Hoover Institution (Stanford, CA) — Reflections, the signature video series from the Hoover Institution Library & Archives returns this month for a second season, featuring more historical objects from Hoover’s collections and drawing on the expertise of Hoover fellows.
Each episode pairs a collection within the Library & Archives with a leading Hoover scholar, who discusses a significant moment in US or world history informed in part by the items presented.
“The Reflections series is an effective way to spread the word about Hoover’s extraordinary collections while illuminating turning points in modern history for a wide audience,” said Research Fellow Bertrand M. Patenaude, who played an integral role in developing the video series. “The brevity of each episode creates an opportunity for Hoover fellows and the production team to zero in on the essence of the stories we want to tell and the most compelling ways to illustrate those stories.”
Episodes will be released throughout 2026, beginning with a new video from renowned military historian and Hoover Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson. It deals with the Gallipoli Campaign in World War I, using the sketchbook of British Lieutenant Colonel M. J. W. Pike, commanding officer of a battalion in the Royal Irish Fusiliers, who fought in Turkey in 1915 and 1916.
Pike’s sketches, which are housed at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives, convey the stark contrast between the beautiful landscape of the Gallipoli Peninsula and the horrors of the trench warfare that took place during battles ultimately won by the Ottoman Empire.
The episode airs Thursday, March 19.
In April, Senior Fellow H.R. McMaster will discuss the origins and evolution of the Hoover Afghanistan Research & Relief Team (HART), established in the wake of the chaotic US military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
He describes how a program that began as an emergency initiative to support and fill gaps in the US government’s efforts to evacuate refugees transitioned to collect and preserve historical materials on the war in Afghanistan, including oral histories, at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives. The oral histories will be released by Hoover at a launch event scheduled for April 9.
A future episode in season 2 will feature Hargrove Hoover Fellow Jacquelyn Schneider discussing the history of wargaming. The episode will use documents and artifacts dating back to the Berlin Crisis Wargame of 1961, conducted at Camp David, as the completion of the Berlin Wall escalated tensions between NATO and the Soviet Union.
Other episodes planned for 2026 include Senior Fellow Elizabeth Economy discussing the Chinese Communist Party’s Long March during the Chinese Civil War; Senior Fellow Russell A. Berman on the activities of the Nazi Gestapo, aided by an arrest list from the era; and Senior Fellow Philip Zelikow discussing the fall of the Berlin Wall and the eventual reunification of East and West Germany.
Since its founding by Herbert Hoover in 1919, the Hoover Institution Library & Archives has been collecting, preserving, and making widely available the most important materials documenting war, revolution, and peace in the modern era.
Each object and collection at the Library & Archives provides a unique story about the political, social, and economic ideas and movements that have shaped the past century. From the millions of consequential moments documented in letters, diaries, rare books, maps, posters, photographs, audio recordings, film, and digital records, a profound impact on our modern world is revealed.
Watch episodes of Reflections here.
Learn more about Hoover’s Library and Archives here.
