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.
Kansas WW1
Commemorating the First World War Centennial in Kansas
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.”
The National WW1 Museum in Kansas City, MO will allow visitors starting next Tuesday, June 2nd. For details on the protocol to be followed please click here.
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.
In recent years there have been several films made about animals in the First World War. Some examples are A Bear Named Winnie (2001), War Horse (2011) and Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero (2018). Sled Dog Soldiers (2012), which was produced for television in Canada and France, also belongs on this list.
During this pandemic isolation period many of us have found extra time on our hands. Recently I learned from the Western Front Association (WFA) of two worthwhile volunteer efforts that World War 1 researchers and students are working on. These are called Project Alias and Project Hometown.
Click on this link to read about the contributions of the Army Nursing Service in 1918-19.
This Friday the US World War 1 Centennial Commission’s weekly webinar will feature an in-depth visit with sculptor Sabin Howard. Learn more about his massive creation by registering at this link. Blank out my name and e-mail address and enter your own.
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