Search results

Title: Billy Yank and Johnny Reb, Billy Yank and Johnny Reb
Identifier: dv_00178
Creator: Wiley, Bell (lecturer)
Contributor: Radio/Television, The University of Texas (producer), Frantz, Joe B. (project director), Squier, Robert D. (television director), Hendricks, Lyle (art, set, and titles)
Dates: circa 1962-1963
Resource: KLRU-TEMP videotape collection
Description: Drawing upon an unparalleled knowledge of the soldier in the ranks, both North and South, Professor Wiley gives us a composite picture of the fighting man of the Civil War. With numerous anecdotes and extracts from contemporary letters, Wiley brings to life the individual men of the Blue and Gray. In doing so, Professor Wiley not only gives flesh and emotions to a great event in our history, but also provides valuable insight into American society of the mid-nineteenth century. Professor Wiley notes at the outset that Northern and Southern soldiers had much more in common than in opposition. Yet the differences between them are instructive as to the social systems of their respective sections. For example, the observation that Northern soldiers were better educated while Southern soldiers were more prone to religious revivalism tells us much about their respective social institutions. Perhaps Wiley's most useful contribution is to give us an idea of what the Civil War was all about from the point of view of those who fought it. [Synopsis from "The History of American Civilization By Its Interpreters; A Student Guide to the Television Series" by James A. Bonar, Roger E. Willson, and The University of the State of New York] Tape is dated 1974/11/12, indicating that it is a dub of an earlier recording.

Title: The Coming of the Civil War, The Coming of the Civil War
Identifier: dv_00207
Creator: Craven, Avery (lecturer)
Contributor: Frantz, Joe B. (project director), Mischer, Donald L. (television director), Pengra, Mike (assistant director), Hendricks, Lyle (art, set, and titles), Radio/Television, The University of Texas (producer)
Dates: circa 1962-1963
Resource: KLRU-TEMP videotape collection
Description: [Synopsis from "The History of American Civilization By Its Interpreters; A Student Guide to the Television Series" by James A. Bonar, Roger E. Willson, and The University of the State of New York]: The Civil War exerts a strong fascination for most Americans. It provides our history to a unique degree with great drama, mighty events and strong emotions. But in another sense it also provides us with our greatest failure as a nation. For, as Professor Craven points out, the war between the North and the South represents the failure of the American people to adjust their differences through the democratic political process. How it happened that the usual artifices of adjustment, accommodation, and compromise were not possible in the crucial period before the Civil War is the subject Professor Craven takes up in this lecture. Tracing both sectional and national growth from 1815 on Craven finds that the period witnessed the emergence of many important issues of public policy, virtually all of which proved amenable to political settlement. But the isolation of slavery as a sectional issue, cast in moral terms, in the decade of the 1840's proved to be more than the democratic process could handle. Craven explains that the reduction of sectional issues to the level of absolute moral values made it impossible for politicians to treat their differences in a realistic manner that could be settled through traditional political means. As an example he cites the failure of both Northern and Southern politicians to see in the efforts of Stephan A. Douglas in the 1850's what was a practical and realistic solution to the sectional impasse. Instead the politicians reacted in moral terms and, with the emergence of purely sectional parties based on an absolute moral issue, they, along with the rest of the nation, were impelled inexorably toward tragic civil conflict. Tape is dated 1974/11/09, indicating that it is a dub of an earlier recording. Notes from technician: Some slight vertical shifting in scenes. Break up before end credit, at 00:29:38. Tape was baked twice and cleaned 3 times before playback.

