In 1915, president Woodrow Wilson put a memorabilia box at Arlington National cemetery. In april 2020, the box was carefully removed and opened. Next on american artifacts, we visit arlington to see the contents with tim frank and caitlin smith. About this memorabilia box, we really have to take you back to 1864 in order to bring you forward to 1915. In 1864 we buried the first in maine. Re and then the secretary of war set aside 200 acres to become a national cemetery. By the end of the civil war there were 15,000 confederate soldiers buried here as well as union soldiers. And general john logan established Decoration Day, she declared may 30 of every year. The idea is that people would placethe graves and flowers. Decoration day became a more real day. It became so popular that in 1873, quartermaster general held tory meigs Decoration Day ceremony and at the time it became a small venue. Every year thousands of people would show up to arlington. That 25,000found people showed up to decorate the in 1913, congress authorized this memorial empathy under that we are standing in. And in 1950 as part of the laying of the cornerstone, this memorabilia box was placed by Woodrow Wilson. He laid the first stone which now brings us to the memorabilia box and its history. The memorial amphitheater began construction dragged onnstruction for about five years. The amphitheater was actually dedicated in 1920. The building has largely been the same for 100 years. But there has been overtime several modifications. One of the largest was in the 1970s as the viewing of the changing of the guard and tomb of the unknown became so popular. The steps were expanded. When that expanded, the steps covered up the original cornerstone. So in the 1970s a new false cavity and false cornerstone was added to the building. At that time, the memorabilia box was removed from the building during construction. It temporarily went to the national archives, i was there for about a year. It was then given back to the cemetery and stored. It was not until the 1990s that the box was put back into the building itself. There was other construction going on. They took the opportunity to place the box back into the building. Until not revealed again this year, 2020, when we were celebrating the anniversary of the construction. We took the box out in april. Just before the anniversary, because with the covid19 situation, the pandemic, the cemetery wanted to make sure that we had the opportunity to let the public see the opening of the box. In preparation for the anniversary were doing an online exhibit. We opened the box in april. By may we had the online exhibit available for the general public. My role in opening the box was that i was one of a large team of staff. Our historian took the lead. Hes the one who did a lot of the research into the memorabilia box, what was in it, what would it was constructed of. I assisted with the opening of the cornerstone first. Theonce we had extracted box from a quarter stone we brought it here into the chapel. We created a clean space. And the team of the historian, maintenance, it is, our photographer, they were all there to document the opening to make sure that we had those records for posterity. We created a clean space in the chapel. We carefully opened the memorabilia box. So thanks to tims research we have some idea of what would be inside the memorabilia box but there were some unknowns. It was as expected, copper. Thats what you see in front of me. This is actually the outer box. This is all we knew. Tim had taken this box to our Welcome Center and our xray machine to see if he could find out whats inside. We had some idea of where the objects were but we were really not certain. When i began opening the box i began with a series of holes that i drilled into one of the corners. And we gradually opened a larger could insert a borescope into the box and see what was inside. Once we put that inside, we realized there was a second copper box. We were relieved to find that everything appears to be in good condition. Knowing that there were no historical objects in the way, we went ahead and move forward with cutting open the outer box. We began mostly with aviation snips along the edge, along what was the original solder line. Those boxes are very well constructed. They are out of copper fodder on the corners. There is a lip or the luta sits inside. We cut along the line of the sauter and we were able to pry open the lid. Opening it up with pliers and revealing the box inside. We did find that there was a little bit of moisture. So the seals had opened up a bit. But there was no major damage. Suspected, we believed there would be glass inside. We did not know if it would be entire sheets. We found spacers. This was just to give space between the two boxes. There were also some metal straps holding them in place so they would not wiggle too much. We removed the glass and the box,s and i held the pulling out the inner box. This was in slightly better shape as the seal had held up to a greater degree. Care andome extra started cutting with stainless steel blades and saws along the solder line. Corner first, so and we could get this in make sure that the historical objects were in good condition. We wanted to make sure that we were not going to cut into any of the objects. We opened up a corner and we stuck the borescope in. Everything looked great and drive. Signs of no major damage. We could see everything had failed to the bottom and you could cut the top off. So we continued cutting with stainless steel blades. And eventually we did use a metal cutter on a rotary tool to cut along the solder line and remove the lid. Toh that we were the first see these objects and 105 years. To our relief, the inner boxes had held up and everything was signs ofrful, no insect damage or any real degradation. Thats when we began the process of carefully pulling up everything. It took about 2. 