Watch on cspan. Org and on cspan, or listen in the freeseas bandwidth radio app. For the next hour, a book tv exclusive our cities to her visits portland, maine, to learn more about its unique history and literary life. For six years, we traveled in u. S. Cities, bringing the book seem to our viewers. You can much more of her visits at cspan. Org cities tour. More of our visits at cspan. Org cities tour. These are some of the items that i pulled out to show the , which of our collection documents the exploration and founding of maine from about the 16th century through the modern period. This is a piece from 1565, reportedly one of the first uses of this term in print. Is a legendary city, the el dorado of the american northeast. It is claimed to be a viking settlement of riches and gold never to be found, but often sought after, in the true sense in the age of exploration. This is all you three of for mobiles of a volume, loosely translated as a documentation of the exploration of the new world. This map towards the end of the normincludes the term of bvega. This is a map of the new world, and one of the first references to this particular section. This collectively meant new england, but it is specifically understood to be the region of bangor and modern casting in the state of maine. The Maine Historical society is the third oldest state Historical Society in the United States. We are dedicated to the history of maine, as well as early new england and maritime canada. Collecting since 1822. We were at Bowdoin College for. He first two decades we moved around to portland, then acquired a Longfellow House after 1901. We built this library, and have been at this location since 1907. Our collection we say we have over 2 million pages of manuscripts, a unique management. We have over 300,000 photographs. We also collect extensively on maps, early newspapers, plates, lantern slides, and architectural drives for maine itself. 1631particular item is a lambs fromrovide fernando gorgeous, considered to maine,founder of modern to robert trelawney. Grid entially a granting land in the black point region, scarborough they cape elizabeth. Its one of the treasures of maines Historical Society. Is lots of language about what. Hings cost, the value its about corn, tobacco, and and then,s, traditional monetary units, british monetary units. This particular item is quintessential to what we see is the heart land. land. T of main historye land is land, contested ownership, the use of land, hunting rights, the ability to fish, hunt, farm, and that really adds a center of maine history. Contested land grants, these relationships with the native peoples, and the differences between printing institutions in places like massachusetts, and those who were actually living on the land itself. As we approach our bicentennial in 2020, weve been working on an initiative to did digitize materials related to separation frome massachusetts massachusetts. A lot of materials are papers of ng, maines first center. The materials we have here ,ocument this in the senate some of the feelings of the individual citizens of what would become in, how they feel about what would becomemaine, how they feel what would become maine, how they feel about separating from other states. It wasnt until 1820 that came to fruition. That was for a few reasons the war of 1812 amongst those. During the war of 1812, massachusetts did not successfully defend maine, although, both maine and massachusetts it helped that massachusetts wasnt doing it to diligence to really defend maine. Thats the story line that carries through. We came into the union as part of the missouri compromise. Some of the individuals in maine for the back cover my something coming into the union and circumstances. This would take away from the significance of our statehood. The missouri compromise in a nutshell, essentially, it came into the union as a slave state, and maine would come in as a free state. There were individuals who felt like, despite wanting statehood, its best not to reinforce the mainef slavery, without having an abolitionist sentiment and its idea of massachusetts. Complexities of that others talk about the contested debate in the u. S. Senate over issues. Our relationships, untying business ties with massachusetts was a priority. These are two william king. This particular piece, which resides in a different elect collection, is a congratulation congratulatory message. We collect for the purposes of sharing maines history with people from maine and throughout the United States or around the usld, so its important to that the collections be used. Our Research Library gives us they areet so that accessible, so if people are interested, they can come here. Maine women writers collection is a special cowriter collection of rare material by and about women in maine. It was founded in 1959. We think its important to document the everyday lives of , and diaries their our wonderful ways to do that and their diaries are wonderful ways to do that. This diary is written by Eleanor Hamlin from portland. This is from the 1940s. Remarkable in unremarkable. This is one of the examples of a passage in the diary, january 5, 1945. Downtown. D rainy got jim and brought him home to listen to president trumans message to congress. First of for a while, then helen b came in the afternoon and walter dropped in. Showing how, yet these people are clearly engaged with the world around them, living there every two lives. This was the life of admiral thedmiral, who is one of two claimants to having to first. Ead reach the north pole in the late 19th century, she accompanied her husband on a couple of arctic expeditions, andrecorded that experience a variety of ways. It was recorded in photographs. She also kept a journal. She documented aspects of the experience. She gave her daughter she told her daughter marie about the arctic circle. She pasted this into her scrapbook. Wrote on tuesday, september a. M. Not up at 5 00 feeling well. Comfortable most before noon. 6 35 p. M. , lady. 7 pounds. Weigher 8 ecause she kn because she knew they were giving birth in the