Title: The Common Soldiers of the Confederacy - North and South, The Common Soldiers of the Confederacy - North and South
Identifier: dv_00177
Creator: Wiley, Bell (lecturer)
Contributor: Radio/Television, The University of Texas (producer), Frantz, Joe B. (introduction; project director), Squier, Robert D. (television director), Hendricks, Lyle (art, set, and titles), Frantz, Joe B. (project director)
Dates: circa 1962-1963
Resource: KLRU-TEMP videotape collection
Description: Professor Wiley, a noted Civil War scholar and author, has always been more interested in what he calls the plain people than in the leaders, the generals, or the politicians. Here he gives an informative and fascinating picture of the average Confederate soldier whose courage and fighting qualities sustained the South against great odds for four bloody years. Professor Wiley has read thousands of letters and diaries written by "Johnny Reb," and he uses quotations from many of them to describe in human terms what is all too often presented in abstract numbers. Thus we learn just who the men in gray were, what their backgrounds were and how old they were, what their uniforms were like and what they had to eat, their feelings of loneliness and their attitude of "Billy Yank," and their heroism--and fear--in battle. Through Professor Wiley's lively description, the impersonal armies of the South become peopled by colorful, often humorous, often courageous, and always human creatures. [Synopsis from "The History of American Civilization By Its Interpreters; A Student Guide to the Television Series" by James A. Bonar, Roger E. Willson, and The University of the State of New York] Tape is dated 1974/10/28, indicating that it is a dub of an earlier recording.

Title: The Environment and the Historian, The Environment and the Historian
Identifier: dv_00206
Creator: Woodward, C. Vann (lecturer)
Contributor: Frantz, Joe B. (project director), O’Keefe, David (television director), Pengra, Mike (assistant director), Hendricks, Lyle (art, set, and titles), Radio/Television, The University of Texas (producer)
Dates: 1962-12-06
Resource: KLRU-TEMP videotape collection
Description: Lecture given by Dr. Woodward for the "American Civilization By Its Interpreters" video series. Woodward gives a personal account of his beginnings in provincial Arkansas and early hesitance to focus his work on Southern history, critiquing historical relativism along the way. He cites three inspirations for becoming a Southern historian: William Faulkner and creative writers of the 1930s Southern Renaissance, Walter Prescott Webb, and ignorance about the South that he encountered in his travels. Black and white picture with sound. Notes from transfer: Tape has physical damage at the head. Unable to get picture lock for the first 30 seconds, as well as from 00:02:44 to 00:04:37. Tape was tried on several machines to obtain best playback. Tape was baked 3 times. Each baking was followed by 5 cleaning passes. Best possible playback was achieved.

Title: The Great Depression & American History
Identifier: dv_00247
Creator: Hofstadter, Richard (Lecturer)
Contributor: Frantz, Joe B. (project director), Mischer, Donald L. (television director), Hendricks, Lyle (art, set, and titles), Radio/Television, The University of Texas (producer)
Dates: circa 1962-1963
Resource: KLRU-TEMP videotape collection
Description: Professor Hofstadter relates that his generation, born in the twilight of Progressivism, was deeply affected by the Great Depression, a catastrophe which cannot be imagined by the present generation. The depression made him rethink the premises of American liberalism, and evaluate why traditional individualism lasted so long and was only exploded in 1929.The lasting power of individualism is analyzed in his influential "Social Darwinism in American Thought," where he describes how Herbert Spencer's evolutlonary thought captivated and influenced American thinkers, and gave individualism a new lease on life. His reading of the arguments between Social Darwinists and their opponents also led to a new appreciation of the vital force in redefined American liberalism. He finds that the pragmatic temper is the key conceit, a denial of monolithic explanations, where Spencer's or Marx's, and a flexible sense of the possibilities of human experimentation and potential.Writing about Social Darwinism in this framework was also a stage in his education as an historian. His work after this first book aspired to go beyond history as art or science, toward history as analysis. Although he frankly admits weaknesses in this approach, he feels that they are outweighed by the benefits, novelty of concept, and provocative synthesis, that can be achieved in essays on long trends in American history. [Synopsis from "The History of American Civilization By Its Interpreters; A Student Guide to the Television Series" by James A. Bonar, Roger E. Willson]

