From March 17 to April 28, 2025, the Carnegie Free Library in Beaver Falls hosted the “Americans and the Holocaust Traveling Exhibition,” made possible through the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the American Library Association.
From 2024 to 2026, the United States Holocaust Museum is partnering with 50 libraries across the country to present a traveling Holocaust exhibition detailing what role America played during the Holocaust. The Carnegie Free Library in Beaver Falls is the only library in Pennsylvania to host this exhibit.
Though it features only 16 panels and takes up two small rooms, the “Americans and the Holocaust Traveling Exhibition” covers over a decade of time, including America’s growing awareness of antisemitism in Germany, American heroes who warned the U.S. government of the horrors occurring, America’s role in World War II, the nation’s own Japanese concentration camps, the responses of the average American citizen and even Hollywood to growing awareness of the Holocaust, and much more than can be contained here.
According to the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum, the goal of this traveling exhibition is to challenge the common belief that Americans knew nothing about the horrors of the Holocaust until the Nazi concentration and death camps were discovered. Using primary sources, the exhibit follows the stories of individuals who took action against the Nazism and antisemitism as well as those individuals who were forced to make impossible decisions. After seeing the exhibition, visitors are asked to challenge themselves by questioning what they would have done and what they will do now.
Chair of core studies and history professor Jeffrey Cole, PhD, was instrumental in bringing the “Americans and the Holocaust Traveling Exhibition” to Beaver Falls. Dr. Cole provided a letter of support on behalf of Geneva College to the Carnegie Free Library as they were writing the grant requesting the traveling exhibit. Beyond providing this letter of support for the project, Dr. Cole traveled to the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. for training on everything from shipping the exhibit to how protests should be handled.
Such an exhibit requires a lot of work on the part of each library, even beyond the training individuals receive. When asked what challenges the library faced in setting up this traveling exhibit, Dr. Cole said, “A challenge, I would say, is putting something of this magnitude together in less than a year. But the Holocaust Memorial Museum and the American Library Association provided all kinds of great materials.”
Though he teaches a course on genocide every spring, Dr. Cole still learned much from the exhibit. “I think one of the things that stood out to me is just the extent to which Americans felt sorry for Jews who are being persecuted by the Nazis but then didn’t want to take the step to welcome them into the United States or allow them in large numbers,” Cole said.
Many other volunteers came alongside the Carnegie Free Library of Beaver Falls to help promote the “Americans and the Holocaust Traveling Exhibition.” Students from Geneva College and volunteers from the Beaver Falls community came together to serve as docents, giving their time to help guide visitors through the exhibit and provoke hard questions.
One such docent, Emma Kline, a junior double-majoring in psychology and social services, volunteered to serve as a tour guide to help make people more aware of what’s going on in the world. “I distinctly remember towards the end of that class [Genocide] feeling really overwhelmed with all of this knowledge,” she said, “I just want to do something to help spread the knowledge that I gained and help other people understand why this is so important for us to be thinking and learning about.”
Another docent, Alexa Wilsey, a double major in English literature and general music, said, “I have always loved museums, and when Dr. Cole reached out about being a docent for this exhibit, I was super excited! It's so important to me that people remember and engage with history, and I really wanted to be a part of that.”
For Kline, one of the most impactful parts of the exhibit was the panel about Japanese internment camps in America after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. “I think it’s important for us to understand that it’s easy to make snap judgments about people,” she said. Kline emphasized how easily Americans fell into the same kind of generalizations that accompanied European antisemitism before and during World War II. “That tendency existed in our country too,” Kline said.
After giving tours, Wilsey tells groups, “Things like the Holocaust start through small actions and non-actions by perpetrators and bystanders, respectively. Therefore, we need to be vigilant — where are human rights being violated today? Who is the "other" in this time and place? How, as a 21st century American, should I think about and interact with the Holocaust and other genocides? History may be past, but it also shapes our present and our future. There is always more to learn, and there is always more to do.”
According to Dr. Cole, the community has received the exhibit well. “I’ve been really pleased that the community has embraced it beyond what I anticipated,” he said, “We [had] four public events for lectures [that were] very well attended by people from across the community, from across the region.”
Many local schools toured the traveling Holocaust exhibit while it remained in Beaver Falls, including our own Geneva College. After reading The Sunflower, Humanities 303 classes toured the exhibit.
When asked what he hoped other people would take away from the exhibit, Dr. Cole said, “I want people to take away from this a deeper knowledge of United States history during the Great Depression and World War II, and the recognition that we still struggle with a lot of these same issues. And for Christians especially, what is our duty as followers of Christ? How do we love our neighbor as ourselves in times of crisis, in times of need?”
Kline echoed Dr. Cole’s thoughts when asked how she hoped people would respond. “I think one thing I’ve just been thinking about recently is seeing people in the image of God,” she said. “If we don’t fight to do it, that’s how things like this happen.” Kline encouraged people to go and see the exhibit for themselves. “It’s just fantastic. It’s very informative. It’s not very difficult to get to. It’s not very difficult to read,” she said.
This article was originally published by The Geneva Cabinet in Vol. 149, Issue 10, on April 3, 2025, written by head editor Kiera Metcalf ‘26. Geneva College has received permission by the author and the publisher to repost this content on this platform with minor edits. Opinions expressed here are those of its contributors and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official position of the College.
About the Americans and the Holocaust Exhibit
Americans and the Holocaust was made possible by the generous support of lead sponsor Jeannie & Jonathan Lavine. Additional major funding was provided by the Bildners — Joan & Allen z”l, Elisa Spungen & Rob, Nancy & Jim; and Jane and Daniel Och. The Museum's exhibitions are also supported by the Lester Robbins and Sheila Johnson Robbins Traveling and Special Exhibitions Fund, established in 1990.
Additional programming at the Carnegie Free Library is made possible by support from the Beaver Falls Community Development Corporation, Beaver Valley Intermediate Unit, the Beth Samuel Jewish Center, Chatham University, Chelsea Party Center, Geneva College, the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, Neighborhood North Museum of Play, Portage Learning, and the Senator John Heinz History Center, and WQED.
For more information about the traveling exhibition and the full tour, visit
ushmm.org/information/exhibitions/traveling-exhibitions/americans-and-the-holocaust.
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