arctic, she had a doctor. Doctor says i have to stay in space at least two weeks. Dont think i will. Another unpublished john wright. They have a convention that the writers often follow, their complex negotiations. They are receiving attention from scholars now, a genre thats worthy of study. Theyre forced to have a lot of materials in that category here. One of my favorite examples is the letters that there this person exchanged with any fields, who was it anny fields, who was a dear friend, and later whom would share a type of marriage, which means basically that they, too women , women who did not have the economic necessity of marrying, were able to live together in a relationship of love and passion. They exchanged letters early on in that relationship that are quite fascinating in that regard. Letters that the womens writers collection have say they sustained that relationship. Any fields was deeply in love with her husband, james t fields. When he passed away, and he was inconsolable. Theyturned she wrote wrote many letters during that time. Anny reads dear love, ive just read your two letters and long to hold you close and fast to make you sure how dearly i love you, and could drive away something of your sad loneliness. She since you are tired, my darling. I keep telling you that over and over. I cant bear to have you say these things. Or, as farmers feel them, when you know how i love you and think of you and him living for you so much of my time. \ in the 19th century, it was not uncommon for women to form these Close Relationships to one which wereny of surely what we would call lesbian relationships. Was, the cultural expectation for women was, that they would follow a certain path to millie, they would marry. They would have children. Many people womens and follow them because of social and economic pressures. It wasnt out of place. It wasnt unusual for women to have these relationships together, and then, for one of or both of them to marry a man. Remarkableconsidered. Problematicnsidered or pathological. Its important to have this, because it keeps safe these historic materials, that, when they left to smolder in the attic, would not make it into the future. Sose materials are important, because they provide a much more inclusive and accurate picture of history, not simply by including womens lives in the mix, but really through that by giving us an idea of what everyones lives were like. I think of the beautiful town, heated by the sea. Often, its so up and down the pleasant streets of that town, my youth comes back to me. Anry Watford Longfellow was american poet in the 19th century. Writing e and probably the most famous englishlanguage writer in the world. Not the most famous person in the world. Today, hes probably best remembered for poems like polar childrens hour. He still part of our everyday lexicon and our american memory. Maine onrn in portland february 27, 1807. He grew up here. As an adult, left portland in maine, he still came back all the time. He found inspiration in the city, in his childhood home. It was still very much a special place to him, and the real source of poetry. Bys house was always owned the watfords and longfellows. Henrys grandparents had the house in 1870 1786. Henrys own parents lived here from 18 seven through their death. The last person to live at the house was henrys sister and longfellow pierce. She died in 1901. Upon her death, she left the house and everything in it the main Historical Society. Part of as far as how much is what you see is original to the house and family, the figure ive been quoted is 94 . Almost all of it. Places whereew things we had to fill in gaps over the years. Only the things you are looking at have a personal connection to the house and people who live here. This is the front hall the wadsworth from ones fellow house, where the familys guest wouldve come in. Have beenthey would taken into the familys parlor. This is the most formal room of the house. It was where they kept their nicest things, their finest furniture. Was amore often was not, room for special occasions. Sometimes, somber occasions. Washington was a popular figure in the early 19th century america. It wouldnt have been huge likeness infind his any american home. The wadsworths and longfellows work proud that they had a personal connection to the president. The man who built this house during theal american revolution. He actually knew george washington. The moment that palin is best remembered for best remembered for during the war was the penobscot his role in the penobscot exhibition in 1779. The militia was anxious to get the british out of maine come out is what is today cap scene, maine. They since Ground Forces and naval forces to that area. Henrys grandfather was second in command Ground Forces. In charge of the artillery in thats expedition was paul revere. The expedition ended in a horrible deceit for the americans. Foras the worst defeat the naval americans. It was the worst since before pearl harbor. A revere was made something of a scapegoat for everything that went wrong. Over, wadsworth said that paul revere had not obeyed an order that he had given him. Paul revere was not remembered by a lot of the men with him at the penobscot expedition. He is brought up on charges after its all over, and even for a while was placed under house arrest. We are talking 1782, 1783. The american rest revolution was coming to an end. People didnt really care much worried aboutwant paul rivera anymore. His her petition was ruined forever. He fell into of security for generations. Nobody knew who paul revere was. 1861, pay like wadsworth decides to write a revere which he makes a the star, and makes him the hero , recounting how paul revere mounted his horse and rode through the massachusetts countryside to war and his fellow patriots but the british were marching for lexington and concord. Probably henrys way of warning his fellow new englanders, we are on the eve of are grandparents were ready when we got when the call came 80 years ago. Why he chose power here out of here ishe other figures not really known. We dont know