Sunday, November 27, 2011

Civil War Lives, by The Huntington

Huntington Botanical Japanese Garden
The Huntington Library in San Marino (think Pasadena), besides being in a spectacular setting, is one of the nation's foremost repositories in the areas of American and English history and literature. Sure, there's a priceless Shakespeare collection and a Gutenberg bible, but for the purposes of this blog, let me note that lesser Civil War historians are often identified right off the bat by their failure to include the Huntington in their bibliography. Many years ago, I spent a lovely few days there collecting after-action reports that didn't make it into the O.R., for inclusion in Broadfoot's Supplement to the Official Records. 
For their own 150th commemoration, the Huntington put together a conference of historians whose presentations are slowly being made available online. Brooks Simpson, one of the presenters, wrote about the gathering here, replete with a photo of the presenters. Here's one link to some of the presentations, and I believe they're probably the same ones available on iTunes now as free podcasts. And no one chronicles a Civil War event like Hal Jespersen.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Visit to Antietam Battlefield, 7 April 1963

Silent motion picture footage of President John F. Kennedy's visit to the Antietam National Battlefield site, Sharpsburg, Maryland. President Kennedy and his party, which includes Senator Edward M. (Ted) Kennedy, Joan Kennedy, Lem (Kirk LeMoyne) Billings, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Army Ralph Horton, and Under Secretary of the Treasury James A. Reed, fly from Camp David by helicopter to the battlefield. Also included is footage of the Acting Superintendent of the Antietam National Battlefield site Robert L. Lagemann, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Jr., Maude Shaw, and others who are unidentified. Naval Photo Center #1211-24.

[thanks to Save Historic Antietam Foundation for the link]