Transcripts For CSPAN3 American History TV In Worcester Massachusetts 20151220

American history tv. Of our Charter Communications partners, we will explore the history of this city of about 180,000 residents. Located in the central part of massachusetts, it grew into an Industrial Center with the creation of the Blackstone Canal in the early 19th century. Coming up, we will against at some of the citys early industrial contributions as we visit the historical museum. The story of worcester is a great economic engine in the early 19th and 20th century. Its the story of the Industrial Heritage that starts at the time of the Blackstone Canal. 1828, it opens and while there was a small industry in worcester before that, we focus on the beginnings and go to the 21st century. I explained her, we will hear about the history of Mechanics Hall, the cultural cornerstone of the city and today, and internationally regarded music meeting place. We begin the hour with the trip to the campus of Clark University and their special collection to learn about robert of the, the inventor liquid fuel rocket and a pioneer in space exploration. March 17, 1926, the first flight with a rocket using liquid propellant was made yesterday. Today was clear and comparatively quiet. Theand him and her on physics lab was turning leisurely when we left in the morning and turning as leisurely when we returned at 5 30 p. M. , even though the release was full, the rocket did not rise at first. But the flame came out and there was a steady roar. After a number of seconds, it rose until it cleared the frame and then, at express train speed, curving over to the left and striking the ice and snow, still going at a rapid rate. It looked almost magical as it rose without any appreciable greater amount of flame, as if it says id been here long enough, i think i will be going somewhere else if you dont mind. Robert goddard was a gentleman who was born in 1882. He was born here in the worcester at his grandmothers house two miles from here. He was famous for his rocketry work. He was the first person to successfully launch a liquid fueled rocket in 1926. Faster from 1914 to 1943. He met his wife here at clark, who was the secretary of the president when he met her. So they had very much of a clark connection. After he died, his wife cap working on his material and the library was built and named after Robert Hutchings goddard and she donated the papers and space was created in the library by the architect. It was created in the planning of the building to have the exhibit space for his artifacts and have Storage Space for all of his papers that we have here. With Robert Goddards papers, we have diaries and note looks of his. He kept diaries from when he was 16 until his death, except for two particular times, he did not write anything in his diary for a month after he got married, which i found sweet and when he was in the hospital, he did not. Diariesan that, he kept full time. He would tend to put in what his activities for the day was and books he was reading. In later diet later diaries, you would see that he went out for ice cream or went to the movies. He would say who is working on what rocketry work. This one i brought out because october 19, 1899, which was the day he climbed the cherry tree. Attributes his first interest in space travel and his first interest in a to a day inience 1899, when he was 17 years old. At that point, he and his family were living with his grandmother here in worcester. It was october 19 and he went outside with a saw and hatchet and he was meant to trim the dead branches off a cherry tree. He climbed the tree. I think he made himself a little inter and while he was up the tree, he looked down on the fields around him and thought how wonderful it would be to build some kind of a device that can leave the years and maybe even travel to mars. He felt that day was a turning point in his life. He felt when he came down from the cherry tree that his life saidurpose and he, himself later in his life that that was the beginning of his interest in space travel and the beginning of his scientific career. Bert downtown for four books and tried to measure and trimmed a flag large cherry tree in the afternoon. Thats all he said about a day that affected the rest of his life. 1903, before he graduated from high school, keeping notebooks of his ideas. This. F them look like he has written an idea this one is about a safety valve. Drawnften have hand diagrams in them. He would go to a notary public and have this document notarized to prove he had this idea on this date. Alot of these pages have notary stamp on them and signature. He felt very strongly about keeping track of his own Creative Ideas and rocketry experiment ideas. Papers, we have a lot of his correspondence. Letterst a couple of between him and hg wells. Inhad read war of the worlds 1898 when it came out. To wells in 1932 and you might think this is quite a bit after he read it. He said dear mr. Wells, because iseel expressing opinion better than thinking it, im writing this letter. I read your war of the worlds. A new viewpoint entering the department in 1914 where i have been head of the Department