Pearl Harbor – A Day of Infamy

It was a day that our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles would never forget. It was a day that would live in infamy forever more - December 7, 1941. That morning Japanese warplanes appeared over the Hawaiian Islands to launch a surprise aerial bombardment of American air and naval installations. It was the event that propelled the United States into the Second World War. Battlefield expert Robert Mueller reviews the why and how the Japanese almost wiped out the American Pacific Fleet in one fell swoop. Using individual stories the men who responded to the attack, Mr. Mueller presents the tactics and the consequences of the most treacherous assault ever launched upon American soil. The program ends with a review of the surviving relics and, appropriately, a visit to National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

The Pilgrim Kitchen & The Harvest Celebration of 1621: Plimoth Patuxet Museum, Plymouth Massachusetts

As part of the research for his book, The Kitchen, John Ota travelled to Plymouth, Massachusetts where he cooked a meal over an open fire with Pilgrim Foodways historian Kathleen Wall. On the 400th anniversary of the Harvest Feast between the New England colonists and the Wampanoag people, John will share his experiences of the culinary history, architecture, cooking methods and the dishes from the first Thanksgiving of 1621. John’s presentation will include multiple images, 1621 recipes as well as truths and misconceptions about this favorite holiday occasion. Yes, there was turkey - but it was not the main event!

Chicago’s Second Greatest Fire: Union Stock Yards Fire of 1934

HPHS Board Member Jeff Stern, also on the Board of the Fire Museum of Greater Chicago, tells how a fast-moving fire in cattle pens, fed by dry conditions and strong winds, destroyed a significant portion of the Union Stock Yards, and required the efforts of 1,600 firemen and 100 of the city's 121 pumpers to control.