We Can Do It! WWII Exhibition Returns to Pittsburgh
The Senator John Heinz History Center, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, will bring its popular traveling exhibition, We Can Do It! WWII, home to Pittsburgh beginning Memorial Day Weekend, this Saturday, May 29.
The traveling exhibition recently visited nearly 20 cultural institutions throughout Western Pa. as part of a three-year tour. The host sites were part of the History Center Affiliates Program, a network of more than 125 historical organizations throughout the region.
The History Center’s We Can Do It! WWII traveling exhibit explores Western Pennsylvania’s incredible impact on the home, industrial, and battle fronts during World War II.
Visitors to the exhibit will learn about the development of the jeep, a uniquely American invention produced by the American Bantam Car Company in Butler, Pa., and hear the stories behind Rosie the Riveter and the local Tuskegee Airmen whose contributions helped to turn the tide of the war.
The exhibit will showcase four lifelike museum figures of local WWII heroes:
General George C. Marshall
Tuskegee Airman Lt. Carl J. Woods
Iwo Jima hero Sgt. Michael Strank
The Westinghouse Company-inspired Rosie the Riveter
The museum has also added items from its collection to the exhibit, including the U.S. Army Air Corps jacket worn by Western Pa. native, WWII veteran, and Hollywood star Jimmy Stewart; along with a U.S. Army Signal Corps field telephone used by Martin “Gabe” Torisky of Pittsburgh while serving with the 99th “Checkerboard” Infantry Division during the famous “Battle of the Bulge” in Belgium.
The We Can Do It! WWII traveling exhibit is sponsored by the Allegheny Regional Asset District (RAD), Eden Hall Foundation, Heinz Endowments, Hillman Family Foundations, Richard King Mellon Foundation, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
Tickets for the History Center and its family of museums can be purchased online atwww.heinzhistorycenter.org/tickets or in person.
For more information on the museum’s extensive health & safety measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, please visit our website.