Commemorating the First World War Centennial in Kansas
We need to catch up with the Education Newsletters regularly issued by the National World War I Museum and Memorial, which we’re always happy to promote. The last two issues are especially timely given the state of current events.
Issued in April, that month’s newsletter covers the subject “Pandemics, Past and Present.” Here’s the link: https://wfly.co/r1OEx
Some good programming for this weekend on C-SPAN3–all times Central as usual.
–1919 Paris Peace Conference. Margaret MacMillan’s keynote at the National World War I Museum and Memorial Symposium gets another airing. 11:40 a.m. on Saturday morning, June 13th.
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.
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.
Some of the ‘battlefield poets’ of the First World War are well-known: Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke, Alan Seeger, Francis Ledwidge, Robert Graves, Siegfried Sassoon, Julian Grenfell, Guillaume Apollinaire, August Stramm, John McRae and A. Joyce Kilmer among others. You can read more about some of these by clicking here.
Click here to view a dramatization of the start of the well-known 1914 Christmas Truce. This scene is from the 2005 French movie entitled Joyeux Noël, which, although historically inaccurate, is nevertheless poignant. The film was rated 3 ½ stars by Rotten Tomatoes, 4 stars by IMDB and also 4 stars by Roger Ebert. It was also nominated for an Oscar as the Best Foreign Film of 2005.
The National Guard traces its existence to December 13th, 1636. These citizen soldiers have served in all of our nation’s conflicts, and in the First World War the 26th through 42nd Divisions of the American Expeditionary Force were composed of Guardsmen. You can read more about this here. Happy Birthday to the Guard!
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.
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