Kansas WW1

Commemorating the First World War Centennial in Kansas

Rep. Jeannette Rankin

One Pacifist in Congress

July 12, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973), the eldest child of a prominent family in Missoula, Montana, was the first female in American history to be elected to federal office. Running as a Republican (which was then considered the ‘cleaner’ party in her state), she represented Montana in two non-consecutive Congressional terms, from 1917-19 and again from 1941-43. She was Progressive, a leading Suffragette, a supporter of worker’s rights and a devout Pacifist. However, she is particularly remembered for her votes against Declarations of War both on April 6th, 1917 and on December 8th, 1941. You can read more about her by clicking on this link. ...read more

Mary Roberts Rhinehart

American Women Reporters in WW1

July 3, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Although not widely, known, there were a number of female reporters who were sent to the Western Front to write for American newspapers and, especially, women’s magazines. These reports began coming as the Germans invaded Belgium in August 1914. Some of these reporters were (in alphabetical order): Harriet Chalmers Adams, Mabel Potter Daggett, Rheta Childe Dorr, Eleanor Franklin Egan, Mary Boyle O’Reilly, Mary Roberts Rhinehart, Clara Savage, Maude Radford Warren and Edith Wharton. ...read more

ANZAC Day tribute

June 26, 2020 / / 0 Comments

ANZAC day has special meaning to Australians and New Zealanders. This can’t be explained solely by the casualty counts – Australia lost 8,709 and New Zealand 2,779 soldiers there, but later in the war these numbers were eclipsed on the Somme, at Messines Ridge and at Passchendaele. As Blair’s previous article postulates, Gallipoli was a nation-building experience for the ANZAC countries. Although the 2020 ANZAC Day was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, on the eve the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Chorus presented this live video performance of this quintessential Australian song. ...read more

WWI on C-SPAN2 & 3, June 6 – 9

June 4, 2020 / / 0 Comments

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. ...read more

Ask Smithsonian About 1918 Influenza Art

June 1, 2020 / / 0 Comments

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.” ...read more

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