Transcripts For CSPAN2 The Presidency Preserving Presidential Sites 20220911

Virtual in this occasion, has been so the last two years. But its a real honor to be able to be under this roof and in the fellowship of people caring about the same subject as you all do here today. Id like to begin by recognizing two members of our board of directors who are here. Tham kind of hickam is going to be here today. I dont see her yet. And john barrett is here today. And we have a large number of our National Council on white house history who are here today, and youll be meeting them during the interaction you have in these sessions, as well as the lunch. And they are a fantastic group of people, as well as our Board Members. And it is they who put wind in our cells and make our work possible. And we are so grateful for the support that we have from our National Council, from our board and from all of you. Id like to also thank two people who really were the backbone of all of this. Dr. Colleen sugar and dr. Matthew costello, who from start to now finish have made all of this possible. And im very grateful to have them as terrific colleagues. They are the leadership of our David M Rubenstein National Center for white house history, which is the scholarly Academic Center of our work, our education programs, our digital library, our historians, of course, and so much of the important work that is outward facing in pushing wonderful content like this out, not only to a roomful of people, but to people watching across the country. Id also like to thank more fully than just mentioning them as i did earlier, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, for collaborating with us to carter house, this extraordinary Historic Building that you entered through this morning is actually owned by the National Trust. And we are very honored, in fact, humbled and privileged to maintain this as a co steward with them of this amazing asset and property and we try to take very good care of it as if its our own. We dont treat it like an airbnb or anything. So we do take very good care of it and respect it for its history and for our Wonderful Partnership with you, Paul Edmondson and katherine malone, france youll be hearing from today are extraordinary leaders of that organization and and terrific colleagues of ours here at the white house, historical association. Well, our organizations actually have quite a bit in common, as you both know. It is our mission, our values, but also in our origins. Many of you will know, know of or at least recall or by reputation. Remember david finlay, who was the first director of the National Gallery of art here in washington. Quite a force. He was also the chairman of the commission on fine arts, and he served as the found and chair of the National Trust for Historic Preservation as well as the White House Historical association. And it was mr. Finlay, along with first Lady Jacqueline kennedy, who were instrumental in saving his historic Lafayette Park. And if you do not know that story, we could have a whole symposium on that topic alone. So i encourage you to delve in to that story. It is really an amazing feat, an accomplishment that we should all be grateful for. Had it not been for them, we would walk out, the carter house would not be there and this this park would be fronted by what we call the New Executive Office Building on the park. It would have been quite a different landscape here in president s park. So were very, very grateful for them. So were all gathered here today to talk about the topic of Historic Preservation and this symposium today will explore the intertwining story of the presidency of the white house itself and Historic Preservation. As many of you know, one of the most famous acts of Historic Preservation actually took place on august 24, 1849. And as news of the American Military defeat out in bladensburg, marilyn had reached the white house. First Lady Dolley Madison ordered that the Gilbert Stuart painting of George Washington to be saved upon reflection. And this was a very wise decision as the british later advanced on the city of washington entered the white house and set fire to that Historic Building. As you all know well, for decades after that incident, mrs. Madisons acts of preservation became legendary and actually a bit of law. But like anything else in history, it is not all that appears to the eye or to the ear. Mrs. Madison actually did order that the portrait be saved, but there was actually a group of people that were instrumental in making that happen. Looks like the group of people that are instrumental in making things happen at our Historic Sites today, names like paul jennings, jean pierre ceasar, thomas mcgrath, jacob barker and Robert Robert to piestewa worked to remove the painting from the wall, transport it out of harms way and only much later when jennings, who was actually a formerly enslaved man, detailed the event in his memoir. And it was only then that these events were fully detailed and that these other figures, these other lesser known names in american history, lesser known than dolly madison, received their due. Now, of course, mrs. Madison continued to call it the little narrative of picture rescue, in which she starred as the leading actress. Of course. Well, certainly she does deserve credit for her foresight, but it was these enslaved and free workers, along with two strangers who contributed to saving the very first portrait that was acquired for the white house. And i believe, melissa, that this still is today the only item in the white house collection that was in the white house when the adams moved in in november of 1800, is that correct . Which is melissa from the Curators Office of the white house, my resident expert on all things with the white house collection and that is quite amazing that you can still go into the white house today and theyre hanging on the east wall of the east room. Is this Gilbert Stuart of George Washington with that amazing story behind it. And thats the first work of art potential, lee, that the adams saw when they moved into the white house in november of 1800. Well, for the association, our efforts here to tell a more comprehensive and inclusive history begin at the white house and extend outward into the president s neighborhood here to Decatur House where we are today, in february of this year, we launched several educational elements related to this property architecture will renderings of historic slave quarters in a new 360 degree virtual tour and projected silhouettes of three individual people with individual important stories. Charlotte to play. James williams and nancy side facts. These individuals these real life living human being people with stories and families and names and histories actually lived and worked here at historic Decatur House. They were enslaved by the occupants. Now, were not talking about stephen. This was indicator. This came later to our knowledge that the carters were not a slave holders, but this came later in the history of the house. But it was a very critical part of the fabric and the story of the house that we are charged with, with telling here at the association. So we are grateful to our friends at the National Trust for supporting this project with a nice grant. And i hope you all have the opportunity to visit the slave quarters, which are just above the shop here on the north side of our campus. Theyll be open at the end of the day, or if you want to sneak away at some time at the beginning of the end of lunch, they will be open and well have staff there for you to to see that. But more broadly than the carter house, weve also invested over six years of research on the history of slavery in president s park. As you know, Lafayette Park was the work zone essentially for the james hoban, the a slave workers, the free workers, the european artisans that came to actually build the white house. And then the thanks to our historians and the research that they have done, we are delving into now the story of those who were enslaved, saved or high paid as slaves by nine of our earliest american president s and actually worked in the white house for those nine president s, nine president , its either own slaves and work for them in the white house or they hired slaves from slave owners to work in the white house. Thats a important and compelling story. Were also delving into the descendants of those people. My dream is to find a young lady in saint louis who had no idea that her great, great great grandfather there worked right out here in this park. Weve done some specific things. Many of you have walked by the park. And thanks to our dear friends at the National Park service represented here today by john stanwick, weve been able to put wayside markers at the north end of the park that tell the story of mrs. Kennedy