Latest News: Library Launches Free WWI Webinar Series

The Library of Congress is commemorating the 100thanniversary of the United States’ entry into The Great War with a new free, online webinar series highlighting some of the Library’s most remarkable World War I resources, including documents, photographs, maps, and personal stories collected through the Veterans History Project.

The five-part series of 40-minute talks will present discussions on a variety of topics each month beginning Aug. 22 and will run through the end of the year. The online sessions are free and open to the public. Pre-registration through this website is required. After the series concludes, the Library will make recordings of all the sessions accessible to the public on the Echoes of the Great War online exhibition website.   

 The scheduled discussions include:

Aug. 22, 2017, 2 p.m. ET Echoes of the Great War: American Experiences of World War I This session will examine the making of the Library’s WWI exhibition and explore the upheaval of world war as Americans confronted it— both at home and abroad. The exhibition considers the debates and struggles that surrounded U.S. engagement; explores U.S. military and home front mobilization and the immensity of industrialized warfare; and touches on the war’s effects, as an international peace settlement was negotiated, national borders were redrawn, and soldiers returned to reintegrate into American society.  Cheryl Regan, the exhibition director, will provide highlights of the show.

 

Sept. 26, 2017, 2 p.m. ET Over Here, Over There: Immigrant Veterans of World War I More than 120,000 veterans received citizenship as a direct consequence of military service and began a tradition of service-based naturalization. Liaison Specialist Owen Rogers explores the intersection of immigration and World War I military service through materials collected by the Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP).

 

Oct. 24, 2017, 2 p.m. ET Woodrow Wilson Chooses War Like many individuals around the globe, Woodrow Wilson was shocked by the outbreak of a devastating world war among European empires in 1914. As president of the United States, however, he had a unique opportunity to shape the outcome of this catastrophic conflict. Sahr Conway-Lanz of the Library’s Manuscripts Division will discuss the Woodrow Wilson papers available at the Library of Congress.  They are the most extensive and significant collection of Wilson documentation found anywhere and include his White House files as well as personal and professional materials from the rest of his life.

 

Nov. 28, 2017, 2 p.m. ET Lest Liberty Perish: Joseph Pennell and World War I Katherine Blood of the Prints and Photographs Division will discuss the wartime work of printmaker Joseph Pennell, including “Lest Liberty Perish,” an evocative image of New York City destroyed by the enemy. Created for the Fourth Liberty Loan Drive of 1918, his design was mass-produced. The Prints and Photographs Division preserves impressions of virtually all of Pennell's graphic works.

 

Dec. 12, 2017, 2 p.m. ET Charles Hamilton Houston and World War I Before Charles Hamilton Houston became the chief attorney for the NAACP and a mentor to Thurgood Marshall, he was a young officer serving in a segregated military during the First World War. Curator Ryan Reft will discuss Houston’s wartime experiences and their influence on his later work.

 

With the most comprehensive collection of multi-format World War I holdings in the nation, the Library of Congress is a unique resource for primary-source materials, education plans, public programs and on-site visitor experiences about The Great War, including exhibits, symposia and book talks.

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