Since 1923. My work on the theory of the in 1919oblem q related with a paper in the Smithsonian Institution miscellaneous collection. I have the greatest admiration for your later work, which you no doubt feel is more important than your work of the 90s, but what i find most inspiring is your optimism. It is the best antidote i know for the feeling of depression that comes at times when one contemplates the remarkable man and nature. Respectfully yours, robert goddard. Response was very short, but he did send a card back saying dear mr. Gothard, thanks we are friendly letter. It is the sort of greeting we appreciate from people like you. Yours, hg wells. I also brought out letters between goddard and Charles Lindbergh. Ofy had a great deal correspondence between when they met in 1929 and it is interesting that in one of these letters, Charles Lindbergh asks gothards advice on an experiment hes doing. Says im building a tank which will contain oxygen. I would like to use mineral oil and send them up with the instruments. Do you believe theres any danger due to combustion . Have you any idea an explosion or rapid combustion would take place . The it is sort of fun hes asking for advice. Saying ifote him back it was grounded, there would not be a serious danger from static electricity. There are often letters between for thinking goddard reports about his experiment. The correspondence continued until gothards death. Clippingsve newspaper that were kept. Esther kept them until the end of her life. The clippings here or from after reaching extreme altitudes appeared in january of 1920. That hehem describes has devised a rocket that could hit the moon and after that, things often got little more extreme. You started having pictures of what the rockets might look like. Tothis one, there is a flyer go along with the rocket. I think the only condition was he had Life Insurance before he went. The other two clippings ive wrought out were from 1929 after the rocket exploded in july and people thought a plane had crashed. Paper, son the boston it wasnt even just the worcester paper. Like the earlier clippings, they have clippings from all across the country published in newspapers all across the country. These are two of his gyroscopes he would have worked with as a teenager doing experiments. Is a particularly nice one. This is a little more simplistic. You can turn it and it can balance in either way. Those are ones that we have. This is a nose cone from a rocket. Im not sure what youre a of rocket it was. Framework around rockets in 1929, but i have a feeling this may have come from after 1929. This photograph is what he used to prove that you could have thrust in a vacuum. Where he wasjar able to pull the air out to make a vacuum and you can see the pistol on a pivot that would spin when they fired blanks and that is how he proved you could have thrust in a vacuum. This is a plaque we received from buzz aldrin we did not receive it from buzz aldrin, esther gothard was given to get given it by buzz. It has in it the book that flew to the moon. Entitled Robert Hutchings got her Robert Hutchings goddard, father of the space age. It shows a blueprint by goddard and it says flown to the moon onboard apollo 11. Thes unique in that it is first book that went to the moon, which is kind of amazing. It boggles my mind that this took went to the moon. Those are all the artifacts i have brought out. The letters, diaries and clippings are available from our website and you can go and do a search and find all of them there. All weekend, American History tv features worcester, massachusetts, where the First National Womens Rights Convention was held. Staffs city tours visited many sites showcasing the citys history. Learn more all weekend here on American History tv. W bpi was founded 160 years ago and was founded on the idea of bringing theory and practice together. A Technological University that is not just about what you learned in the classroom, but broader do in the world. Robert goddard is the father of modern rocketry. It says that when you come into worcester home of Robert Gothard. He invented the liquid fueled rocket and proved such rocket travel was possible. Truly a visionary and innovator. Much today about visionaries and innovators and he was a visionary and innovator over 100 years ago. Of experiments in his life. He came out of the laboratory and went into the field to test his rockets and did some of that here in central massachusetts. There is even a roof rumored to be patched somewhere because of one of his experiments maybe not going as planned. Of experiments in new mexico and got a grant from the smithsonian to test his technology in the new mexico desert. He did a lot of tests and have a lot of successes but did not the trueee implementation of his technology for broader use and died before he knew what he had enabled with frankly all of the work that he did. I think he is widely viewed as someone whose work was not appreciated during his lifetime. As scientists or engineers, that is something we all fear to not be recognized for what we do while we are living. The greatest example of this was when Robert Gothards work was first published, the