that his grandfather talked to henry. Its interesting to note that telik wadsworth would have seen paul revere remembered in a very different way from the way his grandson would have him remembered. Showing aned interest in becoming a writer at a very young age from his childhood. Whenblishes first pollen he was 13 years old. Graduated from Bowdoin College, he would have been 18 or 19 years old. He told his father thats what he wanted to do. He wanted to be a writer. Think he always knew that was, that was history, his passion. This was the familys dining room and sitting room, a place where, where they werent Entertaining Company in the parlor, they might gather just to relax. For many years, henrys father, thisen longfellow used space as his law office. He was a lawyer. For time, he practiced after the house. He also a small rate waiting room for his clients to use. His clients could come in and out this entrance and wait for stephen here without interrupting the day of the rest of the family. That when henry was young, we like to sit back here and write. Wherethe small face was he found some privacy away from the prying eyes of the Seven Brothers and sisters. His parents, on. If any case if you would like he would come back here for a tog for some alone time do some writing. When henry was 19, his father moved the law office out of the house. Henrys mother turned this into a closet, which had him feeling put out. He was saying to his sister, elizabeth, i havent been able to write a thing, not since the since they crossed the rubicon into the sanctorum of the little room and turn it into a china closet. Was 19 talking about his mother. We can assume the statement is tongueincheek. It shows us how important this , evenreally was to henry as he grew up. Henrys poetry, his first big commercial success was evangeline, which he published in 1847. Its his home about the acadian and then out of Canada Maritime by the british in the 1700s. By other bigowed hits, if you will carry the courtship of miles standish, paul reveres and come over what the original title of the landlords tail, from his anthology, the tales of the wayside in. This was a romantic style, sort of the epic storytelling if you will. All those poems i mentioned were by actualed historical events, or historical figures. Those are some of the once he is best known for still to this day. This is how america imagines its origins as a nation. At the back of the hall and to the left was the familys summer dining room. This side of the house faces north. Its cooler back here for eating in the summertime. Today, this is often referred to as the rainy day room. They believed that in this room, and at that very desk, henry wrote his poem the rainy day. The poem is not one of henrys brother henrys better remembered in 2017, but people quoted all the time, not realizing they are quoting one of his poems. Has three the palm has what he can describe the poll woman has what he can powem he life is very his dark and dreary. Trees were falling thick all around him. He strikes a slightly more hopeful tone in the last stanza, sad heart andtill cease rebinding. Behind the clouds, is the son shall still shining sun sun shining . Some days are dark and dreary. Every life, a little rain fall. U. S. Made at stake and wait into our everyday lexicon. Henry wrote the poem on the heels of a lot of loss in his personal life. Within the span of about one year. His sister ellen died at 16 years old. His george, pierce died. They were in college, good friends. Year, mary, while i was lockedng abroad somewhere. He sits down to write the rainy day somewhere, and is falling into that grief. We know that henry, when hes visiting the childhood home, he would often stay in this bedroom. After he married his second wife , we know that they came here for a visit, then stated in this very room. Here ugh people in there were enough people here too still have a writing desk this is a precursor to the laptop. Its full to into a nice little box and you can transported. Easily. We know henry wrote part of the poem on this writing desk. Home, ito childhood was tangible reminder of the say,he did, and, i would help famous and well traveled he was. His fame as a writer took him all over the world. He found inspiration all over the world. It was important for him to have the tools he needed so that he could always be writing and creating no matter where he was. Henry, would come back,. Ypically at least once a year he wouldnt become well known as 1840s18ntil the 50s. We know what his home in cambridge massachusetts, photographers would come out of their studios. Can we take your picture, can we take your picture . He, by all accounts, was a nice man. There are lots of photographs still exist of henry longfellow. Coming back to his hometown in his middle age, and in his final years, he would have been a recognizable figure. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow died in 1882. His sister would be living in this house about another 15 years. The idea of freedom, being the building the community and the common good, goes back to the death of the country even founded. This goes all impact to the constitutional convention. The comments were having this when they were actually fighting great britain. And its been here ever since and often, and its very profound. The idea that you would try to create a liberal democracy from crafts scratch was a revolutionary idea at the time the country was founded. People were confused about what it would look like. There was a conscious this was a conscious experiment to try to create one. How you would do that how would you ensure that , all individuals could maximize their freedom in the economy with a profound debate . People have very different ideas about what that meant. The conversation, revolves around, what does freedom mean . In some regionallybased traditions, freedom was seen as being about individual liberty. In other words, the sovereignty and personal freedom of individuals being maximized, they could be taken to pathological extents. The idea that Property Ownership should reign supreme, and you