Tuesday, December 22, 2015


I have been a part of over 70 television programs and 10 motion pictures over the years.  Starting with the Woodwright's Shop with Roy Underhill back in the 1990's, I slowly became familiar with the business of film and I have loved every minute of it!  Sometimes, I am on screen, sometimes my banjo or other craft work is on screen and sometimes I am just behind the scenes as an adviser.  I love it all.  But rarely do I get excited when a project finally comes out.  This time, I am excited!

It seems like a lifetime ago.  I was sitting in my office at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine when I got a call from Lisa Wolfinger from Lone Wolf Media.  She asked if I would be interested in helping promote the idea of a TV series on Civil War Medicine.  I think that call  was over 5 years ago now.  Please understand that, for every call like this, one in five actually turned out to be a real opportunity.  Despite this, I was enthusiastic about each one.  I stiffed my first response ("Interested!! Does a bear poop in the woods!! You Bet!  Woooohooo!) and calmly said, "why yes, I would love to have the Museum involved".  That started a years long partnership that is finally coming to fruition in January 2016.  Frankly, I am excited!

I have to tell you that involvement in these things is a complicated process.  David Price, the newly appointed Executive Director of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine and I met on several occasions with Lisa and her staff.  David was fairly new at the Museum back then, but he saw the importance of this opportunity for national exposure and wanted to make the most of it.   In the beginning there were no sponsors, no commitment from PBS, just a great idea and a great team of professionals with a passion for the subject.  The Museum and our staff provided research to help Lisa attract funders, we reviewed scripts, we provided material support in the beginning, just to get PBS to say yes.  There were months with no word, and those times were hard but then came a frenzy of activity to get ready for the next phase as soon as word came.

In the last two years we stepped up efforts in script review.  Terry Reimer kept on top of us all to get the scripts done, Tom Frezza and Kyle Wichtendahl both did their jobs in research, review and on-set advising, David Price kept us in the information loop and made sure our efforts were timely and coordinated and Joanna Jennings kept the whole ship afloat by keeping us all in line.  It was a team effort and now we see the payoff.

But what about the final product?  Many in the Civil War community are very afraid that historical accuracy will be lacking.  I must say that I have been impressed with Lisa and her team.  When I was on-set in an advisory roleI was given the opportunity to make changes.   I know for a fact that scripts were changed based on the research provided.  But today I am excited because I think that their website says more than I can.  There is a great Civil War medical quiz with embedded articles, websites and videos to help explain the answers.  See it here.  There are teacher resources, articles and videos on the site.  Take a look and see what you think.  http://www.pbs.org/mercy-street/home/

You might also want to visit www.mercystreetpbs.com .  This is a new page put together by the National Museum of Civil War Medicine to act a an addition resource.  It will allow all of the viewers to get a deeper understanding of Civil War Medicine that they could ever get from a one hour show.  It takes you past the drama and right into the reality of the subject.

I am proud to be a part of this program.  I am proud of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine and all of its staff for their work.  I hope that you will all watch on January 17th.  And I hope we can begin a much needed discussion of Civil War medicine and what it truly means to our current lives in the 21st century!

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