Over the last 6 months or so, we have been expanding our online archives by collections and exhibits, and we are always looking for ways to improve it. Recently, we decided to create a three-dimensional model of an artifact from our exhibit. As you may know, the Polish Center places a lot of value on developing a collection of physical artifacts of everyday people to preserve a history that is not often preserved. As Staś always says: “The Polish Museum of America may have Paderewski’s piano, but we have babcia’s pierogi board.” (I should add that we have a lot of other cool things, but babcia and her stuff is important.)

Recently, thanks to a monetary donation, we started working on improving and expanding our Polish-Americans in the Armed Forces Gallery. Part of the gallery will focus on Polish Americans who volunteered to serve in the Blue Army, or Haller’s Army, equipped by the French and who fought on the Western and Eastern Front of World War I before taking part in the Polish-Soviet War. Following World War I, these volunteers created veterans organizations to foster fraternity developed during the war. One of those organizations was the Polish Legion of American Veterans (PLAV).

To skip forward to 1976, the PLAV decided to celebrate the bicentennial of American independence by creating a decanter featuring General Kazimierz (Casimir) Pułaski (Pulaski) on a horse. Both of the horse’s front legs are up, telling us that the rider died in battle (Pulaski indeed died of wounds sustained in the battle of Savannah, Georgia). The decanter was given to the members of PLAV as well as important public figures, such as President Gerald Ford.

Forwarding again to Fall of 2014, with the help of Matthew Young, I had the pleasure of creating an exhibit highlighting the decanter and include a short bio of General Pulaski and a historical sketch of the PLAV. Eric Basile, our lead developer contacted a college friend of his, Desiree Fernandes, who was very kind to create a three-dimensional model of the decanter for your viewing pleasure.

The model, as it is now, allows for a much better experience by allowing you to view and rotate it to see it from all angles. It is quite fun and I encourage you to try it. We hope to be able to do more models in the future as time and resources allow. You can see the exhibit here.