Us on facebook. Each week, American History tvs american artifacts takes you to museums and historic places. In the second of the museum of the American Revolution, we visit the artifact collection. I am scott stevenson. I am the director of interpretations for the museum. Im in charge of the team developing exhibitions and programs that will be in the new museum in philadelphia. This is about a century old startup. We have been working on the project in philadelphia, the final stages, for about five years. We expect to open early in 2017 and have a place to show off all of these wonderful and amazing original objects from the revolutionary era. For a general view looking at 18thcentury firearms, they tend to look alike after a while. This is a significant piece that speaks to the power of the idea that we are animating the men and women who made the country and particularly the men who served under arms during the revolution. If you look at these pieces of continental currency, you will notice the designs. These have been selected under the direction of Benjamin Franklin from a book of ancient symbology. In the center, it is difficult to see, but there is an image of a beaver chewing a tree, basically calling for persistence on the part of the beaver. This idea this will not be a conflict won overnight, that persistence will be rewarded. This piece on the end, the continental 3 bill as a great connection to this musket. In the center, theres the image of an eagle attacking a crane which is defending itself with its beak. And in latin, the legend roughly translates as the outcome is uncertain. If you look carefully on the musket, he will see slightly concealed beneath the hammer that you will recognize that same symbol from the continental 3 bill has been engraved by the gunsmith on the lock of this wonderful americanmade musket. And to think about the idea that the outcome is uncertain while you are carrying a weapon like that against one of the most powerful militaries in the world is something that can speak to us today. I brought these pistols out because they relate to a particularly interesting character from the revolution. John Peter Gabriel muhlenberg was a germanamerican man born near philadelphia in the town of trapp, pennsylvania. His father henry is still considered to be the founder of the Lutheran Church in america and the muhlenberg family was a remarkable family that many of the sons of henry became very certificate figures in theology and natural sciences, in the military and politics. Frederick muhlenberg, the brother of peter muhlenberg, was the first speaker of the house of representatives and in many ways was considered an important figure in the adoption of the bill of rights peter muhlenberg, like all of his brothers, was ordained as a minister at the beginning of the American Revolution he had gone to london and then ordained in the church of england so that he could then go to virginia in the early 1770s and take up a calling to preach in what is now the Shenandoah Valley of virginia. He became very caught up in the revolutionary politics of 1774 1775 1776, and was involved in raising a regiment of germanspeaking settlers in the Shenandoah Valley which is deep in virginia which is a socalled german regiment and he served through 1783. Essentially rose through the ranks to general. These are the pistols that he carried through the revolution and he actually bequeathed them to his oldest son in his well. He referred to them as his barrel pistols. His initials were on them on the wrist plate engraved in script. They are not particularly fancy from a period standpoint. They are fairly plain weapons, horse pistols, but a lot of incredible history they could tell. If they were able to speak. This parent volumes are two surviving volumes from a multivolume set of 18thcentury works on livvys history of rome and these belonged to george mason dated 1769 and were later sign ed by his son Thompson Mason in 1792. They are a london in addition london edition. And george mason often remembered as the father of the bill of rights. He was very politically active as a member of the house of burgesses in virginia all for through the prerevolutionary struggle and a member of the virginia convention. He was involved in drafting the virginia revolutionary constitution and declaration of rights in 1776. Really, a very significant figure. The volume is also significant as evidence of the founders interest in ancient history of routing their political understanding in the history of rome and the history of republics. They were looking for examples from classical history for their political philosophies of how to organize the new republic government they hoped would replace the monarchical system. These are very rare pieces and there is only a handful of masons books that have survived. I think we have more than anyone else except the wonderful gunston hall located south of washington, d. C. , south of alexandria which is a wonderful preserved Historic Site that everyone should visit if they are interested in the founding era. Its often difficult to find objects that speak to the role of africanamericans in the war. This is a socalled descriptive list from the Continental Army for a massachusetts regiment in 1782. So after the conclusion of most significant fighting but still while the armies were waiting for the terms of the the piece of paris peace of paris to be published and the army to be demobilized. On this list, there are at least five africanamerican soldiers serving. By the end of the American Revolution, there were perhaps 5000 or more africanamericans serving in the Continental Army. You will see this descriptive list was a