should be able to explore all the way down to that absurd level. That was held by many of the leading figures of certain regions in the country for a long time. There was an idea that you had to build a free society through the developing of a free community. In other regions of the country, here in new england, or you had puritans and their idea that people were fundamentally flawed, and corrupt, you had to keep an eye on them, individuals or suspects. You had to watch over them, that they would mess things up for everybody. You had to have individuals stand down if they were threatening the goals of the community. They recruit were creating a more godly divinely inspired thing, a shining city on the hill. Their idea is about the balance of individual freedom and good of the community, they were very different. Imagine, in the aftermath of the american revolution, you have those traditions and bunch of others trying to all negotiate and create a federation together. It was a difficult path, and has been ever since. Of these and other ideas of what freedom means go theyrery deep, and often contradictory in any kind of policy charge. If you go to the extreme in either direction, it means leads to tyranny and the destruction of this. If you believe that individual freedom is up most of us, the way you achieve it is to have Less Government and less taxes. Two individuals have to be freer . That probably true at some end, but if you keep doing that, you go further down that road, and there is no effective government anymore. The most powerful individuals and families will maximize their freedom, and you end up moving towards an oligarchy, where there is no one to stop them, intergenerational or anything else, from a situation like places where 12 countries control families control everything. They own everything, everyone who tries to stop them is illuminated. If you go in the other direction, you go down the common good half, the idea that the good of the community has to prevail, and individual rights dont matter, you end up failing quickly as well. The more you start handing over the common good to the ,upposedly benevolent party which are run by people, he often confide that is you do that, the common good, as expressed by whatever tuition you have given it over to, start seeing human idiosyncrasies and defense as being a threat to the common good. They will crack down all the way wrongint where long thinking should be stopped preemptively. You end up with hitlers germany, and that as bad as well. Logically, somewhere, there is a balance, where the two forces are in equilibrium, a sweet spot which is what the book argues. It argues the spot than any democracy has to try to find, and pass, and keep on in changing circumstances, which is why maintaining a liberal democracy is challenging. A balance as possible. Other liberal democracies have achieved balance. They have it easier. Many of our liberal democracies, japan, they arent complicated societies. Maybe one or10, two dominant ones anyplace like belgium. As a majority dominant consensus about where the 50 yard line lies, with the balance should be. Many of them fall on a more common good side than if you averaged out all the american regions we would. States, the social democracies, theres a good experience with those. Theres a vigorous free market economy, but you drive resources produced by it. Theres a good and free society, but the market has reigned supreme. Point betweenance individual liberties and the , their sweet spot, their 50 yard line, the individual side most americans would be comfortable with. Can it be done here, we are out of balance currently in the balance of individual liberty. Individual freedom has led to on elegancen authoritarian leanings for the highest part of the country. That means the republicans under a deal of threat. We are going to have democracy, and universal community and individual freedom, that it has to be with somebody here, regardless of circumstance, so they have some piece of chance at this equal Playing Field that is the american dream. Each person in their ideas and would findthemselves out their economic in the best ideas when. Thats what creating more dynamic and compelling and wealthy and free society that in many ways it has. The trick is, you have to be make sure that each generation, regardless of the circumstance of their elders, has been shot. We are out of balance now, and people are starting to feel that there is no hope for their children or themselves. Thats when you start entering dangerous realm. [inaudible] 80. At is about [inaudible] [noise] the history of the people has been tied up for some time. Many people formed, it was difficult. Getting the soil was an easy. A lot of people had to turn here to survive. Over time, this evolved from being a species used for to the end all be all support that is keeping many of the working waterfronts and working people in ages old fishing communities alive. The colonial times, you go tosix pound ones weeding out in the bay. You could eat them, and they one of the last resorts, if you are running clans from the shore. The problem with them commercially, if you are going to try to earn a living, not just sustenance, the first of all, in your local Community Everyone else has lobsters. Continued food, subsistence food, but not anything you could make money on. Starting in 1800 people in cities, boston and new york and printed in boston in would sentencere out. In those days, you could try things on the bottom. There are just about barrel hoops. They are putting that nothing over it. They would have a rope attached to it. They would wade, watching in the they would just try to pull it up. They would go 34 pounds. The people would create boiling houses. It would boil them so they are red, and seldom is an inexpensive source of food in the organized neighborhoods. People didnt have access and couldnt get to the lobsters immediately. Boston and new york, its essentially sandy bottom, not very good lobster habitat. The resource was quickly overexploited. The demand started growing and growing. People had to go into deeper