5 hours to carefully open the boxes. After that we spent an additional hour carefully removing each historical object and putting it into archival containers and having ourselves and our photographer carefully document the condition of each object before we unwrapped and started revealing them. Was howhe surprises good of a condition everything was in. There were so many things that could have gone wrong with a box like this. Throughout the process of caitlin opening the box, i thought my chest was going to explode. I just did not know what the contents would be. We knew what was in there, all sorts of things could have gone wrong with water damage. At some point somebody said is that water at the bottom and i almost fell over. So when caitlin finished cutting the lid of the inside box and she peeled it back. The first thing that struck me was just the condition and the care that they took to put these just about everything was wrapped in tissue or wax paper. The flag was rolled up and tied carefully. Everything looks like it went in yesterday. Thats what struck me. I could not wait to get in and unwrap each item. For a historian its a onceinalifetime experience. The first items we took out where the plate glass. Sure, the way not the newspaper articles described it at the time it sounded like there was glass all the way around the inner box. These metal bands were there to hold it out so we took this out and we took the box out. The first item was just placed on the outer box. Its a metal plate with the names of all the members of the memorial at theater commission. Nd this was on the outer box thats really the first artifact that we took off and conserved. When we opened the box we started seeing what was important to them. Program fory of the the laying of the cornerstone. They sealed all of this up the day before. We found coins and stamps that were in circulation. At the time colonel William Hartz is buried here, he retired as brigadier general. He was a disbursement officer of the commission and contributed some coins. The post office contributed stamps. There was a boyd city directory from 1915. And its kind of like the yellow pages today. Advertisers could place their advertisements on the spine or the edge on the front or back cover. We had an official program from the grand army of the republican camp meant which i just taken place grand army of the republic encampment, which had just taken place. This was the inspiration of the civil war veterans, the judge in particular was buried at the cemetery. There was a copy of the declaration of independence, and the constitution. This was before prohibition and women have the right to vote. A flag with 48 stars. Congressional directory, some congressional hearings on the memorial amphitheater. Presented anson autographed photograph of himself. The commission had actually ined a confederate veteran the public buildings act of 1915. His contribution was a list of confederate debt. Was thomasitect donated several items to the memorabilia box. He donated the early plans. These are little too brittle to unfold. ,hey were wrapped in red tape thats where the term comes from, with records being wrapped in this string. And he included a weather which one which went with the plan. We have images of the original drawings which showed the original structure looks different. It went through several iterations with a smaller reception building, one story instead of two. A sculpture before the tomb of the unknown. Some things did stay the same. The open arcade, the greek plan. Style, which was the height of style in the 20s. Its meant to look like a greek amphitheater in the grandmas art style. Main, the mask of the commemorating the latest war america had suffered through. The architects also included a bible that hasting had in his family. His father was a presbyterian clergymen and his grandfather wrote hymns, so its maybe unsurprising that he donated this bible. Nside is his signature on october 1, he donated this bible. It is bookmarked and we are not joshua. , to the book of right before the memorabilia box was put together and sealed. Somebodys job was to run into d. C. And grab the four major ers from the neighbors from the day before. This is all dated october 12. Whate memorabilia box was was on everybodys mind when the box was in place. Only one of these four papers still exists. Thats the post. The others were subsumed by it or when they went on there, the postpurchase to their equipment. Snapshot, the headlines are things we still talk about today. You have remember when the copy of the constitution was put in the box, there were a few amendments missing. You have suffragists stirring up trouble all over this. You have wilsons impending. Edding being covered remember at this point we have not yet entered the war. Once we entered world war i, the construction of this building really slows down and impacts it in a variety of ways. In the nation is dramatically changed. So there are hints of the war to con but america has not yet entered the war. So you will