More than three generations of Americans have grown up reading the stories of an irrepressible little brown monkey known in this country as “Curious George.” But few people know about the incredible journey made by his creators, Margret and H.A. Rey, to escape the Nazi invasion of Paris at the start of World War II. Stashing a few precious belongings and manuscripts in their knapsacks and the baskets of their bicycles, the Jewish couple fled Paris in June 1940, starting a five month odyssey by bike, train, and boat that would eventually bring them to American shores in October 1940.
           
The Wartime Escape: Margret and H.A. Rey's Journey from France tells the story of the Rey’s journey, featuring 27 framed art prints by artist Allan Drummond and supplemental archival images from the extraordinary holdings of the DeGrummond Collection of Children’s Literature at the University of Southern Mississippi. Based in part on the 2005 publication, The Journey that Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey, written by Louise Borden and illustrated by Allan Drummond (Houghton Mifflin Company, New York), Saving the Little Brown Monkey was organized by the Institute for Holocaust Education in Omaha, Nebraska. More than just the tale of a rousing escape from occupied France, this exhibition celebrates a timeless survival story, one that serves as a potent reminder of the power of human creativity and the cost when voices and visions are silenced by the impact of war.