Posted on 8th February 2008 by Judy Breck in art | biography | history
art, artillery, history, memorial, memories, oral, solider, veteran, world_war_I
In this history learn node, the World War I soldier shown is my grandfather Clarence L. North (1884-1969). In his obituary, which is posted on my family website, his role in assisting General John Pershing is recorded. Grandpa would have loved the Internet. He was a very innovative guy: as the obituary records, he invented cinder-brick! By posting his story here, I am putting his memory a bit into recorded history. Perhaps future scholars of Pershing’s war management and/or the history of brick manufacturing will add Grandpa in as a footnote somewhere, citing the obituary. By posting Grandpa here, I have created an online node where one can learn his story in the vast Internet network.
Biography of people alive today is being preserved with new, robust digital methods. A good place to find out examples of this kind of preservation is the Library of Congress Blog, where for example the new recording of people recalling history is described in this post: Library Preserves Voice of Last Living World War I Veteran.
Remembering World War I in a different way are memorial structures and spaces. These are studied in The Open University’s Arts and History course on the Commemoration of War, which includes this page on The Royal Artillery Memorial.
More learn nodes at: learnodes.com
Posted on 29th December 2007 by Judy Breck in art | history | literature
art, artist, catlin, ethnologist, george, george_catlin, hiawatha, history, indian, literature, longfellow, paintings
This learn node from American history begins where the Smithsonian American Art Museum hosts the website where you can:
“Take a virtual journey to meet American Indians of the 1830s with artist, ethnologist, and showman George Catlin. This site compiles paintings, historical documents, and commentary from contemporary experts so you can explore the intersections of two cultures, both in Catlin’s time and today.”
The museum also welcomes visitors to a George Catlin Indian Gallery where 34 of his paintings can be studied individually. As an example of following history and art through the fenceless trail of the open Internet:
- Catlin’s painting of Pipestone Quarry leads us to locate a National Parks Website about that famous Minnesota location.
- The Pipestone County Museum provides very local and detailed memory of the area’s history.
- And the famed poem The Song of Hiawatha by Longfellow echoes in our thoughts:
On the Mountains of the Prairie,
On the great Red Pipe-stone Quarry,
Gitche Manito, the mighty,
He the Master of Life, descending,
On the red crags of the quarry
Stood erect, and called the nations,
Called the tribes of men together.
More learn nodes at: learnodes.com