Title: Growth of American Thought, Growth of American Thought
Identifier: dv_00208
Creator: Curti, Merle (lecturer)
Contributor: Squier, Robert D. (television director), Frantz, Joe B. (project director), Hendricks, Lyle (art, set, and titles), Radio/Television, The University of Texas (producer)
Dates: circa 1962-1963
Resource: KLRU-TEMP videotape collection
Description: This lecture by Professor Curti is both an account of his approach to history from the point of view of the humanities and a description of the field of American intellectual history, in the development of which he has played an important role. Tracing his own involvement with the history of American thought to his early interest in American literature, Professor Curti describes how in the 1920's, he developed courses devoted to American intellectual history that were among the first of their kind ever offered in this country. In the course of his personal story Professor Curti treats many of the larger problems of the nature and content of intellectual history. His account of his own research and thinking in the field, which culminated in his influential book, "The Growth of American Thought," constitutes an introduction and description of American intellectual history as a field of study. Defining his own approach to the subject as empirical, Professor Curti analyzes the history of American ideas in terms of the concepts of nationalism and democracy, both of which he thinks are fundamental to our country's intellectual development. This in turn permits him to dwell at length on what he has concluded are the main characteristics of American thought. Reflecting on the influence that his work has had, and the criticism it called forth, Professor Curti concludes that American intellectual history is still a new and exciting field that offers great opportunity and reward. Tape is dated 1974/11/20, indicating that it is a dub of an earlier recording. Notes from technician: Poor recording, second generation. Poor tracking first 4 minutes. Scratches and low RF on heads 3 and 4 throughout. Tape was baked twice and cleaned 8 times before playback.

Title: Reconsidering the Age of Reform, Reconsidering the Age of Reform
Identifier: dv_00248
Creator: Hofstadter, Richard (Lecturer)
Contributor: Frantz, Joe B. (project director), Squier, Robert D. (television director), Hendricks, Lyle (art, set, and titles), Radio/Television, The University of Texas (producer)
Dates: circa 1962-1963
Resource: KLRU-TEMP videotape collection
Description: Professor Hofstadter reconsiders the main themes of his analytical essay on American reform, entitled "The Age of Reform," since publication in 1955, against favorable and unfavorable reactions from other historians, and assesses his contributions. His analysis of Populism split the movement into economic realities (the "hard" aspect) and an agrariam mythology (the "soft" aspect). He is thus able to show how the farmer began to move toward material prosperity by perfecting the "hard" aspect implicit in Populism after the defeat in the election of 1896, and at the same time to point to some of the crudities in Populist ideology. His discussion of the limitations of Populist thought, especially of their rhetorical anti-Semitism, provoked what he regards as an unfortunate quarrel over whether the populists were "good guys" or "bad guys," He shows that this discussion is irrelevent to his main thesis, and reiterates that even with its interesting limitations, Populism was a constructive political force. Turning to another reform current, Progressivism. he shows how it differed in root causes, style" following, and program. Again, he feels that too much attention was focused unprofitably on a single aspect of this thesis: the idea that Progressivism was due to a "status revolution" that displaced the native "establishment" and superseded it with plutocrats and corrupt politicians. This was only one cause, but it was very useful because it accounted for the Progressive's emphasis on abstract principles of morality and justice, and other typical concerns. The third reform pattern, the New Deal, has a still different tone, although it stems from the Populist-Progressive tradition. The difference comes from a change in the ethnic bases of politics that produced a new reform pattern, less interested in abstract justice and morality or in the role of the good citizen, but more concerned with human needs, more pragmatic in politics, and based on personal loyalty in political organization.[Synopsis from "The History of American Civilization By Its Interpreters; A Student Guide to the Television Series" by James A. Bonar, Roger E. Willson, and The University of the State of New York]

