WWI Military History Symposium
Saturday, November 15, 2008
9:30am - 4:30pm
Pershing and his connection to military bands. South Carolina aviators in the Great War. American doughboys “borrowed” by the British. Learn about these and other fascinating World War I topics during a military history symposium at the SC Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum on Saturday, November 15, 2008, from 9:30am-4:30pm.
Guest speakers include Les Jensen, with the US Military Academy, Dr. Mitch Yockelson, with the National Archives and Records Administration, and Lt. Col. (Ret) Robert L. Brown. Museum curators Sarah Wooton Garrod and Joe Long will also speak.
Other activities include informal presentations by military living historians, WWI collector artifact displays, and a book signing by Dr. Yockelson for his book Borrowed Soldiers: Americans under British Command, 1918. Lunch, break-time snacks, admission to the museum, and a 10% museum gift shop discount are included in the registration fee.
To register for this event, send the completed Registration Form (pdf) and payment to:
SC Confederate Relic Room & Military Museum
ATTN: Sarah Wooton Garrod
301 Gervais Street
Columbia, SC 29201
FAX: 803-737-8099
For questions or more information, contact Sarah Wooton Garrod at swooton@crr.sc.gov or 803.737.8094.
Schedule of Speakers and Events
9:30 – 9:45am: Welcome & Introductions, W. Allen Roberson, Director, SCCRRMM
9:45 – 10:05am: “How They Became Pershing’s Own: Military Bands in WWI”, Sarah Wooton Garrod, Chief Curator Collections & Exhibitions, SCCRRMM
10:05 – 10:15am: Reading of Message to Symposium from Henri Goybet, great-grandson of General Mariano Goybet, Commander of 157th French “Red Hand Division,” Anne Clarkson
5 minute break
10:20 – 10:50am: “Artifacts from an Old Trunk: Connections with the Great War”
Lt. Colonel (Ret) Robert L. Brown
10 minute break
11:00-11:30am: “Iron Men and Canvas Wings: SC Aviators in the Great War”
W. Joe Long, Curator of Education, SCCRRMM
11:30-12:00noon: Book signing time before lunch begins (museum entrance)
12:00-1:00pm: Boxed lunches at museum (either Atrium or TBA)
1:05-1:45: “To Create an Army – Uniforms & Equipment of the AEF in WWI,” Les Jenson, Curator, West Point Museum, US Military Academy
15 minute break
2:05-2:45: “Borrowed Soldiers of the 30th Division,” Dr. Mitch Yockelson, Naval Academy & National Archives
3:00-3:30: Book signing resumes at museum entrance
3:00 – 4:30: Informal presentations by WWI living historians and “chat with collectors” time (WWI gallery and museum front entrance)
A Special Thanks to our WWI Living Historians/Collectors:
Dane Coffman Bruce Cotner
Anne Clarkson Jay Callaham
Russell Wolfe Travis Mosser
Jeffrey Mosser
About the Speakers
Leslie (“Les”) D. Jensen is a professional museum curator specializing in military history who has been in the museum field since 1971. Reared on the Virginia peninsula, and an early member of Colonial Williamsburg Fifes & Drums, he worked in various museum positions in Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown prior to graduation from college. He served for eight years as Curator of Collections at the Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia. Within the Army Museum System, he has been Museum Curator at the U.S. Army Transportation Museum, Fort Eustis, Virginia, and Director of two U.S. Army Museums, the 2d Armored Division Museum at Fort Hood, Texas and The Old Guard Museum, Fort Myer, Virginia. He was a Museum Curator in the U.S. Army Center of Military History in Washington, DC for ten years, serving variously as a planner for the National Museum of the Army project, and as Chief of the Collection Branch.
He is currently Curator of Arms and Armor at the West Point Museum, West Point, New York. Mr. Jensen has also served as a member of the steering committee for the Interagency Federal Collections Working Group, and is a Fellow of the Company of Military Historians. Currently, he is President of the Company of Military Historians. He is the author of two books, 32d Virginia Infantry (Virginia Regimental Histories Series) and Johnny Reb, the Uniform of the Confederate Army, (GI Series) as well as a number of articles. His 1989 articles on Confederate Quartermaster Issue Jackets, published in the Military Collector & Historian, is considered the seminal work on the subject. He has provided numerous programs or museum and historical symposia on a variety of subjects from historical topics to advanced museum training. He also has a strong interest in southern material culture and is a fellow of the Museum of Southern Decorative Arts’ Summer Seminar. His interest in World War I is a long-term one, extending back to the early 1970’s.
Dr. Mitch Yockelson is an archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration of the United States, where he works in the Office of the Inspector General investigating stolen documents cases. Prior to this he has been a specialist in military records since coming to NARA in 1988. Additionally, he teaches a class on U.S. Navy and Marine Corps history at the United States Naval Academy and a class on military history for the Norwich University on-line Masters of Military History.
He has published widely in the field of military history, including articles and book reviews in various journals and magazines. He also served as an on-screen consultant to PBS and the History Channel. He received a B.S. from Frostburg State University and an M.A. George Mason University, and recently completed a dissertation on the U.S. Army II Corps in 1918 at the Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield University, United Kingdom, which Borrowed Soldiers, Americans under British Command, 1918, is based upon.
Lt. Col. (Ret) Robert L. Brown was a career Air Force officer whose military experience included combat aircrew duty during the Cold War and during the Vietnam War. He retired from the US Air Force in 1988 after 28 years of active military service. His military awards include the Air Medal with eight Oak Leaf clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross. Col. Brown earned his MA graduate degree in English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and taught at the US Air Force Academy, where he held the academic rank of Assistant Professor. Professor Brown is now an Adjunct Faculty member of the University of South Carolina at Sumter, with the title of Senior Lecturer in English. His publications include articles for The Air Force Magazine, the South Carolina Historical Society Carologue magazine, and the Smithsonian Air&Space magazine. He is the author of The Last Days, a historical brochure on the Civil War in Sumter County, and was editor and coauthor of the book, A Boot Full of Memories, on the letters and history of Captain Leonard Williams, 2nd S.C. Cavalry. His grandfather, Robert T. Brown, served in the 118th Regiment, 30th “Old Hickory” Division during World War I.
The symposium is a program for the SC Confederate Relic Room & Military Museum’s new exhibit Forgotten Stories: South Carolina Fights the Great War. The exhibit will be open through December 6, 2009 and is part of a larger project, Forward Together: SC in WWI. Forward Together is funded in part by a grant from the Partnership for a Nation of Learners, a leadership initiative by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Institute for Museum and Library Services. It makes possible a major partnership among six city and state institutions (SC Confederate Relic Room & Military Museum, SC State Museum, South Carolinian Library at USC, McKissick Museum at USC, Historic Columbia Foundation, and SC ETV). Visit ww.scforwardtogether.com for more information.