saving the park and the Historic Preservation of this space of the history of protest in the park and the story of the enslaved people and others who built the park. Thousands of people walk across this plot of land every day without a clue as to what happened beneath their feet in history. And whats inspirational to me about this is these men, these enslaved people who toiled and sweated and bled to build the greatest symbol of American Freedom and democracy today. And that is the white house. They worked right out here in this beautiful park, and they never dreamed it was beyond their comprehension that 230 years later, we would be sitting in this room honoring their work and their legacy and telling their story. And thats our privilege, is the White House Historical association, on behalf of the American People to tell these stories, to remember these people. Its not all the daily madisons. Its not all the current former next president s of the United States. And first ladies. But its the people who work the melissa and the Curators Office, the johns in the park service, the others who work in that house, and all levels to to save it, protect it, preserve it, to honor it, and to tell the stories with us of its rich and abundant history. So thats what were about here in our mission. Thats what were here about today with this symposium and im looking forward to the panels as much as i hope you are. And i want to thank you for joining us today. And it is now my privilege to introduce to the man that i have referenced two or three times, the distinguished leader of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and a Paul Edmondson. Paul. Thank you, stuart. Appreciate that. On behalf of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, id also like to thank you all for being here and being here in person. Its just so wonderful to see so many people brave the current environment that were into to show up for these for this particular symposium. And i also want to thank stuart and the carter house for really expressing our shared commitment to the stewardship of this particular place and its environment, that the the wonderful surroundings that we have that are just, as stuart described, its just steeped with history and the interpretation of this place. And well talk about that further and youll hear much more about that. I also want to thank those of you in the audience who are working with these wonderful places with Historic Places all across the country, but particularly those who those places that relate to the presidency, which are obviously key in our our our our combined history. Stuart talked about lafayette square. It certainly would look a lot different today without the advocacy and the political skills of our Jackie Kennedy and as stuart noted, our shared founder, david finlay, who really was the quiet force behind Historic Preservation in so many different ways. Together, theyve worked as stuart indicated, to defeat a plan that was actually approved by congress. It was it was first proposed in the Eisenhower Administration, i believe, approved by congress. It looked like it was going to go through they used their influence. Jackie, obviously had tremendous influence. The plan would have replaced the low Scale Structures around the square today with really monument style office buildings. Its hard to imagine today and as stuart described, the history of this place so many people involved and you know, that experience would not be with us today. Instead of the alternative design by by architect jon karl warnock, he leaves us with the the environment that we have today with really a powerful demonstration of the federal government respecting Historic Resources not only for their own value, but in the as as context for a new construction. And we see that all around us today also is as a prelude, i think, to the National Preservation act, which was enacted just three years, three years later, when president kennedy addressed the meeting of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in october of 1963. He specifically praised the efforts of david finley at the white house and at Decatur House and the National Trusts work across the country, as he said, quote, to maintain and keep alive a very lively sense of the past. The trust was chartered in 1949, and since then weve been honored to work with many president s and many first ladies to preserve Cultural Resources across the country. Were going to hear a lot more about first ladies in particular in preservation. But i think its really telling to note that in 1966, when president johnson sent the National Staff preservation act to congress, he attached the handwritten note that simply said lady bird wants it. So its also his very fitting that were gathered here at the end of national Historic Preservation Month Celebration that we we have annually. It actually began here with the dedication of preservation National Preservation week by president nixon in 1973. And its not really well known, but president and mrs. Nixon were really great champions of Historic Preservation and i would encourage you for an interesting take on an event here at the carter house proclaiming that First National Historic Preservation week. My colleague catherine in france has written a an article in the new issue of white house history, which is the journal published by the White House Historical association, in which details this particular event. Catherine, by the way, started her career at the National Trust right here as curator and Deputy Director of the carter house. Shes got it in her blood as she carries out the full programs of the National Trust. Weve been the National Trust has been honored over the years to play a role in programs like save americas treasures, which is known to many of you, which was begun by Hillary Clinton during her Husbands Administration and preserve america, which was begun by our trustee emerita, laura bush during her Husbands Administration. And its really its fair to say that the first ladies have played an outsized role in the development of Historic Preservation as a field, which youre going to hear more about later in the program. Among the many surpluses we collectively preserve and interpret president ial sites across the country are particularly important. And i want to thank our friends at the White House Historical association for their important leadership in convening this community of places through events like this, and also the the president ial site summit that took place earlier this year in in dallas. And i also want to thank stuart for his leadership and the leadership of the association for working with us and preserving, as you heard, telling the full history of places like this in particularly the history of slavery, the courageous resistance to it here in Decatur House and in the neighborhood. So that surrounds this important place and in all of this work and in the panels that youll experience today, i think youll see the fundamental vision of David Findley and mrs. Kennedy reflected the idea that preservation is not about freezing places in amber, its about stewarding them in ways that allow us to change. Allow them to change while still honoring their legacies. By doing that, we we ensure that they remain relevant to our lives today, and they help us define our futures together. So now were going to move right into our first session, and its my pleasure to introduce brandon robinson. Brandon is an independent historian and attorney based in durham, North Carolina. He also serves as president of the Conservation Trust for North Carolina and as president elect of the Durham County bar association. So please join me in welcoming brandon to the stage for a first session. Good morning. