World War I Collection

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, the military realized it needed to train large numbers of soldiers in a short amount of time. In order to train people for specialized tasks as quickly as possible, the War Department began establishing training centers at colleges and universities across the country. On March 24, 1917, Arthur A. Hamerschlag, director of the Carnegie Institute of Technology (CIT), offered the services of this school for this purpose.

By early 1918, CIT had an established unit of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), and all male students were required to take a one month military training course. These courses covered a variety of specialties, such as radio operation or truck driving. In addition, women were offered several of the so-called "war courses" through Margaret Morrison Carnegie College (MMCC) in subjects like mechanical tracing and stenography.

A military training camp was held on Schenley Oval from July 1 to September 28, 1918, and on October 1, CIT was designated as a unit of the Student Army Training Corps (SATC). This meant that all regular classes were shut down, with the exceptions of MMCC and the war courses. However, due to constantly changing orders from Washington and the devastation of the influenza epidemic that fall, the SATC period did not run as smoothly as planned, and with the end of the war in November, the Institute returned to civilian education.

After the war, most of the war courses were disbanded; the Navy School of Turbine Engineering was the only official War Department business that continued. In addition, many disabled veterans came to CIT to take advantage of scholarships provided by the Federal Board for Vocational Rehabilitation. This program, similar to the GI Bill after World War II (except reserved for the disabled), provided training for veterans who had been wounded and permanently disabled during the war. The program lasted at CIT from 1919 until 1928.