Going west from boston, you had to head over the passes on the old mohawk trail. Then you got into an area maybe 20 miles wide and 50 miles long. Like a lot of new england towns, there are the traditional white houses and neat gardens and picket fences. That is the oldest house. Then there are the churches. And the town hall. The country around stockbridge has forest, farms, water in good supply. They tell me it is much like the lake country in england, including the writers to go along with the scenery. Hermann melville, the author of moby dick, lived here. In the summertime, the quiet of the town changes to a bustle of summer visitors, who come to enjoy the countryside, the theater, the ballet at jacobs pillow, and of course the concerts at tanglewood, where the boston symphony plays. But most of the time, the village life flows like the quiet stretches of the housatonic river, an indian name meaning beyond the mountain place. I am tom glazer in the boat over there on my way to visit a friend who lives near the river. [whistling] his name is Norman Rockwell and i guess he is the best known illustrator in america today. Much of his reputation comes from the many covers he painted for the saturday evening post, one of americas largest magazines read by over 30 Million People each week. You can find a copy in just about every corner of the united states. Even people who do not read the magazine are familiar with a cover. Rockwell has a special meaning to his large and affectionate audience. And what he paints were present the everyday hopes, loves and fads of people all over the country. He holds a mirror of kindness and humor up to people, who respond with love and affection, what they are and what they would like to be. He draws and paints in stockbridge town, his work has brought him great renown this is a selfcaricature of the artist as a young man. We will take a look at him now, at his house in stockbridge. Rockwell works in the barn he made into a studio. In this building Norman Rockwell painted a scene of small town and country life. I wanted to find out about this man, what makes him tick, how he works, why he works. We are not so different, i earn my living as a folksinger. Norman earns his as, well, as a painter of folk. [humming] we saw each other and said hello. Norman is pretty spry. And after we said hello, he came down and helped me beach the boat. While we walked to the house, he asked about the song i was singing, it is called berkshire mountain, originally springfield mountain. It was written a long time ago by a fellow who lived a few miles north of stockbridge. The peasant bard of hinsdale, he was then called. This is the room he really liked to live in, isnt it, norman . Norman well, when im not working im in here quite a lot, tom. Tom i can see why roy hill appeals to you. Norman i am very fond of roy hill, one of the great painters. Maybe you cannot see it. Tom i can see it very well. It is saturday night. He is one of the great painters of all time, wasnt he . Norman yes, he was a great painter, one of the faint arts fine arts painter. I am an illustrator. I illustrate stories. It is very different from a painter. Tom that is a very important point. It does not make you any less serious about your work then a fine arts painter, does it . Norman i think i work as hard as he works but it does not come out as fine arts. It comes out illustration. Tom speaking of seriousness, norman, i recall somebody told me, is this true that back at school, at arts go you are school, you were called the deacon . Norman yes, our school was full of a lot of, you know, gay birds and i was a serious guy. And they called me the deacon. Tom so you deserved the title . Norman yes, i earned it. Tom that was the golden age of illustrators, wasnt it . Norman yes, that was the great age, remington, abby, gibson. These were the great illustrators. Tom of course we were talking about the golden age of illustration, meaning mostly books. Before then though, illustrators were used as reporters and chroniclers of their times in newspapers and other periodicals. You take courier and ives as an example. They were lithographers as well as artists and employed many artists. In 1825 a stream of prints came out of their shop. Norman i feel i have done a lot more pictures than even courier and ives ever did. Tom i do not doubt it. But i would not say theres much similarity between your work and courier and ives. Norman no, i guess you are right. I was influenced by howard pyle and frederick remington. Tom i know about pyles influence but i do not know about remingtons. Norman well, of course, remingtons work was certainly different from mine. But i like his approach, how we went about making. A picture, i have a remington in the other room. Would you like to see it . Tom yes. Norman well, come on. Tom we took a look at the picture in the parlor. Remington was a guy born in new york state who moved out west as a tourist. He did not paint the boredom of cowboy life, but only the romantic side. In the same way, norman who was born in new york city, became a tourist in the country. I ride an old paint i lead an old dame im going to montana to throw the houlihan beat them and the coolies and water in the dog, their acts are all matted and covered with straw ride around little doggies, right around them slow, because the fire and the snuffy are raring to go the big influence in normans life was pyle, howard pyle. He felt fortunate to acquire an original, which he hung in the studio. There were three brothers in merry scotland, in merry scotland they did cast lots on which shouldnt go and turn a on the salt sea the lot fell upon henry martin, the youngest of all the three that he should turn robber on all the salt sea, the salt sea, for to maintain his two brothers and he with broadside and rod side and at it they went for a fully two hours or three, till henry martin gave to her the death shot, the death shot, and straight to the bottom went she norman you know, tom, the thing i admired about howard pyle was his honest, intense interest in research. Everything he did, he researched. He knew exactly what he was doing. Tom have you done the same sort of thing with your illustrations . Norman i tried to. Im not the great artist that howard pyle was. For example, in Huckleberry Finn and tom sawyer, went out to hannibal, missouri, where the story was laid, where mark twain himself was a young boy, and i found that out there, you see this picture here . In reading the story, it tells how he stepped out of the window and on to the drainpipe, and then