifth District, where she stayed during her visit to Vienna.

By then, the “1914: Then Came Armageddon” project had been fully launched. Various exhibits had already been published. Topics ranged from the start of the war to technology. I was unsure of where I might contribute something original. Thinking back to my own time in Vienna, I wanted to showcase aspects of the Great War that often go unnoticed. I remembered that, while I was learning about the Habsburg empire, I was exposed to various forms of art and propaganda produced during the conflict. This led me to explore the role of art and memorialization in World War I.   

I began coordinating with the Chazen Museum of Art to collect various examples of propaganda and “hero medals” from the period. Sifting through hundreds of medals, I learned more about the uniqueness of medals as a specific artistic medium. Unlike paper, paintings, or photographs, which perish easily, medals are durable; they were often traded among soldiers and stood the test of time. After compiling examples of my favorite medals from the war, I aimed to find themes that united them. I decided to group them by country, artist, or significance. 

German medalist Walter Eberbach’s “Verdun as the World Blood Pump”

I am particularly proud of the Verdun part of the resulting exhibit, as each medal I included in it hails from a different place of origin, depicting the victors and vanquished of that battle through competing examples of memorialization. The Germans lost the battle; their medals, unsurprisingly, therefore highlight the battle’s incredibly morbid and gruesome details, emphasizing the themes of darkness, despair, and humiliation. In contrast, the French emerged victorious; their medals radiate proud nationalism. The juxtaposition between the two I felt revealed the complexities of history through the unique lens of competing artistic interpretation. 

When my work on the medals was done, I began searching for other research subjects. The First World War was one marked by extreme suffering and unprecedented human loss. But for my next topic, I wanted to work on something that reached beyond the horrors of war. I settled on political cartoons produced during the conflict and the ways that individuals often used humor to cope with mass atrocities. 

First Edition of Bruce Bairnsfather’s Fragments from France
Bruce Bairnsfather on the front lines, less than a quarter mile from the German trenches

The comic Bruce Bairnsfather was the subject of my next contribution to “1914: Then Came Armageddon.” The fictional soldier old Bill and his sidekick, Bert, were the main characters in Bairnsfather’s cartoons. With hundreds of published examples, his work reached thousands of viewers; as one soldier put it, “Bert and Old Bill were two characteristics that you might find in any battalion.” Old Bill was relatable to many soldiers; his fictional activities revealed what life in the trenches was like for civilian audiences back home while also providing some comedic relief for the soldiers themselves. As I read examples of Bairnsfather’s cartoons, I found myself laughing with him at the absurdity of war. His dark humor, I felt, was an excellent illustration of political satire, another important artistic medium. 

For my final contribution to the project, I chose to focus on cemeteries, death, and memorialization. This, too, connected back to my earlier experiences in Europe. During my time abroad, I visited the Vienna Central Cemetery. It was a chilling space. Every tombstone at the site was intentionally left blank because so many Austrians had died that the government was unable to collect their names. Instead, the hundreds of uniform tombstones were arranged to surround a motherly concrete figure, lifting her arms to the sky. 

The experience stuck with me. For the project, I sought to investigate the tension between memorialization and recognition that many governments were forced to confront, as they wrestled with the problem of having too many unknown soldiers to individually honor. The birth of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier artistically solved this problem. It became a pilgrimage site for those who were unable to recover the body of a loved one. Today, this site, and others like it, remain incredibly important spaces of memorialization for soldiers and their families. 

All in all, my time as the European and Digital History intern was one of the most gratifying professional experiences of my academic career. Through my contributions to the “1914: Then Came Armageddon” project, I explored diverse aspects of World War I including medals, political cartoons, and memorialization. Initially inspired by my time in Vienna, I dove into the complexities of World War I through various sociopolitical avenues. This internship not only deepened my academic understanding of the war but reinforce the significance of preserving and interpreting the past. As I phase into the next chapter of life, I am so thankful for this experience and ability to learn. 

 

Maddy McDonald is a recent UW-Madison graduate who studied Community Non-Profit Leadership and History. She holds certificates in Russian, Eastern European, and Central Asian Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies, and European Studies. Her academic interests include World War II, the Cold War era, and Non-Governmental Organizations’ advancements of Civil Rights in America. She conducted research in Vienna, Austria concerning the Soviet Occupation of the city from 1945-1955 and analyzed the consequences of the occupation. In addition to the Mosse Program internship, Maddy has worked as a peer advisor in the Cross-College Advising Services for two years. She intends to go to law school.

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