Public History Student Elisabeth Spalding to Give Talk at Huntsville Library on Restoring Old Photographs

On Wednesday June 24, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. in the Auditorium of the Huntsville Library, history major Elisabeth Spalding will give a public lecture on "Preserving Your Past: Technology and Digital Restoration." This lecture will be based on the internship Elisabeth completed in the Huntsville Library Archives as part of the class she took Spring 2009 with Dr. John Kvach on "Public History."

Elisabeth will talk about the history of photography including daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, and CDVs as well as the importance of restoring old photographs. She will also give tips on simple and easy digital photo touch-ups that anybody can do.

Please come and learn about the history of photography and about how to preserve your old photographs!

Public Talk on Alabama During the Civil War by UAH History Major Joseph Richardson

We are pleased to announce that history major Joseph T. Richardson, the winner of the new Dr. John Rison Jones Award in Southern History, will give a public talk on "I.D.W. Cobb: North Alabama Partisan Ranger: Researching a Local Civil War Soldier."

The lecture will be at the Huntsville Public Library on Wednesday April 15, 2008, at 6:30 pm in the Library Auditorium.

Richardson will present his research on I.D.W. Cobb (1847-1933), a local Confederate veteran who took part in North Alabama's untold partisan ranger conflict behind Union lines, serving under Captain Milus E. "Bushwhacker" Johnston and Colonel Lemuel G. Mead.

Starting from scratch with the name of a man he'd never heard of, chosen from a list of local veterans provided by my professor Dr. John Kvach, Richardson's research process helped him illuminate the life of this forgotten soldier in records, photographs, and finally his own words.

Richardson will also present a brief overview of his methods and sources, to encourage others to discover their own Civil War heritage.

Please come and bring a friend!

Film Showing Friday April 10: Conspiracy (2001)

All students and community members are welcome to watch the HBO Film "Conspiracy," made in 2001, on Friday April 10, 2009 at 1:00pm in Roberts Hall 423 (the history seminar room). The film stars Kenneth Branagh and Stanley Tucci and examines the Wannsee Conference in January 1942 at which leading Nazis formalized plans for the "Final Solution" to kill all of the Jews in Europe.

If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Molly Johnson at molly.johnson@uah.edu

Please come and bring a friend!

AIA Talk: Cahokia and the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex

Dr. John E. Kelly of Washington University in St. Louis is an expert on eastern North American archaeology, particularly Mississippian culture as evidenced at the extensive site of Cahokia, just outside of St. Louis. Cahokia, a World Heritage UNESCO Site, possesses approximately 120 mounds, including Monk’s Mound, the largest mound in North America. It is also the location of the intriguing “Woodhenge,” a monument that marked the solstices and equinoxes much like Stonehenge in England. Dr. Kelly has been working frequently at Cahokia and other nearby Mississippian sites since 1969. He is interested in the role of ritual and kinship as manifested in the imagery and dispersal of various artifacts and techniques. This manifestation of Mississippian culture is referred to as the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC).

March 30
"Cahokia's Mound 34 and the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex" Chan Auditorium 7:30 PM

Film Viewing of "Downfall": Friday March 27

All students and community members are invited to view the German film "Downfall"
(2006). This film recounts the final days of Adolf Hitler and other leading Nazis in the spring of 1945 in Berlin. It is based in part on the memoirs of Hitler's secretary as well as on the works of leading historians.

The film will be shown at 1:00 p.m. in Roberts Hall 423 (the history department's seminar room).

Please contact Dr. Molly Johnson with any questions: molly.johnson@uah.edu

After a earning a Loyola University master's degree in public history, Brian Coffey worked as a public historian for both public and private institutions. He has published articles on American industrial history and participated in several historic preservation projects. For the last decade, he's served the National Park Service as a historian. In his role as NPS Historian in the Southeast Region, Brian has traveled to and worked in dozens of National Parks from the U.S. Virgin Islands to the Great Smoky Mountains. He will be discussing this work from an "inside the NPS" perspective Tuesday, March 24th, at 7:30 in RH 419.

AIA TALK 10 March: The United States vs. Art Thieves: Tales from the FBI's Real Indiana Jones

Robert K. Wittman joined the FBI as a Special Agent in 1988 and was until a few months ago assigned to the Philadelphia Field Division. As a result of specialized training in art, antiques, jewelry and gem identification, he served as the FBI’s investigative expert in this field worldwide. He has been responsible for the recovery of more than $225 million worth of stolen art and cultural property and has been instrumental in the prosecution and conviction of numerous individuals involved in these crimes. Because of this unique experience, SA Wittman was the Senior Investigator of the FBI’s rapid deployment national Art Crime Team (ACT), working under cover in a variety of roles.

SA Wittman’s investigation of a theft at the Pennsbury Manor, the historical home of William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, resulted in the first prosecution and convictions under the federal Theft of Major Artwork Statute (18 USC 668). Other highlights of his most recent recoveries include one of the original 14 copies of the Bill of Rights, which is valued at $30 million. The original had been sent to North Carolina for ratification in 1789 and was later stolen by a Union soldier during the Civil War. Wittman led an international undercover operation that netted $50 million worth of paintings stolen from a private estate in Madrid, including two paintings by Goya. He was involved in another undercover operation responsible for the recovery of Rembrandt’s “Self-Portrait” which was stolen from the Swedish National Museum in Stockholm and valued at $36 million. SA Wittman recovered three of five Norman Rockwell paintings stolen from a private gallery in Minneapolis from a farmhouse in Brazil. Also in South America, he led the operation to return a 2,000 year-old golden Pre-Columbian piece of body armor known as a “Backflap,” created by the ancient Moche people and looted from the Royal Tomb of the Lord of Sipan in Peru. For his efforts, the President of Peru awarded Wittman the “Peruvian Order of Merit for Distinguished Service.” In 2004, the Smithsonian Institution presented SA Wittman the “Robert Burke Memorial Award for Excellence in Cultural Property Protection” at the National Conference on Cultural Property Protection in Washington, D.C.

He has given presentations at the American Association of Museums (AAM) Annual Conference; National Conference on Cultural Property Protection at the Smithsonian Institution; the International Conference on Museum Security (ICOMS) in Basel, Switzerland; the J. Paul Getty Museum; Philadelphia Museum of Art; the San Diego Museum of Art; the Princeton Art Museum; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Cincinnati Art Museum; the Museum of Fine Art, Boston; the Minneapolis Institute of Art and many others.

March 10
"US vs. Art Thieves: Tales from the FBI's Real Indiana Jones"
Chan Auditorium
7:30 PM