ZELIENOPLE - As a young girl growing up in the port city of Charleston, S.C., during World War II, Joan Teichart looked up to the servicemen around her.

The city, a port of embarkation for soldiers - including her father, a chaplain in the Army Reserves - hosted military men from around the world before they left to fight against the Germans.

At church sendoffs for the soldiers organized by her mother, Teichart did what many other children did at the time: She asked for autographs.

In two books, the now 76-year-old Zelienople resident collected 300 signatures, autographs and messages from soldiers about to ship off.

Now, more than 60 years later, those books are part of a World War II exhibit in Charleston documenting the experiences of residents during the War.

The exhibit, entitled "Everybody Did Something: Charleston Remembers World War II," features stories, photographs, and other memories from people who lived in the port city.

At the time, though, when Teichart was 13 years old, the books were a hobby, not a collection of artifacts.

"I was just a young girl," she said. "It was just the thing to do."

After hearing about the museum's request for submissions a little more than a year ago from friends who owned property in the area, Teichart took the first step, contacting museum officials and telling them her story.

Carl Borick, the exhibit curator and museum assistant director, said Teichart's description of the books was thrilling.

After hearing them described to him over the phone, he asked Teichart to send the books to the museum.

Borick said hearing about the books was exciting enough. "But to have them in hand," he said, "that was pretty neat."

At the museum, the original autograph books are encased in glass. But to allow visitors to leaf through the books' 300 pages, Borick said the museum made duplicates.

For Borick, the books show how Charleston's role as a port of embarkation changed the city.

Before the war, he said the city's population was stagnant.

"Here are all these people from all over the United States," he said. "… This city really became a melting pot.

"That's what really struck me looking through the books," he said.

The other thing that fascinates Borick is wondering about the fate of the soldiers who signed their names to the yellowing pages.

"To see these names in the book and think about what happened to these guys is pretty neat," he said.

Teichart said she's actually tried to get in contact with some of the soldiers who had home addresses and phone numbers listed. But with most of them now in their 80s and 90s, the response was slim.

"Only one really answered me," she said.

Teichart met the soldiers at church socials organized every Sunday evening by her mother for soldiers about to depart for their assigned missions.

There, they would celebrate the upcoming birthdays of the departing servicemen and participate in sing-a-longs.Her portion of the exhibit also prominently features her father, Alvin Teichart, who was born at the Orphans Home, now Glade Run Lutheran Services, in Zelienople.She said he was the reason she was living in the city at the time - and the reason why she watched so many young men ship off.For decades, the books sat forgotten until Teichart found them in her mother's desk a few years ago after moving back into her childhood home.Before learning about the exhibit on the war, Teichart said she didn't know what to do with the books.But, after hearing about it from her friends, she said the choice was simple. "I just felt like this is where they belonged," she said.For Teichart, though, the books were just a hobby that gained significance over the last 60 years, evident on May 7, the day the exhibit premiered at the museum.That day, Teichart saw people reading through the books with wonder."I felt so good," she said.The entire exhibit, though, reminded Teichart of her youth."It just brought back a lot of memories."Memories that include dinners with soldiers from around the world in the family home.Some of the soldiers with whom the family broke bread eventually became friends, people Teichart still talks to today."We made a lot of friends through these autographs," she said.