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, paul, very much. Before i begin, i have to say how grateful i am to this association for the historic expansion of its reach, not just within washington, d. C. , but within the United States and globally. I think if you think back to the last time we had one of these symposia right here in person, followed by kevin, even Jacqueline Kennedy would have been shocked at just how far her association has reached. People all over the world, regardless of whether they will ever have a chance to see the white house. Since 2017, ive driven 4 hours from my home in durham, North Carolina, to attend these events book lectures and many other events at the associate session. And i can tell you two things. First, ive never been disappointed in my expectations of what this group, the association, can deliver. And whenever i drive back to North Carolina on i95, thinking about all the interactions that i have with people who love history, the way you do and people who interact with the association and support it. Day in and day out, i always feel more optimistic about america than i felt driving up from North Carolina. So im grateful to all of you for being a part of that. I would i would now like to introduce our first panel. This will be the theme preserving president ial sites, moderating this panel will be catherine malone, france, the chief preservation officer of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which you know, is not only a cosponsor of todays event, but is also the landlord of the White House Historical association and a frequent collaborator, as you might guess. Prior to her current role at the National Trust, miss malone, france was the organizations Senior Vice President for Historic Sites, overseeing at least 28 locations nationwide. Under her leadership, the National Trust created a fund dedicated to the support of Historic Gardens and landscapes. And she also helped steer successfully a. 21 million Capital Campaign. And im in the beginning of a Capital Campaign at my alma mater. So congratulations on that. She earned a bachelors degree in history from Wofford College and a masters degree in Historic Preservation from the college of environment and design at the university of georgia. As to our panelists for this session, it includes sarah bon harper, the executive director of James Monroes highland and albemarle county, virginia, just beside Thomas Jeffersons monticello, dr. Bonnie harper is a ph. D. Trained anthropologist with a background also in the classics and has lately presided over the discovery and reinterred protection of the architectural and archaeological remains of our fifth president s main residence. She is a graduate of both Uncchapel Hill and my backyard in North Carolina, as well as the university of arizona. And she was also a panelist recently in march for the president ial site summit in dallas. Also with us today is dawn hammer, the director, the director of the Dwight Eisenhower president ial Library Museum and boyhood home in abilene, kansas. She has served in that capacity. Since 2016 and has spent much of her professional career overseeing the building and design of museums and historical exhibits with a particular focus on the security and safety of museum holdings. Ms. Hamit holds a masters degree and musicology and Museum Studies from the university of oklahoma, as well as a bachelor of arts degree in anthropology from Louisiana State university and last but not least, we have Michael Atwood mason, who is the ceo of president lincolns cottage at old soldiers home, where some of you were last night for our reception. Dr. Mason holds a ph. D. In folklore and has spent 20 years prior at the museum of natural history, where his last position was director of exhibitions. Dr. Mason also served as director of the Smithsonian Center for folklife and cultural heritage, overseeing cultural and Educational Programs and leading the Smithsonian Folklife festival. And the smithsonian folkways recordings. His work has gained accolades such as grammy award, as well as recognitions from the congress and at least two foreign governments. At this time, please welcome our moderator and our panel. Thank you very much. Well, it is. Thanks. Very. My last look like an autograph. Thank you so much, brandon. And thank you also to Stuart Mclaurin to colin show again and to Matt Costello for the partnership in this symposium and in so many other ways. Were so grateful for that. You know, i am really honored to moderate this panel today with three panelists to are such leaders in the work to steward president ial sites. No president ial sites are important signifiers of how we are preserving and interpreting Historic Places. More broadly, president ial sites can also be, and especially under the leadership of people like these powerful demonstrated ones, not only of how we preserve Historic Places, but why it is so vitally important to preserve Historic Places thoughtfully in inclusively and expansively. Now, at the National Trust. We think of preservation as the ongoing and evolving stewardship of buildings and landscapes and object acts and stories and the communities as associated with Historic Places. Theres a powerful alchemy of all of these elements interacting across time, but root did in a place. And there is absolutely no way that we could or should hold a place in spaces in a particular time period. The force of this work is to powerful for that kind of sort of artificial limitation. Now, this isnt the way that everybody thinks about preservation. Its not the way that people have always seen preservation. But i think this kind of dynamic framing of preservation is so important and so true at president ial sites like highland and presently eakins cottage and the eisenhower president ial library and many others that are represented here today. Preservation really is the work of active inquiry and of critical thinking. Preservation is about discovery and its about creativity. Its also about striking that balance between continue witi and change. And preservation is not about the past. Preservation is about the Better Future that were building together. So with that active definition of preservation, lets get started with our panel and these three brilliant panelists. So as we talk this morning, i wanted to again focus on that that dynamic kind of preservation. So i wonder if each of you could talk a little bit about how the preservation and interpretation of your site has changed in in recent years, acknowledging that material preservation and interpretive preservation are intertwined. I feel like we have to start with Sarah Vaughan harper, not just chronologically, but because of the dramatic change in some ways at highly end. Sarah, thank you. Of course. Thanks. Its a real pleasure to be here amid such good company. Thanks. So i think we have slides cued up to put some visuals. Yeah. So highland here in central virginia, as you can see. Is in a rural patch, Rolling Hills in a landscape. And people who come to our site talk about its authenticity, its feeling of being of being able to understand and what it was like in the past. We got a little bit more authentic if you want to advance, please to the next slide. For years, in fact, as early as 1885, the interpretation of this Historic Site was that this small white house was thought to be a remnant wing of James Monroes larger two wing main house from 1799. You can seeds now attached to a farmhouse the back of this building was from the. 1870s, and i arrived in 2012 and started asking some questions about how the stories were told and in fact what they were based on. So if youd like to advance, please. Next slide, please. Anyway, i can. I can talk with or without. There you go. And so we began the investigation opens both architectural and archaeological and jamaica, a long and fabulous story, short and probably no less fabulous. I hope we found interesting architectural details. But but really, astonishingly, the foundations of a separate standing, a separate building which stood nearby, which was the actual remnants of monroes main home. From 1799, completely separate from that little building that had been long pegged as holding monroes legacy. Of course, the the way that the little building played into monroes public image should not be forgotten here. And the little vernal keeler structure added to a really erroneous narrative of a man who was unsophisticated and uncultured, unworldly, unambitious that could hardly be further from the truth. But what we found was that the the main house had been entirely destroyed by fire. And here it was, standing separately with really robust archaeological remains. And waiting to be investigated. Next slide, please. And so we found not only enough of the footprint to interpret, but also really good evidence of the fire that destroyed the home. It was a catastrophic fire and it was really significantly we still we think during monroes lifetime, there were no written records of it. But it was such that the. The whole house was destroyed probably late in the year of 1829. And monroe was still alive at that point. So its kind of startling that the very popular former president s former home he had sold by then and was destroyed and was not in any newspapers that we can still find. So next slide, please. And we found enough of it to justify with the insurance maps and to be able to talk about its dimensions and potentially even what it may have looked like, which was a building that was not a mansion, certainly, but it would not have been out of place on duke of gloucester street in williams burg. Certainly appropriate for a 40 year old just about to become governor of virginia. And so really inappropriate home and really working back into understanding monroes legacy. And so we interpret it at the moment with the outline of its footprint on the ground surface. Next slide, please. And so following