History on Display: Pritzker Military Library
My Own True Love and I are spending the day at a military history symposium at the Pritzker Military Library. In the morning, Tim O'Brien (author of The Things They Carried) and Karl Malantes (author of Matterhorn) are going to discuss literature, war, politics and the art of writing.* In the afternoon, major historians and biographers are going to talk about the Korean War, major players in World War II, and the beginnings of World War I. I'll be taking notes madly, and expect to come back with loads of tasty bites for History in the Margins' readers.
If you like military history, you should know about the Pritzker. They have interesting exhibits (the current exhibits are on women's service organizations in WWII and WWI posters-both subjects dear to my heart), a solid research collection, an enormous collection of war posters, and kick-ass reference librarians. They collect veteran's stories in an oral history program, Stories of Service. They also host excellent speakers, show war movies, and have a book club. Most amazing of all, they live webcast many of their programs so you can "attend" them at home, knitting and notebook in hand, even if you don't live in Chicago.
In fact, they're webcasting today's sessions, starting at 11:00 CST. Head on over.
*If I were given to fan girl squees, I'd be squee-ing in excitement.
The Great Silence
Whether you know it as Armistice Day, Poppy Day, Remembrance Day or Veterans' Day, November 11 is a time to honor those who died in war and thank those who served.
The day of remembrance has its roots in the end of World War I. The war ended on November 11, 1918. When the word reached England that the the armistice had been signed, the country broke out into a spontaneous party. (The Savoy Hotel alone lost 2700 smashed glasses to the celebration.) No stiff upper lip allowed.
When the first anniversary of the Armistice drew near, dancing in the streets of a post-war world no longer seemed appropriate . Neither did letting the day go unnoticed. Some assumed that special church services were the proper response. Australian soldier and journalist Edward George Honey wrote a letter to the London Evening News suggesting a moment of silence "on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month". He asked for "Five silent minutes of national remembrance...Church services too, if you will, but in the street, the home, the theatre, anywhere, indeed, where Englishmen and their women chance to be, surely in this five minutes of bitter-sweet silence there will be service enough."
Honey asked for five minutes; he got two. King George V called for all Britons to stop their normal activities "so that in perfect stillness, the thoughts of every one may be concentrated on reverent remembrance of the glorious dead."
If you can, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month--pause for a moment. If you can't? Thank a veteran. Buy a poppy, if you can find one. Pray for peace.
This blog post courtesy of writing and reading friend Diana Holdsworth, who gave me the idea months ago.
1913: The Year in Review
What with one thing and another, I've been hanging out in 1913 a lot over the last six weeks. It was one of those years when the world seemed poised to change. A lot of -isms hovered in the air: progressivism, modernism, nationalism, feminism,* and, unfortunately, racism.
Here are some of the highlights:
The Armory Show introduced American art lovers to modernism. The show was controversial and influential. People loved it or hated it, but no one who cared about art ignored it.
The New York World published the first-ever crossword puzzle.
Henry Ford opened his first assembly line, reducing the time needed to build a car from 12.5 hours to 1.5 hours and making automobiles affordable to the middle class for the first time. Ford's first ad campaign said it all: Even you can afford a Ford."
Mahatma Gandhi was arrested for leading the Indian minority in South Africa in non-violent protest against discriminatory laws: his first experiment with the techniques he would use to fight for Indian independence from Great Britain.
Ballet fans in Paris rioted in the theater at the premiere of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. Quite frankly, it makes even the most negative American reactions to the Armory Show look restrained by comparison.
Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore received the Nobel Prize for Literature: the first non-western author to be so honored.
On March 3, thousands of suffragettes marched in Washington demanding the right to vote. Crowds of jeering men greeted the marches with insults, obscenities, and physical violence. The Washington police refused to protect the marchers. Finally, a troop of cavalry was called in to control the crowd.
Woodrow Wilson was sworn in as president after running on a progressive platform that promised to "give the country freedom of enterprise and a Government released from all selfish and private influences, devoted to justice and progress." He took a good stab at reforming the American economy before World War I diverted him.
*Or at least its older sister, the suffragette movement.