New York Times said this is crazy, this will never work, a rocket cannot push against the vacuum of space. Actually printed a retraction during the apollo program, saying he was right. That is a great example of someone who stuck to their guns and believed in what they were doing, even when they were not seeing a ton of public acceptance. Role model for going after something you believe in. Ofert gothard is wpi class 1908 and one of our most distinguished alums. I love aboutings going to wpi is everyone knows who Robert Gothard is. Everybody involved in Space Science knows robert got her he knows Robert Gothard. Knows who Robert Gothard is. We have lost the knowledge of this kind of pioneer and im sure that is true in other fields as well. There are other pioneers whose names we do not know, so it is history look back on and learn about these pioneers and understand what drove them. In his case, it was an absolute passion to get the on the earth. He was fascinated by what is out there. These kind of looks back and neck does through time and it is fascinating. Robert gothard was an innovator of his time. Today, we are trying to encourage and educate the next generation of innovators. Program inve a great error not space but we also have fabulous programs in robotics engineering. We have programs in health and biotechnology pushing the edge in data science. That is what Robert Gothard did, so we are proud to follow in his legacy. We are still very connected to space exploration. We are the only university in the country to host a nasa challenge event. The centennial challenge our prizes were people from all over the world compete to advance a technology and if they advance it far enough, they win a prize. Teams toasked on these work on these next generation rovers to drive around and retrieve examples. We are the only university to host one of these events. Called have a huge event touch tomorrow associated with the sample return robot challenge. The latesterience and greatest in nasa technology. Anybody out there, we welcome them to come to our campus and experience what it is like. All weekend long, American History tv is joining our Charter Communication Cable Partners to showcase the history of worcester, massachusetts. To learn more about the cities on the 2015 tour, visit cspan. Org cities tour. We continue now with our look at the city of worcester. Most americans think the American Revolution started at lexington and concord in april of 1775. Most have a sense that paul revere rode through the countryside alarming a sleeping countryside to the threat of the british. But in fact, the countryside is wide awake. I think we get most of that history from a poem by Henry Wadsworth longfellow called the Midnight Ride of all revere. But that palm was written in longfellowe conflict is talking about is the civil war and the threat from the south to the north at that time of that conflict. Fact, in 1774, the countryside, particularly in massachusetts is wide awake and is in open revolt by the time of april of 1775. The commanding military presence and royal governor is in many ways trying to recapture a countryside that is already lost to him in his efforts to seize the arms and armaments in concord. We areppens in what terming the worcester revolution of 1774 is how the country people rebelled against British Authority and shut down Royal Authority outside of boston from the time of the tea party through early 1775. Enraged by the intolerable acts that take place. Andnow these intolerable co. Versus acts as being for primary acts. We tend to think about the one that closed the port of boston is being the major one. Thatin fact, the one impacted most people in rural massachusetts was the massachusetts governing act. Completely changed the government that had been in place in massachusetts when we are given a Royal Charter to establish the colonies government. Massachusetts Government Act in 1774 eliminates that charter and essentially puts a military government in place. A number of things, including stopping or eliminating the way local people all can elect and get representation, principally through the governors council, which is the Upper Legislature in those days. That is no longer elected. It is appointed by the royal governor. The act empowers them to make a lot of changes, including jurors selected by the people. That no longer happens. The government is solidifying one of the most egregious things it does is limit town meetings to once a year and all towns have to submit their agenda so we are outraged by the fact that we have lost our power to do that and people in the towns they had militias but the militias get more and more militarized. On september 6 of 1774, nearly 5000 militiamen from 37 different communities to send upon wister, which is the shire town and literally close the courthouse and bar the door and take all the Court Officials from the sheriffs to the clerks ,o the judges and force them they create a resignation they ask them to read. Are sending 37 Militia Companies that lineup on main street on both sides and force them to renounce this commission, taking their hats this over and over again so all of those Militia Companies can hear it. Point on, the court is never open again. With any powerng or say overrule massachusetts. Is happeningsing all over the colony. The first is in berkshire, the second is in worcester. Wister is the most spectacular. 