Cold War is hot topic

In 1963, Canadian career civil servant Warren Langford travelled through Europe, North America and Africa as part of the National Defence College’s Cold War training. Along the way he snapped 200 photos of pyramids and lions, seashores and missiles. The images became slide shows for his family back in Ottawa.

Five decades later, Concordia University Research Chair in Art History Martha Langford and John Langford, professor in the School of Public Administration at the University of Victoria, have returned to those slides for clues about an era and the government man who was their father.

A Cold War Tourist and His Camera, just published by McGill-Queen’s University Press, allows the two authors to analyze the context and content of their father’s archive.

Both will present their observations in the final lecture of this year’s Speaking of Photography series on March 15 at 6:30 p.m. in the York Amphitheatre, Room EV-1.605, Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex (1515 St. Catherine St. W.).

Read more about the project in the Journal available March 7.

Related links:
•  A Cold War Tourist and His Camera
•  Speaking of Photography series
•  Department of Art History