Visitors to take another look at some everyday objects. Suzanne we are in the michigan history exhibit. We are looking at our new exhibit, secret lives of michigan objects. Secret lives of michigan objects is a playful and fun exhibit about museum collections, and the way that objects in museums add up to michigan history. It is a way to involve people who live in michigan to think about their stuff as part of michigan history. Especially in history museums, we like to put things into context. An object is not just an object, it tells a story about the time it was made, the people who used it. In this exhibit, we are saying, what are other ways to look at objects . And what are other stories that objects can tell . The first thing people see when they come to the exhibit space is this one object. Its in a dark room, lit very dramatically. Whats in this case . It is a bottle of vernors. It is a kind of ginger ale from detroit. Very well known to people in michigan. We decided to exhibit like it is a precious piece of art. We wanted to change the way we think about everyday objects. Things that they are familiar with, things they use every day. And say, what if we thought of this as an art object . How does it change the way we think about it . In museums, you will see what are called period rooms, a whole room decorated to be like it was in a certain place. So in this exhibit, we did a period room of a 1970s basement. We want to help people understand that this is part of history. Maybe it is your childhood, but it is still part of history. It means that the things you used, and the Life Experiences you had are part of history, a vital part of history. From the orange shag carpet to the atari set, to some of the other games people used. Another fun thing about this period room is that we are exposing what it is like to build a period room, and what kind of choices you make. We decided to make this period room unfinished. It is showing the process of making a period room. You can see a cart from our collection staff, an acidfree box. We will start putting up vinyl wallpaper that looks like wood paneling. There are tags on objects from being in storage. So, really giving a sense of what it is like to build a period room and the kind of questions we ask ourselves when we build them. What will make this look real . Because you might not be able to put your finger on an exact thing, but if something is wrong, you know it. We want to help people think about what it means to be part of history. While a lot of peoples kneejerk reaction might be, i am so old, my childhood stuff is in a museum, we want to get further than that and say, what does that mean . Does it mean the stuff you lived through is a part of michigan history . Worth talking about in a museum . Those are the questions we want to ask. This section of the exhibit is green things from michigan. Thats it. They are all green. They have no other connection other than being from michigan and being green. We thought that was a fun way to think about our collection. Usually in collections, we put things in context or we arrange them by time period. What do we learn from putting all green things together . Here are some of the stories about some of the green things on display. This pair of roller skates belonged to a michigan governor, sophie williams. This set of post office boxes, kind of the biggest green thing we have here, was at the state capitol. It was used by the legislature. I want to point out the wallpaper in the back. That has a michigan connection, too. In the late 19th century, it was very popular to make green pigments with arsenic, and wallpaper was one of the things they made beautiful Green Designs with arsenic with. A michigan physician published a book called shadows from the wall of death. A very scary title that was basically a book about uses of arsenic wallpaper to raise the alarm that there was lots of arsenic wallpaper. Not a book you want to keep around even for Public Health purposes, because all of these wallpapers have arsenic in them, but we have a copy in our collection of shadows from the walls of death. We digitized it and taken lots of safety precautions. This is a reproduction of one of those arsenic wallpapers. At the exhibit, right now, there is no information about the objects. None. So, part of our experimental process in building this exhibit is to ask people who come in, what do you recognize, and what do you want to know more about . So, as the show goes on, we will put out more information based on that. So we are really excited for the input of the visitors about this. The cabinet of curiosity section is based on the early ancestors of museums that were places for all kinds of curious and unusual strange things. In this section, we offer a selection of some of the most unusual things from our collection and ask visitors, which ones do you want to see . One of the things i like is a vibrating chair that was used for health reasons. It was produced by the battle creek sanitarium, a wellknown michigan story relating to the kelloggs. Interesting object. It is a chair that has a motor attached to it, basically. Another semi medical object that we are interested in seeing if visitors want to see is a foot xray machine that was used at shoe stores. You would put your feet into the machine and there are two viewing ports so that the shoe salesperson and a parent could look and see how well the shoe fits you. And, of course, you got a dose of radiation as well. This is a very familiar object for people of a certain generation because they were in lots and lots of shoe stores. It was a treat to go to a shoe store and be able to see the bone in your feet. Another unusual object from our collections is this umbrella, is a silk umbrella that has a compass in the handle. As the story goes, it was given to nancy carey by president lincoln. She was a nurse in the civil war and got turned around in the dark and ended up in a confederate camp and was imprisoned as a spy. She was released and ended up meeting president lincoln, who as the story goes, gave her this umbrella so that she would not get lost again. So we have opened the exhibit with pictures of these objects and little voting boxes. So, eventually, we will put objects that have been voted on in this exhibit. This is the kind of exhibit that will grow and change every time that you come in, and people who come in to see the exhibit will be able to make those changes. There are lots of opportunities for people who come to the show to say what they want to see in here, what objects, what stories, what were missing, and to really feel like they are part of the exhibit. I hope that people who visit this exhibit the secret lives of michigan objects, get the sense that the things in their house, the things that they use every day are part of history, and that they are a part of michigan history. Are cities tour staff recently traveled to lansing, michigan, to learn about its history. To watch more video from other stops on our toward visit cspan. Org cities tour. You are watching American History tv, all weekend, every weekend on cspan 3. War, then the civil coauthor of targeted tracks talks about the importance of the Cumberland Valley railroad during the civil war. This was a one track Railroad Running from hagerstown, maryland, to harrisburg, pennsylvania. It was used to move union troops, and supplies and was often under attack i confederate forces. The Gettysburg Heritage Center in pennsylvania hosted this talk. A little bit about our speaker. We have scott mingus. I have known scott for a number of years but i did not know him until i reviewed his bio. He is a scientist and consultant in the pulp and paper industry. He holds patents in self adhesive postage stamps and barcode labels. I never knew that