Commemorating the First World War Centennial in Kansas
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.
We have two movies with a World War I theme this month on Turner Classic Movies, and I’m pretty sure we’ve listed them before. As usual, all times are Central.
–Waterloo Bridge (1940). With Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor. Airs on Sunday, December 29th at 7:00 a.m.
Good news! Tomorrow evening (Nov. 27) C-SPAN3 will begin airing the talks from the annual symposium of the National World War I Museum and Memorial held earlier this month in Kansas City. It looks like there are a few talks that will be aired at a later time, including Margaret MacMillan’s keynote address.
Theatre Latte Da from Minneapolis, MN, has made a Christmas tradition of a musical they created based on the 1914 Christmas Truce. This has been very successful for them, and in past years they’ve had a touring company as well as the production in the home theater.
It’s good to see there are still some museums in Kansas that are recognizing the Great War, even as the Centennial winds down. The Butler County Historical Society in El Dorado recently opened an exhibit with the above title. The Butler County Times Gazette ran a few photographs from the opening:
We’ve always tried to post the Educator’s Newsletter created by the National World War I Museum and Memorial. We do so again with this month’s newsletter, with the above title:
We’ll also add to this post that the Museum and Memorial held its annual symposium this past Friday and Saturday with the theme: 1919: Peace? All sessions were taped for later viewing on C-SPAN, probably early in the new year. The sessions were excellent, so you probably won’t want to miss them, and we’ll try to give you some advance warning as to when they will air.
Recently I was called into the Shawnee County District Court for jury duty. Initially there’s always a bit of waiting before you discover your fate as a juror or a free man. While waiting I took a look at the photos and other items that graced the hallway of the court house, telling something about the County’s legal history.
We have a few WWI-themed movies showing on Turner Classics this month, including two versions of Waterloo Bridge. As usual, all times are Central.
–Waterloo Bridge (1931). The story of a ballerina sinking into prostitution after her husband is reported killed in WWI. This version is directed by James Whale (Frankenstein) and stars Mae Clarke and Kent Douglass. It’s at 5:00 a.m November 5th–sorry for the short notice.
You may have seen this clip on CBS Sunday Morning, which looks at Hoover’s life, including the Belgian relief effort.
This weekend we have the repeat of two previous shows on Sunday, October 20. As usual, times are Central.
–The Presidency: Herbert Hoover’s World War I Relief Work. Airs at 8:10 a.m.
–The Presidency: World War I-Era German Hunger. Airs at 12:15 p.m.
Always interesting to see what comes up in the performing arts that has a connection to World War I. Here is a new play that talks about the Iraqi National Museum which was founded by Gertrude Bell in the 1920s, and relates it to its looting and reopening in 2006.
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