along, youre saying, well, what does that mean for the small misidentified house that had been there for this whole time . Well, fortunately, we were able to look into various sources of evidence. The first of them being architectural, of course, and next slide and also documentary, an image here of the written record from september six, 1818, monroe writing to george hay and the new exhibits that we have really exploring that letter, the building was a guest house and was ordered built by monroe and based on this very letter we are able to say that it was built by enslaved men. Peter mallory and george williams, and were able to follow that story through the documents. And so this is the new interpretation. Next line, please, that we have in the standing guest house this the new exhibition is opened last september with news stories as the two original rooms of the guest house are period rooms. This one that you see displaying as though a traveler has just arrived, showing the guest activities and talking about political professionals who would have been the guests of that guest house. Next slide, please. And an adjacent room we are showing in preparation as though it is being readied for the arrival of the president and his guests. So that were putting front and center the work that occurred there at that moment and also the work that occurred there throughout on the landscape, during the time even that the monroes were not there. And, of course, enslaved men and women and children were there during and for for longer than the monroe family. So our our new interpretation, really, this has given us the opportune unity. We have one more slide to to really show more about a complete story. If you advance the next slide, please, and how to interpret the really rich history we enter through to the president ial story into what i consider a story of u. S. History about this property and. That history is just inherently inclusive. And so we talk about the the various work and also the community, the nonwork aspects of of what this site meant. So weve transformed, starting with the announcement in 2016 and moving into these new exhibitions that really explore a new understanding of the site and i think are a new era for highland. Absolutely. Sarah i always love hearing you tell that story. Its such a dramatic example full of the evolution of a Historic Site, but one rooted in in material culture and in evidence. Thank you so much. Michael, president lincolns cottage always been on the leading edge of Historic Sites and continues to be under your leadership. How was president lincolns cottage continuing to evolve and change . Thank you. And thank you for the invitation to join all. Its my my first visit to this augusts gathering, so im very happy to be here. Have the next slide, please. The next one to. So for those of you that dont know, president lincolns cottage is about four miles from here, almost smack dab in the middle of washington, d. C. , on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement home. This picture gives some sense of its historic feel, and it still looks very much like this today. Weve been working very hard on evolving the preservation of the building itself and the National Trust led the restoration of the building, which was completed about 70 years ago. And so now we are involved in two separate things. We are having to replace many of the things that were restored 17 years ago. So we just completely restored our veranda, which some of you that stand on last night. But we are also exploring other aspects of the history of the building. So when the restoration original restoration took place, there a decision to keep things relatively plain. And so were going back and different aspects and making them more historically accurate. For example, with support from the trust we were able to completely renovate the renew the vestibule on the main entrance. The other side of the house from this picture. But that project really allowed us to create a space that reflects much what we think it would have been like when president lincoln was there, including the faux graining, which i have to say, as somebody who comes from a different world, the idea that you would actually pay extra to have faux graining rather than the actual wood seems very strange to my aesthetic. But that kind of work goes forward. Were also wrestling with some very basic preservation issues. Theres water intrusion in our basement, a adjacent to that vestibule, which is making lead paint flake. And so were addressing those kinds of things. And there was an unfortunate money saving strategy was crushed. Gravel. Any of you who were at the house last night will have noticed that there divots everywhere. Because if you walk on this crest gravel when you when its wet, it sticks to your shoes and that creates divots everywhere in the cottage in a way thats just excruciating for those of us who are caring for it. So were working to preserve the place in a very ongoing way. And of course, thats thats the mission. Can i have your next slide, please . So were also engaged in a transformational program. And as we try to, our work really has focused on our interpretive work, has really focused on two different aspects. One, building empathy and really engaging the spirit of the lincoln who for whom this was a family home. For those of you that dont know the cottage. Lincoln spent about a quarter of his presidency there with his family. And so that work of playing games, of telling jokes, of reading literature, all of those kinds of everyday things are part of what we do. And we are always aware of the fact that lincoln was making incredibly important decisions there about the war and ultimately about the emancipate and proclamation. And so those themes run throughout our programming. Like many of us, the pandemic affected, our interpretive tools pretty dramatically. And we developed lincoln letters as one example of how we did outreach to take this idea of the kinds of everyday life that the lincolns enjoyed at the cottage out to people. And we had almost a thousand people around the world asking for for this subscription game, which is super exciting. And kind of the next slide, please, as we continue this work, were also engaged with our Lincoln Ideas Forum of going deep around one of the issues this year. We focused on grief as part of our grief and child loss exhibit programming connected to grief and child loss exhibit that we have and one of our speakers was one of the artists who created this memorial for all of the people who died of covid. That humanistic approach to the life of these amazing people remains key to the way that were interpreting the site. Could i have the next slide . Our Digital Engagement continues to unfold with a robust mailing list and social media channels. Weve got this amazing, tiny team of people who created a q and a a podcast where we answer actual questions and its a brilliant idea. Its just brilliant. I mean, these amazing people on the team, we take a question that we actually get from visitors and we go down the rabbit hole and we explore in every possible way. Weve just finished our four season. Totally encourage all of you to listen to it. Its it will take you to places that you would never imagine and it really embodies our desire to encourage people to stay curious. So thats thats where we are at this moment and gives a sense of the evolution that were going through. Thank you so much, michael dorn. Take us take us to a 20th century president and talk a little bit, if you will, about how the Eisenhower Library has changed in recent years and during the pandemic. Sure. Thank you. Thank you for having me here. I appreciate the time. So at the eisenhower president ial library and museum in abilene, kansas we recognized. Can you advance the slide, please . We recognize the need. Oh, you missed one. Im sorry. I missed. This. Oh, no, please. There is a significant part of this work around the Unfinished Business of the American Republic that were focused on around social justice and our signature tour is very focused on animating the space with stories of the lincolns life and leads visitors biologically through a process of lincolns thinking and struggling with the decision to to write the emancipation proclamation. The Lincoln Ideas Forum often addresses issues of social justice, although it didnt this year and our students opposing Slavery Program brings together young people to address modern human trafficking. Modern slavery to which young people are particularly vulnerable. And so were encouraging people to live out the brave ideas that lincoln embodied when he was at the cottage. Thank very much. That was important. Thank you. Now, lets see if it comes up next. There he is. Thats my guy. Oh, so at the eisenhower president ial library, we recognized that it