waters. Pretty soon, they were getting to the point where they can get , there were so far out trying to catch them. This kept fueling the expansion of the lobster consumer market. There was some ambitious yankees. There was a solution around the problem, this was it. They built a sort of wooden tank in the whole. Water would flow in, you have this tank. Water that they purchased or caught, would have to be put into this giant tank of constantly recirculated seawater. They would stay alive for several days. There are these must vessels, traveling much longer distances. They sailed in the province of 1830s,setts, by the they started showing up in maine near portland. One of the only things in all people were catching lobsters as a commercial proposition. One of our problems with the there were sources of excellence approaching who created a massmarket. They were cooked up and say that they would be here each day. The first thing place where it really exploded where, as pete was, as people were a tasteg that there was for officers, and it started moving through restaurants before starting to it than by choice, they were becoming, maybe not a delicacy, but not just a chief form of protein. You had the beginnings of the aftermath and civil war and summit summer trade. Before, there hadnt been that. You had people going to get away from this. They had people building cottages with restaurants, wanting to eat local food. Lobster became popular. People started realizing there was an extensive market. They thought well, what if you could preserve it and send longer distances around the midwest around the crossing on the railways . Which you can c what if you could can lobster meat . You could do blueberries and other products, but they had trouble with these things. There was a missing cap for things that were popping up like mushrooms along the coast mushrooms along the coast. They started sitting on on a provisional basis. They started sending tens of thousands of cans of lobster the country. Started creating enormous demand. Some of them had their own smacks going out. 30 1880s and 90s, the demand for lobsters of almost any size became so enormous that it started overwhelming and destroying the popular population itself. This is an example in circles around the world. This came out of a chirp terrible tragedy. None of those conservation member were in place at the end of the 19th century. Here was a demand for lobsters because of this, there was a most sensational demand. They started wiping out the stock of the lobster. Aetty soon, ended up being population. As is happened, happened in many fisheries, this kept going up. A very last animal, because the price of the animal crew as it became rare work. Wildlifehat with explications and fisheries, tragedies. That happened at the lobster fishery. It continued to the place of lobster landings or they were terrible. All the way up until 1929 when the stock market crashed. That occur terrible eliminated the demand for most lobster to the point where was it worth going out in catching them anymore. People work if they were serving in the navy or drafting and the service to fight in our ward, and it wasnt seen often to go out in many fishery grounds. Decadess a period of where humans laid off lobster fisheries. Were able was, they to rebuild. After world war ii, when things got back to normal, and supply chain for lobster regroup, the resource was in Pretty Healthy shape. There was a, not only to support for various conservation laws on the books, maybe the 19th but not catching lobsters that were bigger than us. Those with a successful readers. The female that lobster produces grows geometrically with his size. If you catch the big ones, you are doing much greater damage to the lobster population than you think, but also, not having a chance to reproduce once yet. Cascading up being a improvement. The traps of special vents in them to let lobsters escape so they dont get trapped in there. Lobsters could return to the water, even though bearing eggs, females is the common they look like funny berries on the bottom. Females f the another lobster and catches the female later after the eggs are gone, they will be a successful record return it, not before the lobsters molt. There are various other measures that ensure the breeding stock here. Its a technology that didnt destroy or disrupt the bottom half of that. This ended up being rather benign. You have this industry that is growing. ,ecause of this back story there still so providers, somebody who usually owns this going up for this report for , at a skill that is a household, individual owner scale, thats how the entire lobster fishery, which is not providing lobster to aircraft to china right now in japan, looking at the Global Supply chain its a level in the scale that happens to work in tandem with the resource. There cultural benefits certainly for the communities because its locally owned and operated. Benefits inenormous the longterm for the lobster fishery. In the traditional fisheries are more or less been destroyed. Portland is one of the last areas where there are many. Many traditional history fisheries dont have lobster. Lobster fishermen are carrying the entire cultural legacy of working fishermen. When youre on a boat going up to earn your living, you know it are doing things and one tackle the elements and survive. Whether were farmers a fisherman. Do this for very long time. Because of the social economic history. Our visit to portland, maine is able to be exclusive. For six years, we have traveled to u. S. Cities, green the book seen to our viewers. You can watch more at www. Cspan. Org citiestour. , President Trump talk to reporters before beginning history to asia. Then, house ways and Means Committee chair kevin brady of texas talks about the republican tax reform bill. After that, reaction to their ability from House Minority leader pelosi and ways and Means CommitteeRanking Member richard neal of massachusetts. The president and first lady have departed for their visit to asia. Before boarding marine one, President Trump spoke about the trip and took questions