took two rolling steps on the woodshed and onto the fence. Tom yes, i remember that. Norman well, if you go out there, if you go into that room, which actually exists, you can do exactly what he said in the book. In other words, it was completely autobiographical. Tom i have been curious about the clothing in period piece illustrations. Do you get the actual clothes . Norman it can be hard. You cannot get George Washingtons hat. But in Huckleberry Finn and tom sawyer, i did get the actual clothes, which must have been the saying that they used at the time. You can get a new hat. It has to be sweated in and lived in, and this has been lived in. Tom that hat is so old, and so beaten up, it looks beautiful. [laughter] the way norman found the models for his covers interested me very much, especially the cover he did for the saturday evening post, now known as the golden rule cover. There were a lot of people in that, over 30 heads, all kinds of people and nationalities. Where did they come from, norman . Norman some came from right here in stockbridge and others came from arlington, vermont. Tom lets start at the beginning. What made you decide to do the picture, norman . Norman i realized the golden rule was the only common denominator of all religions from the beginning of time. You know, the golden rule, which says do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Tom those colorful costumes in the picture, norman, where did they come from . Norman i took a trip around the world and brought back literally brought boxes of photographs. I also brought back some of the actual costumes. Tom do unto others as you would have them do unto you all men are brothers, this above all must be true love your neighbors help each other, and then, the peace we have longed for will come to all men [humming] once you found the costumes, then, i suppose, you found the people to put in them . Norman yes. Tom from around here, norman . Norman well, some were visitors, and some were students. This fellow is part brazilian and part hungarian. And this is a korean. He is a student at ohio state university. This is a japanese student. I got her at Bennington College in vermont. Heres a jewish student. He was taking summer classes at the indian hills school, a mile or so from here, just up the road. Tom how about the ones that live here all year round . Any of those . Norman yes, lets see. This one is a retired postmaster of stockbridge, right here. He made a pretty good rabbi, i think. By the way, in real life, he is a very devout catholic. [laughter] you see this group . A father, mother and child. They are the squires family from arlington, vermont. He is a yankee. And she is swedish. And they have got, i think, 12 kids. I did not get them all in that picture, but it is quite a family. This girl here, she is a local girl from pittsfield, about 15 miles from here. And her name is susie lee. This is chris schaefer. He is my very good friend and business manager. Boy, was he surprised when he found out he was in the picture this was a girl who lives right here in stockbridge, just down the road. She is lebanese, originally. Now her parents are u. S. Citizens. I got all of my middle east faces from abdullah. He runs the elm Street Market a block from our house. I had a wonderful time. Abdullah rounded up 24 arabs. This little girl is the daughter of louis lamoni who helps me around the studio. He sure would have been mad if i left her out of the picture. This one is from memory. That is my wife, mary, and that is my grandson. Everybody likes to get in the act, so models were no problem. Tom do you still have the sketches you made . Norman yes, i have them over here. Would you like to see them . Tom yes. Norman well, come on over. [whistling in song] tom would you say, norman, that the golden rule cover is typical of your work . Norman i guess, not exactly typical. Tom is it like anything else you have done . Norman the four freedoms that i did. Whenever there is a big idea i am trying to portray, i always use plain, everyday people to express the idea. Tom i see. Norman and most of my work, however, i try to everyday situations. I try for more than just humor. Some are not good, soon forgotten. You have to have a little pathos or depth in them. Take this cover, for instance. The idea of an old man and his saxophone. And i thought i would jazz it up with the sax. Supposed to be comic, but the overtones are whether he should stick to the old ways, the violin, or take up the new ways, the saxophone, that is really a problem. That is what i mean. Tom you like to paint old people . Norman yes, old men show their lives in their faces. The ups and downs, the sadness, the gladness. Everything that has happened to them is right there in their face. My favorite model years ago was a wonderful character named james. He was only five feet two inches, the exact same height as napoleon. He was in pretty much every war you could get in. He was in the indian war, the civil war. He tried desperately to get into the first world war, and it was there in his face. He was a heroic little guy. Tom but you like to paint kids too, dont you . Norman yes, i like to paint kids. Because i think people like to go back to their youth again. Tom since 1916, i think you have painted or than 300 covers. And all that time, i suppose the magazine has changed quite a bit, hasnt it . Norman oh, yes. A magazine has to change, like Everything Else has to change. I have some of the really old covers, if you would like to see them . Tom before your time . Norman oh, yes, way before my time. Tom oh, there is your very first cover tell me the tales that to me were so dear, long, long ago, long, long ago sing me the songs i delighted to hear long, long ago, long ago [humming] long, long ago, long ago [humming] tom norman did many covers about world war i and world war ii. But the ones we all loved most were about homecoming. [humming] long, long ago, long ago well, that was about it for the day. So i swung my guitar over my shoulder and walked back to the boat. On berkshire mountain, there did dwell, an artist man named norm rockwell he lives and paints in stockbridge town his work has wrought him great renown American History tv is on social media. Follow us. Next on american artifacts, a visit to philadelphias museum. In the first of a twopart program, we learned about the museums location and design, toying the gallery, exploring the origins of the revolution 1776. 760 to 1760s i am the president and ceo. I am now standing on the plaza of the museum at the corner of third and chestnut