was time to redo our exhibits. Our exhibits had previous been done in a holistic fashion. About 40 years ago. And in the 40 years it was done room by room or case by case or gallery by gallery, which of course leads to a disjointed story for our guests. So we recognize the need to do a holistic approach. And then next slide, please. We also recognize that we needed to tell the story, reinterpret the story for visitors who do not have a personal connection to World War Two or to the Eisenhower Administration or to the 1950s. So those were the two sort of concepts that we worked around as we moved forward with a holistic approach to redoing our exhibits. So i have some before and after shots. Just to give you a little idea. Next slide, please. This is our lobby. You can see its a little crowded and a little dark. Next slide. And here is our renovated new modern desk. You can tell that the museum was originally established as a Military Museum because of the safe patch thats in there in the terrazzo. This museum was actually begun before for the gentleman became the president of the United States. So they were building this Military Museum. And then they had to hurry up and add on to it for a president ial section that sort of led to a little difference in the exhibits as well. And the next slide, please. In this very small is our dday planning table in our original or these these exhibits from 40 years ago. The space allotted for the dday planning table was quite small and it only allowed for the two in pieces to be to be put there. So if you go to the next slide, we have our current exhibit space where we insist upon a bigger space for the dday planning table. We now have all of the leaves in that. We have and ten of the 12 chairs. So to be able to to exhibit this in its full range has allowed us to really talk about the gentlemen who sat around that table and the agendas that they brought and the skills that they brought to planning the dday invasion. And the next slide, please. This is the president ial gallery. You can see theres a lot of words on the wall. And it was sort of maze like in its build. So quite frankly, you got lost and i got lost in it all the time. It was a square, but i got lost a. So the next slide is our modern exhibit space. You can see weve opened it up. Midcentury modern feel to it. Thats the style of the original building. Midcentury modern. And in this space, we are able to interpret the story using some more up to date scholars ship on the administration in this capacity and the next slide. We also really intended to use can make his own words within the exhibit space. We felt like we had enough audio and written words of theirs to use their words to their story. They could do a much better job of it than we could. So this is the quote that we decided to use on the wall. When you leave ikes military career and enter into his president ial career. So i think thats all i had to say about what . All right. Well, and, you know, you touched a little bit on this, don, when you talked about focusing on a new audience. Right. But id love to hear from each of you as youve continued to make these change, is what have been the response is of your audiences, your existing audiences and your your new audiences. Michael, i know youre doing a lot of work thinking about those new audiences as well and how change in the site connects to them. Can we start with you . We can. If the slides or can. So i want to be very clear is that our audiences are respond with it. An enormous array of. Feelings, really. I mean so so we do have visitors who are incredibly anxious about having to be confronted with stories about the enslaved people who worked and the free people who worked with president lincoln at the site. There are people who come to the site and do not want to have to wrestle publicly with these things. And so a conversation on a tour makes them really bristle in some cases, some people just discomforted. Some people enter a kind of reverie of soul searching, and many of them we invite to go on our landscape tours, which them to walk the grounds and reflect in a different way, have there are almost no objects in our museum and thats an important thing for those of you who havent been there that surprises many people and it enrages a very small number of people. I mean, really, really enrages a small number of people. And then many people find the stories just absolutely delightful. We we pull people into their imaginations. The space allows them to project that this fairly on adorns space allows them to project their own ideas and imagination. So its a kind of it becomes the kind of theater of the mind which works really well. And that leads to a certain kind of delight and excitement. I will say, just as an example, we recently hired a new director of advancement who some of you met last night in the studio, the the unsuccessful runner up candidate came for her second interview and shed never been to the cottage before. And she said that the tour was just so emotional. I mean, that that kind of response is quite common. And so were really getting this really wonderful range. I tend to hear from the people who are horrified and the people who are excited. The folks in the middle. I dont i get to hear less from because i have the next slide please. One of the things that weve been doing in the last nine months since i came to the cottage is really trying to develop deep working relationships with the local community. Again, those of you that dont know president lincolns cottage, it sits on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement. There is a six foot fence and top of that six foot fence. Theres a three foot fence that was put up later. Im happy. Say there is no barbed wire anymore on that fence. But as you walk, as you drive into the gate, theres a sign that says no trespassing u. S. Property. So theres a lot of mixed messages and the Armed Forces Retirement home is conceptually very open to the neighborhood and practically not very open to the neighborhood. So weve done an enormous amount of outreach over the years, and ive really been focusing on this in the last nine months as Part National poetry month. We held a poetry slam from the local high school, Roosevelt High School. This surprises me. But the largest club at Roosevelt High School is the poetry club, and its not as popular as sports. But after that, after sports clubs, its the most popular. So we had 150 people on an evening, a poetry slam. And if we can run the video, ill give you a sense of something. This is always a Community Pulling this thing together. The students have been working real hard. The cottage is this Amazing National monument and it belongs to everybody. We are so excited to fill this space with poetry. Were so happy that youre here and this is your cottage to. So we have a much longer version of this that actually has the voices of the poets. I didnt want to take up too much of your time, but its for us to have these folks from the neighborhood. Theyre their families. And in the middle, there was an intermission and the deejay put on the wobble and you saw people dancing. The wobble, the the kind of delight in the space. This basic connecting with our local community. We really are at the basic level of connecting them physically to the space. And so this is this is important work that were doing. So my goal thank you. That was such a what a joyful, all beautiful event and connection, as you said, of people and place. Don, how about you . Talk a little bit with us about how these wonderful changes been perceived by your lately. We have, as we were developing the exhibit content, we recognize that we really needed to to meet the needs of three of our audiences. One was for our educators, come bring their classes. And when we surveyed educators locally, they said that they had two main problems in the classroom dealing with World War Two. One is explaining the length and breadth of the war. And two is explaining global. What does global war mean . How does that you know, that doesnt make any sense to to a seventh grader in abilene, kansas. So we developed a lot of programs and exhibit pieces components. This is our main film that we really intended to meet the needs of the of the teachers in, those two ways. So you can see that this is a film. It is projected from the ceiling. Theres a little time marker at the bottom of the circle. Thats you know, it starts in 1938 and theres a globe and it has embedded video and audio. So there it expands and contracts with the with the battles. And its its really a good way of explaining those two things. The feedback that weve gotten from this has been very, very positive. As a matter of fact, i watched a class stand around it. One day. And those of you who remember World War Two history, the soviet union was actually on the axis