We do try to let you know of possible programs that may be available to your organization, and there are some speakers willing to talk!

Ron Michael, the Director of the Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery in Lindsborg, has a talk on Chapman native Henry Varnum Poor.  This talk was available through the Kansas Humanities Council’s Speakers’ Bureau; if you are interested, please contact Ron directly, and not KHC.  The description of the talk:

An Artist in the World Wars, presented by Ron Michael.  Henry Varnum Poor, a native of Chapman, Kansas, was already an accomplished artist when he was drafted to serve in World War I. His duties along the front lines were dangerous, but he was able to document his surroundings and fellow soldiers in paintings, drawings, and prints. Many of these works survive today and serve as a visual testament of wartime France. In 1943, Poor volunteered his services to again paint and sketch military activities in Alaska during World War II. This presentation compares Poor’s work and writings during the World Wars.

Ron has indicated that he can tweak to talk to focus more on Poor’s activities in WWI.  Please contact him at:

Ron Michael, Director, Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery, 401 N. First Street, P.O. Box 348, Lindsborg, KS  67456-0348.  (785) 227-2220.  fineart@sandzen.org or sandzengallery@sbcglobal.net .

 

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.