The Civil War Sesquicentennial — the 150th anniversary of the war between the north and the south — will be commemorated at with a family program that will be both educational and entertaining.
With the help of a $1,200 Public Humanities Challenge Grant from the Connecticut Humanities Council, the library has commissioned a new musical score to be performed live to a screening of the Buster Keaton 1926 silent film classic "The General."
Orson Welles called the film "the greatest comedy ever made, the greatest Civil War film ever made, and perhaps even the greatest film ever made."
New Film Score
“The General” will be shown on Saturday, April 14 at 2 p.m. at Hagaman Memorial Library with live orchestra accompaniment under the direction of composer and musician Steve Asetta.
The orchestra performing the new score will be comprised of a combination of professional musicians and students from .
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A session led by two scholars of the Civil War — Hugh Cuthbertson and Anthony DeMayo — and the new score’s composer, Steve Asetta.
Admission is free and registration is strongly recommended. For more information, please call 203.468.3890 or visit www.hagamanlibrary.info to register online.
Great Locomotive Chase
The most famous of several films that retell the story of the Great Locomotive Chase of 1862, "The General" is a Confederate steam locomotive commandeered by Union spies, who are then pursued by Confederate soldiers trying to recapture their train.
Participants in the event, also called the Andrews Raid, were the first recipients of the Medal of Honor.
Challenge Grants
The Connecticut Humanities Council awards Public Humanities Challenge Grants to help partnering agencies develop and pilot programming ideas that reach new audiences, sustain cultural literacy, strengthen community ties, and explore common threads among the state’s diverse peoples.
This year, the council awarded a total of $16,945 to nine organizations that impact a statewide audience.
For more information on the council and its work, please visit www.ctculture.org or call 860.685.2260.