way for the regiments to keep track of the mens names, their ages, their size, if they had any kind of trade, where they had been born their place of residence and a physical description of them when they have been enlisted for how long. If a soldier deserted, you could advertised for him and say he was this tall and had this complexion or this hair. Also, if soldiers demanded that they would get a discharge during the course of the war this was the kind of document that tracked if they enlisted for a certain term or if they had enlisted openended before the left for for the war. You will see that reflected in this document. An example would be caesar perry. His age was not known but he was 59, born in massachusetts in rehobeth. Bristol was the county and was listed as having dark hair and dark complexion and enlisted march 1, 1777, and for the war. Openended enlistment so he would not be able to claim that he could leave early until peace had been declared. Another man was 37 years old also from massachusetts. In this case bridgwater, Plymouth County and had black hair black complexion , march of 1779 he had been enlisted. Some were prisoners of war and others had been discharged. It is a wonderful document that helps us to establish the service of those whose stories have not always been told in the past fully. This large painting was painted in philadelphia about a century ago by local artist named harrington fitzgerald. It depicts washingtons troops crossing the delaware before the battle of trenton. This is an example of one of our ongoing needs in addition to raising funds to build a museum, we are conserving our collection. This is a painting that lived for decades and decades in an unheated outbuilding in a park and suffered through the years. You can see areas of over painting. These are some test patches from the conservators. Once the painting is cleaned and some infoill done, it will become quite bright instead of looking like a modern washington, d. C. Snowstorm, it is kind of yellowish brown it will look like an 18thcentury snowstorm. Theres actually a second painting behind this one, same size. It is depicting the troops marching into valley forge. We are working to complete the conservation of these painting so they can be put on permanent display in the courtyard of the museum on the second floor as you enter and exit the core exhibition. The museum will continue the story beyond 1783, the demobilization of the Continental Army, through the critical period of the critical time of the 1780s and the gathering of the delegates to the Continental Congress and the founding of the United States constitution. And then deal a bit with the commemoration and memory of the revolution the way that , subsequent generations of americans have continued to look back at the founding era as a source of inspiration and source of power to try to get through hard times, whether they be challenges from abroad or challenges from within. Weve got a couple of objects that speak to those later efforts to remember the revolution. Perhaps most dramatically, this painted parade banner. This is a painted silk banner that was commissioned by the victuallers to participate in a parade. In 1824, when the mark udall lafayette when the marqueee de lafayette on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the declaration of independence returns to the young United States and recall his service as a close associate of general washington through the war of independence. This banner would have been carried on a pole by an assembled group of tradesmen and the different trades would have been represented during this parade through philadelphia down Market Street and Chestnut Street past independence hall. Its a very nice likeness of the marquis. Almost certainly, one of the spectators for that parade would have been this man here jacob lash, who was a local revolutionary war veteran. He lived maybe 10 miles west of philadelphia and had served at at least three tours as a militiaman during the American Revolution including the time of the philadelphia campaign, the winter the british were occupying philadelphia and Washingtons Army was in valley forge. This man was serving in the area. He had this drawing done for a member of the family, probably in the 1840s. He died about 1845. This descended through the family and eventually came in to the collection about 75 years ago. Along with this incredibly rare survivor, this is not a revolutionary uniform but is a summer coat that was a linen coat from 1810. It was when jacob lash and many other revolutionary veterans were retiring. There were not many of them because of their physical disabilities that they suffered during their service. They were unable to support themselves. By the time of the war of 1812, there was an increasing movement for congress to try to do something to support these veterans. It was a National Embarrassment to see veterans who were begging on the street or unable to support themselves. Congress eventually passed the First Pension act in 1818 that would put these men on a public assistance in recognition of their service. And that was eventually expanded in 1832. The unintended consequence of that pension act was to bring to produce a remarkable oral history archive on the war of independence which is now Available Online and the original is in the National Archives in washington. Many of these men would not necessarily have their discharge papers. The recordkeeping had been sporadic during the war. In order to prove their service, these men would go to court in their local communities and they would have to swear an oath and the recount their revolutionary service. They would often bring