see headlines related to bulgarians begin the attack on serbia, and other references to fighting overseas. It kind of like a boyd city directory with everybody placing their trying to vie for attention. Theres the cigar and tobacco shop add. I could picture some army onicer buying newspapers pennsylvania avenue, and when i look through these newspapers and see the more things change the more they stay the same. Series sportsrld news. At the time there was an anthrax scare. So hope for life in the new serum. The Agriculture Department comes to rescue quickly. And we have the fight is on to close the bar at the army navy club. Wilson would over wedding. The bulgarians begin the attack on serbia. Seeks six wave wilson ways to finance defense. Its amazing. These, and and read also the condition they were in. They took great care in making sure that we were here to open and not pull out a box of shredded memorabilia. This is the plan for washington, d. C. Whats interesting is that is buried in arlington, overlooking the city that he designed. This is the map of the system of highways for the system of columbia. It was dated 1914. You will notice that the arlington reservation is right here, fort myers here. One of the items not on the inventory but that we knew was here was the list of confederate dead. People ask me why is this list included . 1915 was the 50th anniversary of the civil war. Veteransad these reconciling. There was a big push to record to reconcile between the north and the south and arlington was the centerpiece of the reconciliation. The public buildings act of the 1950s placed the list of the unione dead as veterans placed their publican and camden program. And another thing that i would point out is that if you look at the original drawings, there was a statue plan, but all of that went by the wayside in november of 1920. Just after this building was dedicated. The british and the french and turned the soldiers of world war i. Particular there was a fullpage article in a newspaper describing a warriors funeral. Lords and ladies were present, Victoria Cross recipients were present and veterans from all over the world had attaches that attended. So they started writing to congress and the word apartment saying we should honor an unknown soldier. So the unknown american soldier was buried here in arlington where that statue would have been. There was a personal attachment, another reason i cannot wait to get into this box was because of the boyd city directory. It has my grandfather listed, robert defrank, clerk, district of columbia. He works for the d. C. Government. I was looking at the franks and the land that they owned and the harringtons and other family members that were here at the time. I found the land that they owned, my great grandparents on my grandmothers side, and i did find my great grandfather, robert frank listed. District, 607 columbia road, northwest. When the original box came back it was placed in a safe. 1990, heintendent in made the determination to place it back in the amphitheater. The previous historian told me he had a 30 minute head start notice, they called off and said they are going to put the memorabilia box in. He grabbed the peter pan peanut theyll place their business cards in the jar and put some coins in with a letter and they sealed up the cornerstone. We do plan to put a memorabilia box in the replica cornerstone to be opened by the employees of Arlington National cemetery. It will include the declaration of independence, a copy of the constitution provided by the national archives, there will be an identification bag, there will be a horsemans badge, the Arlington Ladies will provide a letter. We want all of those who have a hand in Arlington National cemetery, we are inactive cemetery and we want everyone who plays a part in that to have a role in this box. Will beew time capsule of slightly different material. We will go with something that represents our time. A stainless steel manufactured box, instead of soldering it closed it will have a sealed gap. We will also have some modern decoration. This box had a bronze plaque on top. We will have laser engraving on our lid with the seal. And the year to be opened. To use slightly different technology, hopefully, to try to keep the condition in for thesupportive object. We are going to try to get the temperature and humidity right, and dry out the environment. We will try to remove some of the oxygen, put some absorbers re. Their absorbers in the we are also going to wrap our objects like they did for the original memorabilia box but ours will be more modern archival materials, Corrosion Inhibitors and separation between our objects. So a similar idea but more modern materials. I think a lot of the objects placed in the box are not necessarily unique or highvalue. They were what the members of the committee felt represented their time best. , buts no secret treasure i think what it shows is how people felt about themselves at the time. What they wanted to be remembered for. That they felt they were a part andomething important thats the same urge that we feel today. Each week until the 2020 election, American History tv brings archival coverage of president ial races. Next the 1984 Vice President ial debate between income Vice President George H Dubya bush and george hwb bush and geraldine ferraro. Topics range from abortion to covert operations in central america. Of ronablican ticket
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