Title: A Revision of the Civil War, A Revision of the Civil War
Identifier: dv_00175
Creator: Craven, Avery (lecturer)
Contributor: Radio/Television, The University of Texas (producer), Mischer, Donald L. (television director), Pengra, Mike (assistant director), Hendricks, Lyle (art, set, and titles), Frantz, Joe B. (project director)
Dates: circa 1962-1963
Resource: KLRU-TEMP videotape collection
Description: Professor Craven has long been identified as a leading figure of the revisionist movement in Civil War historiography. In this lecture Craven tells of his early interest in the agricultural history of the old South that led him to question traditional explanations of the causes of the Civil War. Before his time, most historians saw as the primary difference between North and South, and therefore as the principal cause of the Civil War, the attachment of the one section to freedom and of the other to slavery, a moral difference that made conflict between them irrepressible. But in studying the economic bases of the sections, in particular the thinking and character of a pre-Civil War Southern figure, Edmund Ruffin, Craven came to feel that the assignment of a single cause to the Civil War greatly oversimplified the matter. Craven describes how, in the course of his historical inquiry, he came to discard the easy and simple answers for an explanation that gave weight to more profound and less tractable issues. For Craven, the issue of slavery as a right or a wrong was only representative of the deeper forces of modern life that drove the North and South to confront one another in a regrettable but apparently necessary Civil War. [Synopsis from "The History of American Civilization By Its Interpreters; A Student Guide to the Television Series" by James A. Bonar, Roger E. Willson, and The University of the State of New York] Tape is dated 1974/11/09, indicating that it is a dub of an earlier generation recording. Notes from transfer: Audio is 2 channels mono. There is break up in the beginning of the program, tracking is drifting. Slight RF noise in the picture, recorded into program, example at 00:17:10. The program was recorded with wide horizontal blanking, causing black bars to the sides of the picture. There is a little tearing on the teachers hands and collar, as recorded. There is break up at the edit points at the top and end of program, on the theme song and slide.

Title: The Subject Matter, The Subject Matter
Identifier: dv_00179
Creator: Woodward, C. Vann (lecturer)
Contributor: Radio/Television, The University of Texas (producer), Frantz, Joe B. (project director), O’Keefe, David (television director), Pengra, Mike (assistant director), Hendricks, Lyle (art, set, and titles)
Dates: circa 1962-12-06
Resource: KLRU-TEMP videotape collection
Description: Having discussed in an earlier lecture how he as an historian came to terms with his environment, Professor Woodward here outlines the considerations that led him to select the specific subjects of investigation that have concerned him in his professional career. Most of his work has been done on his native South, and Woodward explains that the subjects he has chosen to investigate have resulted from a desire to clear sway the myths and legends that have given an unreal and misleading picture of that section and its history. For example, Woodward relates that a desire to understand the real nature of the tensions and extremes of Southern politics led him to an early study of the Southern populist and demagogue, Tom Watson. Later Woodward undertook to explore more fully how the South had become what it was in a massive study of the emergence a distinctive Southern system after 1877. An indication of the scope of this work is the fact that Professor Woodward found it necesaary to write a separate book on the compromise of 1877 in order to set the stage for his larger study. More recently he has done a brief study of segregation in order to place the issue of race relations into clearer perspective. Throughout his lecture Professor Woodward emphasizes the value of a deeper understanding of Southern history for a more accurate and useful knowledge of our national history. [Synopsis from "The History of American Civilization By Its Interpreters; A Student Guide to the Television Series" by James A. Bonar, Roger E. Willson, and The University of the State of New York]

Title: [The Age of Abundance] (mistitled as Nationalism and Sectionalism), [The Age of Abundance] (mistitled as Nationalism and Sectionalism)
Identifier: dv_00180
Creator: Potter, David (lecturer)
Contributor: Radio/Television, The University of Texas (producer), Frantz, Joe B. (introduction, project director), Squier, Robert D. (television director), Hendricks, Lyle (art, set, and titles), Frantz, Joe B. (project director)
Dates: 1963-10-24
Resource: KLRU-TEMP videotape collection
Description: Professor Potter's subject is the effect of economic abundance on the American people and their ideals. Sketching the process by which America developed from an economy of scarcity to one of abundance, Professor Potter notes that this was achieved through a combination of natural resources and technological advancement. The result has been that we have become a "People of Plenty," the title of Professor Potter's widely read and influential book, and this fact not only has wrought great changes in our way of life but has greatly influenced our system of values. By way of illustration, Professor Potter discusses at some length the American attachment to the ideals of equality and democracy. America has been able to indulge itself in these values, he suggests, because our economy has been capable of providing the conditions necessary for their sustenance. In contrast, an economy of scarcity not only cannot be expected to embrace such lofty and costly ideals but rather can only be expected to reject them. Professor Potter emphasizes that American economic abundance does not account for our attachment to democracy, but only has made it possible for us to support democracy. His lecture provides striking insights into American history and culture and into the problems of scarcity and abundance everywhere. [Synopsis from "The History of American Civilization By Its Interpreters; A Student Guide to the Television Series" by James A. Bonar, Roger E. Willson, and The University of the State of New York] Though the title cards read "Nationalism and Sectionalism," the lecture is "The Age of Abundance." Black and white picture with sound.

