Speaker Series Underscores Philadelphia’s Civil War Significance, War of 1812
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n 1861, Philadelphia was the second largest city in the nation and the closest urban center to the Civil War front. The city’s manufacturing base, heavy industry, and hospitals yielded weapons, rails, and medical services pivotal to the Civil War effort, according to Andy Waskie, PhD, a Temple University professor and historian. Dr. Waskie detailed how the city came to be known as the “The Arsenal of the North” in his presentation, “Philadelphia and the Civil War,” which took place in October 2011. Dr. Waskie has served as a historical consultant to many television, film and video documentaries, and museum projects. He sits on regional historical boards, including the Civil War Museum and Library, the Gettysburg Battlefield
Preservation Association, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. He is founder and president of the General Meade Society of Philadelphia. Recently, he wrote the book First Volunteers to the Front about the Washington Brigade of Philadelphia, and he is currently
DEL Baseball Weekend Intensive Seminar
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oly Family University’s Division of Extended Learning held a one of a kind course, “Baseball and Hollywood,” over the weekend of November 18–20. Students in the weekend extensive course explored baseball themes of myth versus reality, the game as sport versus business, and urban and rural connections. Students also analyzed classic films like Bull Durham, The Natural, Field of Dreams, A Winner Never Quits, The Curious Case of Curt Flood, and This Old Cub. To enhance the learning experience of these films, experts discussed their related knowledge. William C. Kashatus, author of Phillies books September Swoon and Almost a Dynasty, addressed the realities of one-armed MLB player Pete Gray between the film A Winner Never Quits and his book One-Armed Wonder. Law professor Mitch Nathanson, a consultant on the documentary The Curious Case of Curt Flood, addressed the lessons of baseball as a business through the lens of Flood’s legal battle against MLB owners challenging the legitimacy of the reserve clause in 1970. Indie filmmaker Jeff Santo discussed the skill of writing and directing both a documentary and feature film. Students prepared for the course by using Twitter to connect their thoughts and reflections at any moment’s notice. They also collaborated by creating partial scripts (three scenes) via Google Docs. Their biggest challenge was to “pitch” an original movie idea to their instructors, posing as Hollywood movie moguls. – Robert Macartney
magazine @ holyfamily.edu
researching the regimental history of the 110th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Pulitzer prize-winning historian Alan Taylor, PhD, presented “The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels and Indian Allies” on March 26. The War of 1812 was a three-year conflict between the fledgling United States and Britain over the restriction of trade routes and other British impositions. Taylor painted a riveting image of the war through the stories of common men and women of that time. His presentation unveiled a brutal, but sometimes comical, war that defined current-day United States and Canada. Dr. Taylor is a history professor at the University of California, Davis. In 1996, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his book William Cooper’s Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early American Republic (1995, Alfred A. Knopf ). He has authored four other publications, including The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, and the Northern Borderland of the American Revolution (2006, Alfred A. Knopf ). Waskie and Taylor’s presentations are part of a series of free public lectures the University history department launched in collaboration with Glen Foerd on the Delaware in 2007. – Naomi Hall
SPRING 2012
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