witnesses if there were any and testify to the veracity of these men. These documents are an incredible oral history archive, the stories that come out, the memories of these veterans of seeing general washington, serving in many of the actions of the revolution, they are really irreplaceable. They are available through the National Archives and they make for great reading. You dont even have to leave the house. You can just use that internet. Bringing the story up to the 20th century, i have to introduce the reverend Herbert Burke who was the founding father of the museum of the American Revolution. He was an episcopal minister in the philadelphia area at the turn of the 20th century. He became obsessed with the idea of creating a museum here in the area that would tell the story of the American Revolution. It would recall and celebrate washingtons efforts to bring the nation into being, its his leadership during the revolution. His first act was to purchase from descendents of martha washington, the daughter of robert e lee, one of the campaign tents that washington used through the American Revolution. This is the sleeping and office 10th at washington used as his field headquarters when he was in the field. He brought the tent to valley forge. He was building what is now known as the washington Memorial Chapel and he placed it on display. He had to raise the princely sum of 5,000 which was no small fee in 1909, to try to purchase this tent. What we have is the actual original visitors log from the washington Memorial Chapel at valley forge. This is recording all the people who came to visit and pay their couple of nichockels in order to see the tent. As you can see, september 8, september 9, lots and lots of folks, 1907, he is raising the money over the course of a couple of years. I marked a page here because there was a remarkable visitor here. On september 18, 1909, the Famous Artist howard pyle and his wife ann and his son godfrey visited to see the tent. This is a reproduction of a painting that he had done a couple of years earlier, an illustration from a magazine. He was wellknown for the illustration of pirates and early American History. He is still beloved as the progenitor of the socalled Brandywine School of art you can see at the Brandywine River Museum in pennsylvania and the Delaware Museum of art in wilmington. He had already imagined washington in his tent a few years earlier for this magazine illustration. This mustve been going through his mind. He actually did a little character of general washington after visiting the tent. I am able to show you a portion of washingtons tent. We are doing the final conservation work on the tent for display in the museum. Michelle and i will carefully reveal part of the wall of general washingtons tent. What you are seeing this is an image that is showing the way the tent will actually be displayed in a museum. It will be in an object theater and the tent will be in its own climate controlled case not unlike the starspangled banner at the American Museum of history. The tent is composed of a roof and a sidewall that hangs from the roof, not unlike a tent you would rent for a party today. In a lot of ways, it is a very contemporary style. What youre seeing laid out here is the linen wall of that tent. This is what was known as a sod cloth so this is the bottom of the wall that would hang them and that would fall to the inside of the tent to try to keep rain and dirt and critters from coming into the tent very easily. There would have been a line of little iron hooks and eyes along the top of that wall. As you can see, it is raked a little bit or has a rise here because of the end of the tent where the door is located rises up a little bit. One of the interesting things we found in our initial assessment and documentation is that when it was originally constructed, the doors were about six inches lower and that early in the process, they had been cut and additional material was added to raise them up a bit. When you think about washington being about six feet four 64, he was a tall man for that time so maybe his hat got knocked off one too many times and he sent it back for repairs. There is tremendous information that can come from examining these old objects centuries after they were produced. It is still revealing a lot of secrets as we continue our work. The museum of the American Revolution will be a National Institution dedicated to advancing learning about the revolution. We will present the entire story of the American Revolution and really give people a place to go in this nation to discover the miracle of how this country came into being, an incredible experience awaits every visitor who walks into this museum. Yes, they will see some amazing artifacts, original witnesses to the American Revolution, the men and women who achieved it and at the same time, they will be experiencing the war and the era in utterly surprising and novel ways. There will be immersive environments with films that will bring the story to life. You will meet the people and get to understand the importance of the revolution, where the drive came from to sustain this country through eight years of warfare. Why the ideals of liberty and quality and selfgovernance were so important, where these values came from that still define us as americans today. The museum a few expected to open in early 2017. You can learn more about the museum and see the artifacts online at amrev museum. Org and you can view this and other artifact programs at www. Cspan. Org history. Each week, American History tvs reel america brings you archival films that help tell the story of the 20th century. . In this tomb of the unknown