CLASH OF EMPIRES
A French and Indian War Exhibit

WQED Multimedia is producing a four-part documentary that will bring to life the French and Indian War, a fascinating yet little-understood conflict. Produced and filmed locally, the production is an important, regional economic-development project. "The War That Made America" is planned for broadcast on Wednesdays Jan. 18 and 25, 9-11 p.m.

The Sen. John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center is featuring an exhibit called " Clash of Empires: The British, French & Indian War, 1754-1763." " There is perhaps no other event in American history that has had as much impact and is as little known as the French and Indian War," says Andy Masich, History Center president and CEO. " Clash of Empires" is an exciting opportunity to step back in time, visit a surprisingly different North America and learn about a war that continues to affect our lives today."

Using more than 200 objects and works of art, dioramas, videos and a series of lifelike, historically accurate models, " Clash of Empires" puts visitors in the midst of the tumult that was the French and Indian War. At the first and only comprehensive museum exhibition on the war, visitors can explore dioramas that put the wilderness landscape into perspective, walk under a reproduction birch-bark canoe being portaged by a Canadian and an Iroquois Indian and touch a re-creation of Fort Necessity's wooden stockade, shot through with musket balls during recent ballistics tests. Curators hired world-renowned model-maker Gerry Embleton to create a series of nine evocative figures (including George Washington) to illustrate and anchor core exhibit sections. In addition to illuminating the people involved, the exhibit offers revealing items of the period, including original uniforms, clothing, weapons, crafts, documents and items of everyday life from European, Colonial and American Indian participants. And 27 paintings (see pictures) are on display, many of them masterpieces of the time, that provide a unique, fascinating lens on the war and the people who participated in it. Highlights include period paintings and portraits by Benjamin West, Dominic Serres and Sir Joshua Reynolds.

For more information on the Heinz History Center, visit the web site or call 412/454-6000. To learn about Western Pennsylvania's French and Indian War sites and other commemorative activities, visit the French and Indian War Commemoration web site.

< Previous Article Next Article >

< Back to Main Page