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WWI posters to highlight trolley parade

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Reproductions of World War I posters line the 4145 car, which will be featured in the parade of trolleys Saturday.

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Scott Becker, executive director of the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, lowers the “lifeguard” on one of the cars to be featured in a parade of trolleys and a World War I poster presentation Saturday.

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This photo, taken around 1917 on East Maiden Street in Washington, shows two crew members on the Jefferson and Maiden trolley. The attached poster reads, “Warning! Any person throwing mud at this poster will not be prosecuted. The Kaiser. The beast of Berlin.”

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An enlarged photo of the trolley poster

On June 25, 1917, the first American troops landed in France to help in the war against Germany.

One hundred years later, some of the posters that decorated train stations and post offices, encouraging citizens to purchase bonds and to enlist, survive.

“The posters all help to tell a story about what was happening in America at the time,” said Judee Rooney. “All have a point to make.”

Rooney, a nurse “in the twilight of her career,” will present a portion of her World War I poster collection during the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum’s Parade of Trolleys Saturday.

This year’s parade will highlight World War I-era trolleys to commemorate the centennial of the United States entering the Great War. This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the construction of one of the museum’s signature trolleys, Pittsburgh Railways streetcar 4398.

“That’s what our museum is all about, to preserve a way of life, what it was like to live 100 years ago,” said Scott Becker, museum executive director. “The trolley is such a great vehicle, literally, because it took people everywhere. It took people to work, to school, to go to the movies, to go to the amusement park. Men went off to war on a trolley. Men came home from the war on a trolley. It really is a great way to talk about life in those days, and the posters are extensions of that.”

Parades will occur at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the museum in Chartiers Township. An emcee will inform visitors about the history and make of the trolleys.

Rooney will present “Posters at War,” a presentation of propaganda posters, at 1 and 3 p.m. She will discuss the illustrators and share about 20 prints from her collection of 200 original lithographs.

While the history of the posters is an appeal, Rooney said she was drawn to the illustrations and artists who created them.

“They truly are pieces of art,” said Rooney, who recently moved to Sewickley from Chartiers Township.

Rooney has traveled across the United States, accompanying her husband on work-related trips. It was on a trip to New England in the ’90s that she started collecting. She finds a lot of her treasures in flea markets and antique fairs, and has paid $25 to more than $8,000 for the posters.

“People still find these posters rolled up in attics, particularly in New England. Some people just liked the picture, like me, and they would roll it up and put in attic and they were found 60 years later,” she said. “Some are very rare, some are very popular. To me, it’s art, and the history is there, too. They’re fascinating.”

In addition to a celebration for car 4398, which served McKeesport, Glassport, Munhall, Braddock, Lincoln, Spring Hill and the Mon Valley, there will be children’s activities, a strolling quartet, LEGO display, trolley rides and tours, and food for sale from Countryside Deli.

For more information, call 724-228-9256 or visit www.patrolley.org.

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