Drexel’s Student Army Training Corps (SATC), photograph, Drexel University, 1918, (Drexel University Archives 20080270463).
A new exhibition in Drexel University’s Rincliffe Gallery explores the unique role of Army engineers during World War I, focusing on college-aged students in Philadelphia and institutions like Drexel, that played a role in supporting the war effort. Following the story of a local college student — from his training at the armory in Philadelphia to the trenches of the Western Front — the exhibition shows how vital engineers were to war effort and how pivoting to support U.S. involvement in WWI laid the foundation for Drexel’s distinctive experiential educational model.
Building Men: Philadelphia College Students as World War I Military Engineers, which features items from the Atwater Kent and Drexel Collections as well as pieces from the Pennsylvania National Guard’s 103rd Engineering Battalion, will be open to the public from Aug. 14 to Dec. 19, 2025 in the gallery, located on the 3rd floor of Drexel’s Main Building.
The exhibition tells the story of Corporal Edward Shenton (1895-1977), an aspiring artist, who enlisted in the Army at 21, as a student at Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. Through photographs, his sketches and contemporary artifacts, visitors will learn about the unique role Shenton and his fellow military engineers played in the war.
Shenton trained with the 103rd Battalion at their Armory, located in what is now the heart of Drexel’s campus, to perform the important duties of a military engineer, including making topographical maps, digging trenches, building roads and bridges, clearing traps and hazards and burying fallen soldiers.
“This exhibition highlights a facet of military service that is often overlooked — how institutions of higher learning and college students supported the war effort,” said Emma Johnson, an undergraduate in the College of Arts and Sciences, who curated the exhibition. “We are fortunate that Corporal Shenton documented his experiences and grateful to his family for preserving this important historical record and allowing us to share it through this exhibition.”
Building Men highlights the transformation of universities, like Drexel, into centers of practical training. In the eyes of then Drexel President Hollis Godfrey, this mission revealed the university’s potential for preparing students to meet the most pressing needs of the country and the world. During his tenure as chairman of the Council of National Defense’s Committee on Engineering and Education, Godfrey developed a deep appreciation for the merits of experiential learning and, in a 1919 statement highlighted in the exhibit, he laid out his plans for a cooperative education model at Drexel “based on the new principles of engineering education developed by the experience of the war” — making Drexel one of the first schools in the nation to offer such a program.
The exhibition also illustrates the work done by military engineers and the dangers they faced on the job. The engineers, many of whom were college-aged men, played a critical role in ensuring an Allied victory in the war. They maintained communication and supply infrastructure and sometimes even fought at the front when numbers were low. This was an extremely dangerous job, as the importance of military infrastructure work made engineers common targets of German attacks. And the risk for engineers did not end with the armistice. Shenton’s brother, Don, who is commemorated in the exhibit, also served as an engineer and died clearing mines in the aftermath of the war.
“Drexel’s ability to reinvent itself to support the war effortdirectly enabled college students to join and support the American Expeditionary Force in World War Iand played a central role in the preparation of future military engineers,” said Rosalind Remer, PhD, senior vice provost for Libraries, Collections & Archives, and founding director of Drexel’s Lenfest Center for Cultural Partnerships. “In the midst of this transformation, the University found a mission that has served as the foundation of its modern identity, as a leader in preparing students to meet the needs of the world. Building Men tells a story about perseverance, both of students who served, as well as the institutions, like Drexel, that helped to prepare them.”
Building Men is the first on-campus exhibition to feature pieces from the Atwater Kent Collection, which Drexel has worked diligently to bring to the public since it became steward of the Collection in 2022. Last year, Philadelphia Revealed: Unpacking the Attic, publicly displayed more than 600 of pieces from the collection — many for the first time in decades — at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
In addition to the leadership of Johnson and Remer, Lynn Clouser Waddell, executive director of University Collections & Exhibitions; Melissa Clemmer, executive director of the Lenfest Center for Cultural Partnerships; Stacey Swigart, director of the Atwater Kent Collection; and Kathryn Steen, PhD, associate professor of history in the College of Arts and Sciences, also supported the creation of the exhibition.
It was also made possible by the contributions from Wesley Craig, Craig Nannos and the 103rd Engineering Battalion Armory, the Atwater Kent Collection, the Drexel University Archives, and Aime McGraham and Rex Passion, who provided access to sketches by Corporal Edward Shenton.
Building Men: Philadelphia College Students as World War I Military Engineers will be open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. in the Rincliffe Gallery on the 3rd floor of Drexel’s Main Building at 3141 Chestnut Street. For more information visit: www.drexel.edu/drexel-founding-collection/WWIEngineers