Title: Why The Southern States Seceded, Why The Southern States Seceded
Identifier: dv_00176
Creator: Craven, Avery (lecturer)
Contributor: Radio/Television, The University of Texas (producer), Frantz, Joe B. (project director), Mischer, Donald L. (television director), Pengra, Mike (assistant director), Hendricks, Lyle (art, set, and titles)
Dates: circa 1962-1963
Resource: KLRU-TEMP videotape collection
Description: The question of what caused the Civil War often is treated as a long term proposition requiring extended chronological coverage, sometimes going as far back as the initial settlement of the North American colonies. While there is much merit in studying the origin and growth of those sectional differences that played a part in the conflict, it is also illuminating to look carefully at the actual "trigger" of the war--the secession of the Southern states. For, regardless of the nature and degree of the institutional differences between the sections, and aside from the question of whether or not open conflict was inevitable, it required the overt act of secession for the great events to be set in motion. In this lecture Professor Craven examines in some detail the grievances and fears that drove the South to such a desperate step. In the process Craven sheds considerable light on the state of mind of a people willing to take the calculated risk of war with their countrymen for a cause they considered just. Quoting from a wide variety of sources, Craven portrays the South after the election of Lincoln as caught up in a dilemma from which there was no avenue of escape. His account of the secession crisis has the ring of truth and gives to the historical fact the dimensions of human tragedy. [Synopsis from "The History of American Civilization By Its Interpreters; A Student Guide to the Television Series" by James A. Bonar, Roger E. Willson, and The University of the State of New York] Tape is dated 1974/10/24, indicating that it is a dub of an earlier recording.

Title: The Winds of Historical Doctrine, The Winds of Historical Doctrine
Identifier: dv_00249
Creator: Hofstadter, Richard (Lecturer)
Contributor: Frantz, Joe B. (project director), Mischer, Donald L. (television director), Hendricks, Lyle (art, set, and titles), Radio/Television, The University of Texas (producer)
Dates: circa 1962-1963
Resource: KLRU-TEMP videotape collection
Description: To afford an insight into how historians work, Professor Hofstadter explains certain significant circumstances behind his two influential volumes, "The American Political Tradition" and "The Age of Reform." He relates how his publisher led him to make "The American Political Tradition" more pretentious than he planned, by suggesting an interpretive introduction that connected a set of disparate essays. This introduction suggested that "consensus," a common climate of opinion that supported property, individualism, and enterprise was more important than conflict between different groups. He says that this emphasis came because the previous generation of Beard and Parrington (for example) had overstressed conflict between different groups through American history. Ideally he would stress both in any analysis. He also disclaims that the "consensus" view has conservative implications, as some have charged, for descriptions of a consensus do not imply approval, but only an attempt to understand the reasons for it and the motives of reformist critics who attack it. To illustrate how the concerns of his times influenced his analysis, he contrasts the era in which "The American Political Tradition" (published in 1948) was written, with the climate surrounding "The Age of Reform" (published in 1955). The first was written in the afterglow of the New Deal consensus on reform, the second in the depressing atmosphere of McCarthyism and popular conservatism after World War II. "The Age of Reform," while assuming the basic merit of the liberal reform tradition, is less impressed with the wisdom of the "people" who behaved so disappointingly after World War II. Professor Hofstadter also cautions his readers to weigh his comic sense and his attraction to new and unorthodox contibutory explanations before assassinating his concepts. [Synopsis from "The History of American Civilization By Its Interpreters; A Student Guide to the Television Series" by James A. Bonar, Roger E. Willson, and The University of the State of New York]

Name

Resource

Dates

Collection Strength

Enabled Filters