side at the beginning of the war. And then something happened and they flipped. And so in the film, the soviet union starts red flips to blue, and there was a classroom standing around. And this one young man says, oh, i wonder what happened in russia . And i said, thats why that is why we do what we do. And hopefully he had a conversation with his teacher or hopefully he figured it out later on in the exhibit. But that was the reason that we do these things. That moment of curiosity. Another one of our audiences would be military personnel. We have a lot of military Service Members. Theres a few military establishments nearby. So we have a lot of Service Members who come to to see eisenhowers museum. And what we did for them was we really integrated the eisenhower military story. His progression through through the military, through his military career. And we get a lot of feedback from them. What we tend to get from our military guests would be stories of their own service, which means to me that this is a safe place for them to share their military experience. And then the next slide to meet the needs of some of our younger audiences, those who dont remember the fifties right. We tried. We tried diligently to explain sort of the the the overwhelming fear of the fifties, the soviet expansion and the nuclear war. I mean, those are things that our younger audiences dont necessarily understand. And so the cold war was was a way for us to to explain this to some of our younger audiences. And another place, next slide would be in the civil rights and School Desegregation projects that eisenhower worked on. And i saw a School School Group Standing around this map discussing School Desegregation. And this young woman said, this is my story. This is where i am. This is where i am represented in this museum. And quite frankly, its a very emotional moment for us that that she had that personal connection. And those those were the reasons that we tried to reestablish and reinvigorate the exhibit space. Wow, don. Yeah. Creating those kind personal connections, which i think youre all doing such an important part of preserving and such an important outcome. So, sara, again, back to your dramatic change and how it was perceived. Yeah. So i think we have if you go to the next slide. One of the biggest most impactful responses to our discovery in the news that went wide was that we got approached by a member of the community who said, my last name is monroe, and i think i have a connection. My ancestors were enslaved there. And so that conversation began and through time then, via a mutual friend, i was introduced to another member of that extended family, and we slowly grew into a collaborative relationship. And now we have a council of descendant advisors who work with us on questions of research and interpretation and direction of where we want to go and that that first spark came of the news of our change. And so in our Research Effort and in, in the themes and the tones, the word choices of how we interpret the history, the Council Works through and in in the moment, moment is probably the wrong word. The extent and time of racial reckoning that were in. Having a group of descendants whose ancestors were either enslaved at highland or worked there after the civil war to really confer and to create the way forward. What is the right path . What is the right what is a right way . Of course, there are many right ways to interpret these difficult histories, but we have allies who are working hard with us and having hard conversations. And so we see image of a Research Meeting and also a public event where a panel of descendants met with city school staff, teachers and other personnel all over the course of two days. This is, i think, was our last precovid inperson event. So march two, 2020, with the city school Charlottesville City Schools coming to say, how do we have these conversation and about slavery and its legacies today . Thats the really important point of bringing it forward. So next slide, please. And in our developing of exhibitions, if we could advance the slide, please, we also have input on how we interpret. You know, i chose this one not because i the moment that we hung jared harris on the zubair wallpaper. I had to sort of stand back and just take a minute, but also because on this particular panel, we had input from the council. Wed like you to do a little more on liberia and what it means and what it means for the long history of, in essence, segregation or inequality in our country. And so thats just one example of the input, how we implemented it in what were presenting today and to go forward. One slide, please. We also are doing public archaeology. You know, the public as a whole has been receptive of our change, which is big. We had dendrochronology or tree ring dating to say, yes, look, this this standing guesthouse is from 18, 18, not 1799. And its pretty solid of a theorem that weve presented here. So we havent had a lot of pushback on that front. But the the bigger and more abstract question is were changing american history, were changing president ial history. And i have found and my bias, of course, as an archaeologist, that archaeology is a great entry point. You know, a lot anybody in the room, you know, i might hear someone who said, you know, when i was nine, i wanted to be an archaeal just yummy to many of you grew out of it and i but you know, the public comes in and archaeology is in a sense a friendly way to say, look, were asking new questions and were getting new stories. And, you know, look over my shoulder while we excavate here. Look at this find and look at this area outside the where an enslaved woman named hannah lived. She probably worked in that space as a cook and lived there with her younger children. Her three youngest sons came with her in 1799. So were able to have those comments just because were digging a hole right here. We can say were digging here because we want to talk to you about and archaeology and its interactive nature of public archaeology is we find a really effective way to bring people along and were asking new questions and were getting new stories. So one slide, please. So, you know, theres always interest in what weve got, you know, just showing a picture of one of our very good friends and supporters and Board Members who is always interested, but even less interested in folks come along, say, you know, what have you got . What do you tell me what youre looking at in the screen . And so theres a very concrete and fixed point of engagement of these news stories. And so we have found that that is effective. Next slide, please. Were also a part of the college of william and mary in williamsburg. And this set of discoveries and this reinterpretation supported by the Mellon Foundation is a great way for students of all backgrounds to come in and say, you know, these places are alive and theyre alive with new questions. Theyre alive with new stories. And so im actually showing both uva students who are local and william and mary students and Community Members and the Community Engaged course from 120 miles away on our home campus. And who are theyre looking at all the ways that our site is rich in research and rich in new stories and really planting the seeds for future investigation and future change, really. So dont expect what were doing now to be the same as next time were here talking about it. Well, i mean, its such a powerful illustration of Historic Places, of primary source, right . You keep reading it, you keep reading it, you keep studying, discovering new things. Its a such a powerful idea. So thats a lovely segue into a last question for me. And then i think well open it up to the audience. Im looking around for time keepers, but i guess if we could end with just a quick thought from each of you on whats next . How does your site continue to evolved on . Sure. So we have next slide, please. We have i boyhood home on our property. This is where i grew up. He was born in texas. Im not taking anything away from denison. We know he was born in texas, but the family did move back to kansas when he was still a small boy and he grew up in this house. This is where the house was. It wasnt moved. Our campus sort of grew up around it. Next slide, please. This is when i came home and this is his family on the porch. Its reminisce of another photo that the family did when they were all children. And it just shows the importance of the eisenhower family as a family unit. And their home. The next slide, please. This is of my favorite photographs because the little girl in the front chewing gum is a friend of mine. Yeah she lives in she lives in abilene. She grew up in abilene. She loves this photograph because i gave her bubble gum. The so the eisenhower home was open to the public in 1947 after the mother passed away. So