Continuing their efforts to highlight something from World War I in their collections, we forward a link to the newsletter of the National Archives branch in Kansas City. This month’s feature is on the War Emergency Food Survey. Click on the link and scroll down: https://www.archives.gov/files/kansas-city/press/newsletter/2017-september.pdf
Commemorating the First World War Centennial in Kansas
Month: September 2017 (Page 2 of 3)
Beginning tomorrow, the Tivoli Cinemas in Westport, Kansas City, will show the documentary, Letters from Baghdad, which examines the life of Gertrude Bell, and her role in the Middle East during World War I.
From the Tivoli’s e-blast: Executive produced and voiced by Academy award winner Tilda Swinton, LETTERS FROM BAGHDAD is the remarkable story of a true original —Gertrude Bell — sometimes called the female “Lawrence of Arabia”. A British spy, explorer and political powerhouse, Bell helped shape the Middle East after WWI. Using never-seen-before century old footage of the region, the documentary chronicles Bell’s extraordinary journey into the Arabian Desert and the inner sanctum of British male colonial power offering a unique look at both a complex woman and a tangled history that is eerily current with stunning parallels to today.
In late August the Flint Hills Discovery Center in Manhattan opened an exhibit recognizing the 100th anniversary of the organization of the 1st Infantry Division, the Big Red One.
Titled Duty First: 100 Years of the Big Red One, the exhibit runs until January 14, 2018.
Not much on WWI in the C-SPAN world this week. One program on Saturday, and that’s it.
It’s a discussion about the relationship between Herbert Hoover and Woodrow Wilson during the Wilson administration. It airs Saturday at 12:30 p.m. Central.
Look it up in the ABMC Blue Book
If you’ve been following my posts here you’ve heard about the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC). Created by Congress in 1923 (36 U.S.C., Chapter 21), the ABMC is an independent agency within the Office of the President that has the following missions:
100 years ago in Kansas, September 2017:
September 15, 1917
- A.K. Longren, a pioneer airplane builder and aviator of Kansas, went to Denver to be associated with the Buck Aircraft and Munitions Co.
September 22, 1917
Last Monday was the 100th anniversary of the first American officer to be killed in WWI–Burlington native 1st Lieutenant William T. Fitzsimons. Steve Fry of the Topeka Capital-Journal wrote about him, and interviewed Jim Heiman, who has authored a book on the WWI monuments and memorials in the Kansas City area.
The first time that The Star Spangled Banner was played in a World Series game was on Sept. 5th, 1918 during the seventh inning of game 2 between the Cubs and the Boston Red Sox. It was performed by a US Navy band from the Great Lakes Training Center, which was led by John Philip Sousa, although he wasn’t at this performance. Although it was a popular patriotic song in 1918, The Star Spangled Banner didn’t become the National Anthem until 1931. Read more about this here.
In honor of the centennial of World War I, the Spencer Research Library Blog is going to follow the experiences of one American soldier: twenty-year-old Forrest W. Bassett, whose letters are held in Spencer’s Kansas Collection. Each Monday the library will post a new entry, which will feature Bassett’s letters to fifteen-year-old Ava Marie Shaw from that following week, one hundred years after he wrote them.
KansasWW1.org has a new email address! If you would like to get in touch with us, please email us at: kansasww1@kshistory.org
© 2021 Kansas WW1
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