USD Magazine, Fall 1995

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or more than 20 years, John Langellier has made history come alive for the thousands of people who have viewed the museum exhibits he's created, read the books he's written or seen one of the movies he's consulted on. But Langellier counts among his greatest accomplishments a recent response from an audience of one. "It was an absolute joy this year to be a guest editor for an issue of Cobblestone, a children's history magazine," says Langellier, who earned two degrees in history from USD, a bachelor's in 1972 and a master's in 1973. "When I told my 7-year-old daughter that she could take her copy to school to give to the library, she said, 'No, I want to keep it.' So I gave her another one for the school, but having her feel that way about an article her dad wrote, that was my crowning glory.'' The issue of Cobblestone to which Langellier refers was about African American soldiers in the American West of the late 19th and early 20th century, the so-called "Buffalo Soldiers.'' While his expertise encompasses much of the history of the American West as well as U.S. military history, the Buffalo Soldiers have a special place in Langellier's heart. In recognition of his work on books, films and studies of the Buffalo Soldiers, he was elected an honorary member of the 9th and 10th Cavalry Association in 1993, and is thus an official Buffalo Soldier. The certificate the 9th and 10th Cavalry gave Langellier hangs in his office at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles, where he is the director of publications and productions. Langellier joined the museum more than a year before the institution opened its doors in 1988, and helped plan the gallery concepts and exhibits. The phi– losophy he brings to the museum and his

other work is reflected by another item hanging on his office wall, a photo of Langellier and Gene Hackman taken when he worked on the movie "Geronimo: An American Legend.'' "There really are two American Wests, the real West and the West because they overlap and draw on each other. Even when we see an old Western movie and know that's not the way it was, it's still part of the history.'' Part of Langellier's work is separating fact from fiction, and helping others do the same. On the set of "Geronimo," for example, he rewrote scripts, consulted on dialogue and even coached actor Robert Duvall on how to speak. The same principles applied when Langellier helped put together a book and museum exhibit titled "The Mask of Zorro: Mexican Americans in Popular Media," which explored how Mexican Americans are stereotyped in American film and television. While he educates, Langellier also strives to maintain the attention of the audience. "A good museum has to entertain as well as inform, because there's a lot of competition," he says. "A good museum shouldn't be elitist, either. Everyone should be able to come.'' Langellier knows a good deal about putting together museums. After finish– ing at USD, he was founding director of the Presidio Army Museum in San Francisco. He followed up with stints as acting director of the U.S. Army Museum in Honolulu, as command historian for the Army in Europe, and as director of the Fort Leavenworth Museum in Kansas, among others. He's also authored almost a dozen books and more than 50 articles on the American West, the Spanish borderlands and motion picture and military history, and of the imagination," Langellier notes. "Both are important,

consulted on numerous television and film projects. One might wonder how he finds the time for so many activities, but Langellier's obvious passion for history puts those questions to rest. "Working at a museum gives me the chance to turn academics into a three– dimensional story," he says. "Although some of the things I do might not be as in-depth as I'd like, I hope they act as an hors d'oeuvre, whetting people's appetite to really sit down and delve into history. "Sometimes people come out of classes where history is taught from a book thinking that it's all dead dates," he con– tinues. "My challenge is to make it inter– esting.'' History has always been interesting for Langellier, who says he first knew he wanted to be a historian when he was 9 or 10 years old. In the time since then, historians have become much more sophisticated in research and presenta– tions, using multimedia, CD-ROM and other advances in technology to augment their work. But to Langellier, the medium is just a tool. For him, the actual history is where the action is and always has been. "More and more of our time is spent in virtual reality," he says. "History is real reality. We should spend more time there. It's more interesting.''

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