4622 come and close the courts. None have that large a number and it is very peaceful. They are prepared for armed confrontation. Minute, gauged is not send troops, so they leave their guns outside of town. Most of this takes place around mainourthouse, which is on street in worcester and main street will run north to south. A number of taverns and on the southern and is the meeting house, which is the congregational church. Much of the environment does not exist. The courthouse itself does. A private home which was moved originalimes from its location but is now in a residential section in wister and is a private home. Looks like a federal style building. It clearly has its markings from that time. This is the single most important piece of evidence we have about the worcester revolution 1774 story. This is the diary of a long time minister in westborough, massachusetts, and he kept a diary for decades. This entry, he describes the number of militiamen who come to fromr on september 6, 1774 37 towns. He eliminates the towns they came from and the number of militiamen that come from each town and further details where they stood on main street so hear the company could recantation of the Court Officials as they are forced to resign their commissions. The legacy is one of self empowerment and selfregulation. These people, although they were armed, they elect to leave their arms behind. There are nearly 5000 of them and they operate very peacefully and very well organized. That is something that is inherent in their worldview and something we inherited as americans. For the most part, we are people who believe in the power of law and believe in peaceful demonstrations. That is a key component for how we have enacted social and political change since the revolution. Theres also something about the fact that there are so many people, that these are common people, middleclass people, landowners, farmers. Literate, knowledgeable about the issues. But they are not great thinkers. They are not john adams and thomas jefferson. These are the human who will do eme the yelm and the yo who will don the fighting. There is something about middleclass common americans who are taking their Government Back and fighting for it that i think is really a powerful story that resonates with us today. Announcer all weekend, American History tv features worcester, massachusetts. Incorporated as a city in 1848, it is located about 40 miles west of austin. The staff recently visited many sites, showcasing the citys history. Learn more about worcester all weekend here on American History tv. Abby Kelley Foster was a womens rights, human rights, and abolitionist was born 1811 in palace, massachusetts. At six months old, she moved to worchester. This is where she had her career. She went to an antislavery meeting and William Lloyd garrison was the speaker. She was 21 years old at the time and it was then that she decided she had to do something for the cause. And she did join the female and raisedy society a lot of funds and took petitions around to be signed of was very active on behalf the abolitionist movement. She became a radical abolitionist, unlike a lot of abolitionists at the time. She felt that, not only should slavery be ended, but people should be treated equally. , not longn decided after she gave her first public speech in 1838, that she would become a lecturer for the american antislavery society. Abby really spoke from the heart and yet she did a lot of studying. She read legal books and she read political information in order to make sure that she was being able to answer questions or hecklers who threw things out at her as she was speaking. She was absolutely bombarded and things thrown at her. One time, she was speaking in ohio and the stage was set on fire beneath her and she didnt know because she was so involved in her passionate speech that she didnt realize that somebody pulled her off the stage. She was speaking at places in School Houses and meeting houses and apple orchards. There were always people there when she was speaking that did not want to hear what she had to say, nor did they want to hear it from a woman. So she was battling both of those fronts, talking about abolition, about equality, but not only equality for blacks, buddy quality for all human beings. She had a lot of courage. She certainly went one of the things that she said was go where you are least wanted for there you are most needed. And that truly put her in the thick of people harassing her physically and verbally. But she continued because she knew that she had to do something. ,bby was an abolitionist to even when the civil war was over and slavery had been abolished, felt that now the abolitionists had even more work to do. So she was committed to seeing that the black men get the right to vote. So working very hard to pass that amendment, she then was split apart from the womens Rights Movement who wanted women severed women