Some good programs this week on C-SPAN2 & 3, including several repeats on Chad Williams’ excellent talk on African American activism after World War I, and two programs by Margaret MacMillan, including an also excellent talk given at the National World War I Museum and Memorial last November. All times are Central as usual.
Author: Blair Tarr (Page 2 of 57)
Blair Tarr is the Museum Curator of the Kansas State Historical Society. He oversees the three-dimensional collections of the Society, but has special interests in the Civil War, Wichita-made Valentine diners, and Leavenworth's Abernathy Furniture. In the last few years he has also done a lot of cramming on The Great War.
He is a past president of the Kansas Museums Association and the Civil War Round Tables of both Kansas City and Eastern Kansas. He is currently a board member of the Heritage League of Greater Kansas City.
The June issue of Smithsonian includes a question about art relating to the 1918 Influenza pandemic. The question and the answer are included in their entirety as follows:
Q: Did painters living during the 1918 influenza pandemic portray the experience?
—Chase Carter | Washington, D.C.
Some, but not many, documented their personal experiences with influenza: In 1918, the Austrian artist Egon Schiele sketched his wife, Edith, and his mentor Gustav Klimt, both of whom succumbed to the flu. Schiele died from it soon after. In 1919, the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch created self-portraits during his illness and after his recovery. Robyn Asleson, a curator at the National Portrait Gallery, says the American artist John Singer Sargent was painting a mural in Europe when he came down with the flu. The 62-year-old recuperated in a French military tent, which he rendered in his 1918 watercolor The Interior of a Hospital Tent. He wrote of “the accompaniment of groans of wounded, and the chokings and coughing of gassed men, which was a nightmare. It always seemed strange on opening one’s eyes to see the level cots and the dimly lit long tent looking so calm, when one was dozing in pandemonium.”
Several programs on C-SPAN3 coming up on WWI, including a few taped at last November’s symposium at the National World War I Museum and Memorial (MWWIMM), and others taped at Herbert Hoover Presidential Library. All times are Central as usual.
In fact, if you turn to C-SPAN3 right now (2:00 p.m. Thursday May 28), there are a few programs on now until 7:00 p.m. You can see programs on Psychological Impact on World War I Pilots, American Artifacts: The Lost Battalion, World War I Railroad Operations, American Artifacts: Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, and Domestic Unrest During & After World War I.
I’m sure you are a bit weary of seeing the word “pandemic” just now, but comparisons to the Spanish flu pandemic ought to provide a teaching moment.
A few weeks ago Jim posted an item about the pandemic, and used the quote often attributed to Mark Twain: “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” I recently read Nancy Bristow’s American Pandemic about the Spanish flu, and the comment often ran through my head.
Hope everyone is well! Sorry to have been away, but I’ve been living serenely off the grid for the last eight weeks!
We do have some World War I movies appearing on Turner Classics as we move in on Memorial Day. Most have been noted on this blog before, so we’ll dispense with long descriptions. All times, as usual, are Central.
I’m already a little slow in posting WWI-themed movies on Turner Classics for this month–if you missed it, Paths of Glory was on last night as part of TCM’s tribute to the late Kirk Douglas.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t a few movies to be seen later on this month, although they might not reach the same stature of Paths of Glory. As usual, all times are Central.
After some difficulties we seem to be back in business, and we’ll get started with some World War I programming on C-SPAN3 this weekend. As usual, all times are Central.
–Lectures in History: Neutrality & World War I America. Airs at 8:46 p.m. on Friday, February 21st; repeats at 12:56 a.m. and 5:05 a.m on Saturday, February 22nd.
Sorry to be a little late with this, but it seems an appropriate post given the previous post ranks WWI films. Sadly, I don’t think any of this month’s films have made it on to the listing given.
Here are this months WWI-themed films on TCM with TCM’s descriptions. As usual, all times given are Central.
We slip to one World War I program on C-SPAN3 this weekend, and it’s a repeat from last week. Time is Central, of course:
–World War I, African Americans and Civil Rights. Airs at 7:45 a.m Saturday morning, December 14th.
There are still four talks, I believe, from the National World War I Museum and Memorial’s annual symposium held in November. That includes Margaret Macmillan’s keynote. For those of you who couldn’t make the symposium, hopefully the remaining sessions will be aired soon.
This week’s schedule includes some repeats from last week, and one new program offered. All times are Central.
–America Aid in Post-World War I Europe, 1919-1924. From the Annual Symposium at the National WWI Museum and Memorial. Tammy Proctor. Airs at 11:55 a.m. Saturday morning, December 7th.