it has been open to the public for a long time and for those of you who own stick built structures, you know that sometimes they need some love. So its time to give the eisenhower family home some love. Next slide, please. So our next project is some renovation. You see that love . Lovely contractors fencing around the building. It is currently closed to the public. We are currently undergoing in some renovation projects. We are working on the entire envelope of the home. Next slide, please. There we go. Were taking the paint off. It looks a site. So we are taking off all the paint led by led paint abatement. We are re restoring the wood thats rotten and needs to be replaced. We are replacing all of the roofs. We are re glazing the windows and we are addressing drainage to make sure that its draining properly away from the structure. Im really, really honored that the National Archives and Records Administration has recognized that this is an important project and has allocated funds for it while the building is closed. We do have a film on our on our website. The next slide, please. This is really, really and i recommend that you take a look at it if you have a chance. It talks about the Family Living in this very small home and what the family unit did you know to to prepare ike for his future. Its really quite lovely. And i and and next slide i didnt know if i had one more. So this is actually lee, our campus. We have 22 acres, the boyhood is to the bottom left under those trees you cant see it. The building on the left is the museum and the building. The right is here is president ial library and. Then over here on the right that you cant see also is his burial place we the place of meditation here as well. So to me this is sort of an encapsulation of his life where he grew up he actually worked to have this museum established. He chose to have his president ial documents in a repository here. And he decided that he and family should be interred on our site. So were really honored to preserve what he wanted this property. Thank don. Michael, whats next . The plessy lakeside, please. Oops. Sorry, i did it back a whole. I was proud of beverly wilson. Clearly. Thanks. Oh, i think thats fair. Yes. Its great to you. Right. All right yeah. So thats definitely so whats next is is reinterpreting the rest of our site partly due to covid. We did the interiors of the guest house first. Now theyre selfguided. People can go through without being in a small space. Someone speaking the whole time. So our exteriors. Next slide, please. And basement spaces and we will be able to reinterpret all of these in the same breath, just about right because this is really to a woven together site narrative that comes from one vision, one set of new information, one set of collaborations. We dont we have that incredible opportunity, not patching on new interpretation, but really putting it through. So this is long overdue for our site and its really exciting. And next slide, please. And of course, more research. There is plenty to do we will not get bored, will not run out of questions to ask. So archaeology is one part of it. Our documentary is going on and so thats all moving forward. And next slide, please. And one of the most important things that im on right now is our conservation efforts through a series of conservation grants and programs, we have increased fencing. We have our tenant, our farm tenant has there another fenced out. Our streams are protected. Weve just completed a riparian buffer program. We replanting and removing Invasive Species and putting in native plants and shrubs and why is that important here . Why are we talking about this really the the legacies of the Historic Property of the system. We think as the architecture we think of social, we think of health, of of this sort of political. But theyre also land. Theyre the 200 plus years of farming and, the impact that those have had. So conservation efforts in terms of the land itself and then education and hopefully inspiration about. Conservation is a really part of what were doing moving forward. Yeah, well, and landscapes are always a powerful reminder that we cant hold places in spaces as yes, its absolutely impossible to freeze them. If youve ever weeded a garden thats in, thats it. So michael, what is next at the cottage next please. Thanks so as were thinking about the future of the physical aspects of preservation and we are engaging landscape more that was partly in response to covid wanting people out on the out of the cottage and out on the around the space. We know Abraham Lincoln visited the landscape there the day before he was assassinated. So its not irrelevant to story of the lincolns and those landscape tours have been incredibly popular even if they are somewhat limited, the home will only let our visitors go. So far, were working hard to continue cyclical maintenance on the building and Visitor Center as well, and we are exploring the restoration of the grand building, which is a an enormous and somewhat daunting task. Its 350,000 square feet. Beaux arts, that is completely mothballed that sits adjacent to president lincolns cottage, our Visitor Center. And we have a couple of Board Members absolutely think that there must a way for us to take this on. And if any of you would like to make it 50 million gift, you can see me at lunch where were starting a Technical Assistance panel with the urban Land Institute to get really, really professional advice about what it would feasibility implications and those kinds of things. And the will make a decision after we have that. So thats exciting regardless of which way we end up going. Next slide, please, as we think about programming and interpretation and were really i have a deep love of poetry. President lincoln had a deep love of poetry. So we really kind of engage that you can tell from our poetry slam. We also hosted a poetry Dialogue Program this year with d. C. Humanities fellows talking about the unfinished work of the American Republic from their perspectives. That was a very powerful program i understand that actually had covered that day. Were also beginning to interrupt the preservation of our interpretation of the site has not done that in an ongoing so well be developing those programs in the coming months and marketing them to people like you who like preservation as separate from president s so we know that people enjoy that weve got a great series of stories to tell and people do respond to that. So were also again with help from the trust and an anonymous donor undertaking Community Cultural assets mapping in the neighborhood just outside of the the cottages of racine those the word in spanish campus i guess is a good word in english. So just outside theres this very diverse, wonderful old community, petworth. And well be doing 200 interviews over the course of several weeks, which allows us to train some local students in heritage work in allows us to get to know our neighbors a different way. We get to leave a brochure about who we are and what we do in every of those houses and we will learn a huge amount of who the creative people in that neighborhood are, whats going on, and we can reach out to them and then begin cocurator aiding programming thats serving the needs of the people who live within. Walking distance of the cottage. Some of you will ask yourselves, why are you just starting petworth . As one of my Board Members, did, our intention is to do the whole area within a mile of the cottage, but we need to do it in phases. Next slide, please. Our Digital Engagement here. I had this conversation, i think with you last night is is really interesting. The director who aaron masked, who is just an Amazing Museum and built an incredible staff and an incredible interpretive, embraced digital minimalism very explicitly and the board has said very clearly that they want us to raise our profile and social media seems like a straightforward way of doing that. It is the place where conversation happens now, where people are talking to each other about real issues. And so were beginning process of exploring how to do that in a way that is consonant with the spirit of our other interpretive practices, which are based on storytelling, based on dialogue and based on on real Human Exchange and thats for those of you that spend any time on places like tac, i have a 13 year old social activist, my house, whos on tic tac. This is not a i mean, it makes twitter look kind and gentle. I mean, really, these people are these teenagers are just vicious with each other in this space. That is not the space that we want step into. And so figuring that out is an important, important next for us and then figuring out how to partner with educational platforms whether thats the learning lab at the smithsonian whether thats some other platform. Weve talked about