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In 1949, the French people shipped 49 boxcars filled with tokens of gratitude for the trainloads of food, clothing, and medicine that the United States had sent in 1947 to assist France's recovery following World War II. The "Merci Train," a response to the "American Friendship Train," arrived in February.
There was an antique boxcar full of gifts and messages for each of the 48 states, plus one for Hawaii and the District of Columbia to share. Vermont's boxcar arrived in the state aboard a flatbed car on February 9. It made short stops in Brattleboro, Bellows Falls, and White River Junction on its way to Montpelier. The official welcoming ceremony took place on February 10, and included Governor Ernest W. Gibson Jr. and Count Max de Montalembert, the French vice-consul in Boston.
Bermont's boxcar contained hundreds of items--dolls, toys, paintings, crafts, pencil boxes, embroidered collars, wooden puppets, ornamental fans, paintings, vases, trinkets, books, cards, and letters. Some of the artwork was given to the Fleming Museum at the University of Vermont in Burlington, some French books to Middlebury College, and individual items were sent via legislators to towns and libraries throughout the state. The remainder--nearly 200 items--has been in the custody of and stored at the Vermont Historical Society.
Pieces from the collection have been displayed twice since they arrived in that boxcar 70 years ago--in the 1950s and in 1988.