History exhibit focuses on combat photojournalist
By Robert Cloud
Photo from exhibit synopsis
Two students from Clintonville High School earned a first-place award for their National History Day entry.
Theresa Murphy and Carolyn Sasse created an exhibit called “Through Her Lens.”
The exhibit features the work of Dickey Chapelle, a Wisconsin native who became a war correspondent and a photojournalist.
Chapelle covered World War II, the Hungarian uprising against the Soviets and the Vietnam War.
She was killed while on patrol with the U.S. Marines on Nov. 4, 1965.
Despite the obstacle of a pandemic making in-person visits to historical archives impossible, Murphy and Sasse were able to access primary and secondary sources with the help of staff at the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Their exhibit included quotes from letters and articles Chapelle had written, as well as her autobiography, “What is a Woman Doing Here?”
The exhibit’s theme is communication in history.
“We knew it was crucial to be able to focus on the big things she had reported on,” the students wrote in their synopsis of the project. “The truth of war, human suffering, and revolution through the lens of her camera beginning her work during World War II and ending in Vietnam.”
They also interviewed John Garofolo over the phone.
He is the author of “Dickey Chapelle Under Fire: Photography by the first American Female War Correspondent Killed in Action.”
Garofolo led them to more primary sources for their research on Chapelle.
In 1956, Chapelle spent 56 days in a Hungarian prison while covering refugees fleeing from Hungary to Austria.
The exhibit includes a quote from Chapelle’s autobiography on what she saw in Hungary:
“This was the line the Red border guards manned and from where their patrols were sent out. It was a blaze of rockets, machine gun tracer fire and rifle flashes against the sky, a picket fence of chained lightning. The figures of the escaping men and women bulked black against the bright lines and rocket bursts in the air. Not till they were close to the fire could you tell that they were panting, hurting, stumbling people.”
In addition to excerpts from her correspondence and articles, the exhibit includes a partial manikin wearing combat fatigues and a bush hat similar to what Chapelle wore while in Vietnam.
In their synopsis, the students said they contacted the local historical society for help in finding the fatigues.
The Wisconsin Historical Society is the statewide sponsor of National History Day.