American soldiers fire artillery in France during World War I, a war the United States was reluctant to enter. MUST CREDIT: Library of Congress
American soldiers fire artillery in France during World War I, a war the United States was reluctant to enter. MUST CREDIT: Library of Congress Credit: Library of Congress photograph

Hartland — The United States entered World War I a century ago this year and programs throughout the Upper Valley continue to examine the “Great War.”

Up next is “World War I and America: A Panel Discussion,” on Wednesday, at 6:30 p.m., at Hartland’s Damon Hall.

It is one of three programs sponsored by the Hartland Public Library, which received a grant from The Library of America, along with The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the National World War I Museum and Memorial, among other organizations.

“Part of the requirements of the grant is that we work with a local veteran,” said Nancy Tusinski, director of the library.

Hartland resident Michael K. Heaney, who is featured in the recently released Ken Burns and Lynn Novak documentary on the Vietnam War, is filling that role and will moderate the discussion.

The panel includes Dartmouth College professor Margaret H. Darrow, who is researching the role of French women in World War I and the Franco-Prussian War; author Bill Mares, who wrote the book Grafting Memories: Essays on War and Commemoration, which describes how the Civil War and World War I changed practices for honoring the dead; associate professor Steven Sodergren, who is also director of the Studies in War and Peace program at Norwich University and a Civil War specialist; and Lea Williams, chair of the Department of English and Communications at Norwich University who is researching what women wrote about World War I and is working on a biography about nurse Ellen N. La Motte.

The grant, which former library director Amy Wisehart had applied for, also asks libraries to involve more veterans.

“We’re reaching out to a specific population of veterans and their families so they can participate in the programming,” Tusinski said.

There are two other events after the panel discussion.

Author Richard Rubin (The Last of the Doughboys: The Forgotten Generation and Their Forgotten World War and Back Over There: One American Time-Traveler, 100 Years Since the Great War, 500 Miles of Battle-Scarred French Countryside, and Too Many Trenches, Shells, Legends and Ghosts to Count) will give a talk on Oct. 25, at 6:30 p.m., at Damon Hall. A book discussion about the novel Regeneration by Pat Barker is on Nov. 30, at 6:30 p.m., at the library.

Books are available at library now. All of the programs are free.

“We’re very excited to offer this programming to this community,” Tusinski said.

Editor’s note: Damon Hall is located at 1 Quechee Road. For more information, call 802-436-2473. Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.

Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.