The Great War: Speakers

Lecture/Musical:  April 2, 2018 at 2:00 pm in Fine Arts Auditorium

Dr. Michael B. Dougan

 In commemoration of The Great War, Dr. Michael B. Dougan, Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus, Arkansas State University, has prepared a presentation based on World War I songs, "Fighting the Great War in Song."

Perfect! War, anti-war, English (Blighty), French, German and even perhaps Italian and Russian with appropriate. The presentation will focus on how songs influenced public opinion. A power point presentation based partly on the covers of sheet music accompanies the presentation.

Dr. Dougan can be reached at mdougan@astate.edu and at (870) 935 9076.

Lecture: April 3, 2018 at 4:15 pm- White River Room - Student Union                                          

Cherisse Jones-Branch, PhD.

 James and Wanda Lee Vaughn Endowed Professor of History, Director, A-STATE Digital Press Arkansas State University                     

Book Talk/signing-April 3, 2018 at 5:45- White River room – Student Union                                      

Elizabeth Hill

Arkansas women’s author Elizabeth Griffin Hill, who lives in North Little Rock and earned her Master of Arts from the UA-Little Rock Department of Rhetoric and Writing in 2013, will discuss her second book, Faithful to Our Tasks: Arkansas’s Women and the Great War (Butler Center Books, March 1, 2017). Using archival photographs and propaganda posters, Hill will share how Arkansas's women made significant contributions to the Great War through their food conservation efforts in their own kitchens; their sewing, knitting, and bandage-rolling work in Red Cross workrooms throughout the state; and their life-saving measures for families and college students stricken by the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918. Young women stepped up and filled vacant high school teaching positions, nurses earned the admiration of the nation for their contributions, and Little Rock YWCA volunteers and employees staffed the Hostess House at Camp Pike for family members of the military trainees. On the other hand, however, Hill found that a lack of communication and an abundance of fear throughout Arkansas hampered some of the women's work, much of which was organized and directed by the Woman's Committee of the Council of National Defense in Washington, DC.

Contact:

Elizabeth Hill, M.A.

North Little Rock eahill@ualr.edu 501-350-1307

Lecture: April 10, 2018 at 3:00 pm Dean B. Ellis Library 3^rd floor (location change 2nd floor,  room 201)                                             

Mr. Mike Polston

Book Talk-  entitled “Heaven, Hell or Home by Christmas: The Arkansas Great War Letter Project.” A discussion on the Arkansas Great War Letter Project, an online source of letters written by Arkansas soldiers and published in the local newspapers. At present there are over 1300 letters on the site at chsarkansasgreatwar.weebly.com. There are some letters posted from students at the District Ag. School (ASU)

Mike Polston is the Staff Historian of the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, a project of the Central Arkansas Library System. He is a graduate of Arkansas State University and retired teacher on both the high school and collegiate level.  He has received a number of awards including being named Arkansas Teacher of the year on four different occasions. He is the author of many articles published in local journals and newspapers and co-author of Images of America: Cabot. He has held an interest in the history of World War 1 since an early age and is the co-editor of the book To Can the Kaiser: Arkansas in the Great War.  He is the director of the award winning Museum of American History in Cabot, Arkansas and is also the founder and director of the popular website The Arkansas Great War Letter Project.

Lecture: April 10, 2018 at 5:00 pm at the Dean B. Ellis Library on 3rd floor  (location change 2nd floor, room 201)                                    

Mr. William Danny Honnoll                                                                                                     

 World War I veterans who served and died from Craighead County during the Great War

He is married to Teressa Howard Honnoll and has two children (Lisa Marie Honnoll Silas and Leah Honnoll and one grandson  William David Silas age 17 =- one granddaughter Emily age 14.  He graduated from Nettleton High School, Williams Baptist College and Arkansas State University. Danny retired from  Southwestern Bell Telephone/ AT&T where he worked for nearly 30 years.

Author of 4 books, reenactor, genealogist and historian. He is a member of numerous historical organizations and has been involved in Jonesboro past and future planning for years. Danny has worked his on genealogy for over 50 years: Many credit Danny by saying that he has a “Black Belt in Genealogy”. He has a Miracle on 34th Street certification from the Federal Government as the Official Historian of Jonesboro and Craighead County.