a bunch of different things, but wed really like to make sure that the story of the and the story of president lincolns time at the cottage is is shared out. And then more slide, i believe. Yes yes, i meant to change that picture. Sorry. We are looking back at what happened at the site during the time of George Washington, who actually commissioned to the house we know he commissioned the house in 1840, moved in in 1842. The 1850 census shows that were three enslaved People Living and working in the house. There is a map that shows an overseers house and a later map that shows four square buildings in a Straight Line directly adjacent to it for finding that would be a little challenging. And itll be right in the middle of the Armed Forces Retirement homes golf course. So whether they will let us dig it up is a big question. But we really want to understand what was happening in that time again in terms of we have some people who are incredibly excited about this and some of our Board Members have said they think this will bring home new audiences to the cottage and. I keep having other concerns now. You know, lincoln has to remain the focus. So finding that balance, i think, is going be interesting as. We move forward, were scaling up students, opposing slavery and were exploring the possibility developing an activist boot camp that would really bring in engage them in activism, give them the tools to take their own brave ideas out into the into the public square. Were hoping to do that with. The coalition of sites of conscience. So that would be an international effort. Again, those are emerging emergent processes that we havent fully thought. But thats thats sort of where were headed as our strategic process. That is also exciting from from all of you three places to watch best practices all all kinds of Historic Places to see the way that yours are evolving and changing. To have time for great. We have time for some quest ins from the audience. So hopefully we have some good ones. Can you. But yes, i dont have it. So i think do we need a mike . Great. Thank you. Thank you. Sure. No problem. More of a comment. Ive been to all three of your places and, most recently highland and the people that you have hired to tell the stories are all spectacular. The that you feel in the building is because you could ruin it. You could ruin a story with someone, Staff Members kind of standoffish or rude, but all three places its amazing that youre all three here. And i can tell you that it was just a warm, wonderful welcome that i felt in each place. Thank. Thank you. Ill share that. Ill share that with the team. Absolutely so i think we have a question here. Oh, i just michael, i okay. Okay. My name is mary and i was at the grief that was at the cottage and i thought it was just such a lovely, insightful way to bring kind of what the lincolns went through as a family, that home to a modern day space. Just wonderful speakers and i, i appreciated appreciated the discussion thank you thank you so much. The question i see weve got one. Well come back with and i oh okay. I can hold if you want. Okay. Yeah, i guess for don, my question is how having a living family members of president eisenhower living descendants who remember that time and remember him affects what you do. Thats a great question. Thank you and its it its also in the our as well as i that that woman remembers that particular moment although she didnt who she was who she got bubblegum from. So im going to im going to talk about the local Community First because its really wonderful to have them come to us and tell stories about they remember when the funeral train was in town or they remember when the president came for whatever, whatever event. So im id like to sort collect those stories because i think that theyre really amazing. The family have different stories to tell, right . The the president eisenhower has four grandchildren. They are all different, active both the eisenhower president ial library and the eisenhower foundation, which is our support arm. It is to have them as ive had two of them already, give Educational Programs this year and a third will sort of wrap up our year. So frankly, to be able to call them and ask for information, to have them stories and insight on different aspects of the president ial administration has been really amazing. And im honored that theyre a part of the of of what we do. Thank you. I think we have one over here. And my question is sort of a follow on to that actually you most of the sites the president s were deceased or soon to be deceased and so you and while there is living family for for eisenhower and there is living family but much much more departure distant but we have a lot of living president s now and whats the challenge Going Forward in trying to establish these kinds sites and preservation when you have maybe a conflict between what the family would like, what the president would like to be remembered for, and what history and what we want to start questioning about president s and, their sites. How do you do that from a your point of view . You wouldnt want to take the first shot at that. No. It seems to me that the eisenhower actually is a sort of study in how this can be complicated. Not that its a Historic Site, but a memorial where there was deep conflict for years and. A certain aesthetic by many of the neighbors that im i used to work two blocks away and everybody that i who works down town thinks its not a very attractive way to honor anybody. And so i think that thats a super and of course it went through all of the required reviews and was approved by the the Fine Arts Commission and all that. But it i mean, its a very complicated theres no question about that. And i think my own sense is that all of these things require enormous of very close kind of micro of political engagement, this person and that person, this faction, that faction pleasing that organization and thats the only way you get these things done. And i think in some ways, i a place like highland or like president cottage, its easy, right . Because it in that it was a home its directly connected and it takes effort and youve got to build that excitement. You got to raise the money. But its it feels a little easier to me than than living folks. But in truth, we that no matter where we work, right where there are all of the different stakeholders that we have to build consensus with no matter what project were doing, no matter no matter where are there are different stakeholders our projects. So its its the same but its family. So we all do it. Its just and the more people in the present problem. Exactly. More stakeholders. Well and always always have faith the place. Right and the power of that place, the power of that place to tell us the truth about ourselves. But also the power of that place to be a location for coming together and talking about in the best interest of that place and how to carry its legacies forward. But the end of the day always count on the place ive just 2 minutes, so time for one last question. I think we have one right here. I dont know who can get to her first. I just wanted hear about the Grant Building. I never heard of it and im wondering what it is and what function it serves. And tell me a little more. So historically, the Grant Building was built in 1905 or 1906. Im sorry, i cant remember, but its a beaux Arts Building that was built as a mess hall residence and Community Center for the 3000 veterans who lived at the home at that time. It has if we were able to renovate it and i use the past subjunctive intentionally if we were able to renovate it, it would be the second largest open in in interior public space in washington, d. C. The downstairs mess hall is and this is a very technical term. Its jay enormous. I mean, it is its its an astounding building as there are gang bathrooms there are. 25 foot square. Rooms where people were living. Its fourth floor. Its got infill in the atrium. I mean, its its it would be a wild adventure and really interesting. But it was historically built as a residence hall. In fact, when you walk into the main area, theres a place where the governor of the of the home would come and announce the building or theres a balcony that looks out over the the amassed troops and they announce dinner was ready to start. Its a very dramatic place and well and the Grant Building is maybe a good place to end on the idea of untapped potential. Still an historical venue that around of that around and three people leading the effort to realize that potential all at Historic Places so thank you all for your incredible work and stewardship thank you also for being here today thank you very much yeah. So today were gonna be talking about the question of what it was like to be arrested. The subject is the arrest in the United States 1880s to 2001