suffrage. But she felt it was a matter of life and death for black men to have the vote. So she continued to work for the 15th amendment. And when the 15th amendment was passed in 1870, she said we will now get an amendment and women will have the right to vote the next year. Well, it was 50 years later before that happened in 1920. When abby decided to lecture, she was making this decision knowing full well that, by going around and traveling around the country on her own or in the country of married men or single men, that her reputation would be sullied. And indeed it was. She was called almost every name in the book, in newspaper articles, and on the pulpits from the pulpits of churches. But she was determined that she was going to this was her calling, that she was going to work for the abolition and the freedom of slaves. In 1870, the 20th anniversary of the First National Womens Rights Convention, was with cady stanton opened that session giving credit to worchester for having held the First National Womens Rights Convention because it really was here in worchester in 1850 that a group of about a thousand people came to discuss womens rights and roles and responsibilities. And abby was very much a part of all of those causes just by doing what she was doing, which was traveling around and anduring and organizing getting other lecturers to go to different places and just being a woman ahead of her time really. She was given credit at the time for being the beginning of the the organize womens movement. Our graphic arts collection contains all kinds of imagery of all kinds of media. We have displayed on this table some items that relate to the time period of abby Kelley Fosters life and abby Kelley Foster herself. To give some insight into the mill you and the time period, the attitudes that people had about not only not only because he foster but abolitionists and the rights of africanamericans at that time. The first piece i am sharing with you is the nomination polka. This is a cartoon satirizing a movement in certain communities to legalize interracial marriages. But it is speaking more to the general attitudes about abolition in the mid19th century. It is dedicated to abby kelley. She was certainly the most female at thisn, period, talking about abolitionism. It really speaks to a lot that people had at the time, that if people if black people were to get any rights at all, all of society would kind of than a great. Would kind of denigrate. And that there would be interracial marriage and lawlessness among the sexes. Foster beginsbby in thesade 1840s. She is facing a number of attitudes in the deep south and in the north. There is a sensor preserving slavery. There is also a large part of people in the north particularly who are indifferent to the whole issue. Southernthis as a issue, not a northern issue, not something they should be concerned with. But something changes that really changes that attitude. Passage of the fugitive slave law. We have a number of pieces that speak to that. This is a lyrical cartoon called the practical illustrations of fugitive slave law. Many persons are depicted in this cartoon, including daniel webster, who was one of the architects of the compromise of 1850 and the fugitive slave law was part of that bundle of legislation. He was considered kind of a massachusetts to massachusetts because of this legislation. He was vilified and his reputation never really recovered from it. Riding who looks kind of a fish and is holding a whip and chains. Over here, we have William Lloyd garrison protecting a black damsel. And also behind him, although he is not depicted as such, it looks like that is frederick douglas, who is sidebyside with garrison. A woman also predicting who, by the shadow and the 19th of her body century people would view her as being very erotic, almost wanton. Rick is we can see her body in such a way. I think that is an important component of this, this piece here. Part of the time period that abby kelley was active in is thatpart of the movement she was fighting. She could use this moment to help the cause of abolition. Her legacy is a profound base of work that anyone of us could what courageealize and determination and perseverance she had to continue battling as she did as a female for not only the abolition of slavery, but for human rights, the rights of all human beings. She speaks to us now as much as she did in the 19th century because of the bullying going on , all the fights, the discrimination, and the prejudice. Willingness tor stand up and fight the odds and take all the harassment, the constant harassment really proves that an ordinary person can effect change, can do extraordinary things in the world. And that is a legacy that she leaves. Announcer all weekend, American History tv features worcester, massachusetts. Hosted by our Charter Communications Cable Partners, cspan city tour staff showcase to the citys rich history. Learn more about worcester all weekend here on American History tv. We are in the industrial gallery, called the fuller gallery of industrial history, and the exhibit is called in their shirtsleeves. In their shirtsleeves is the story of worcesters Industrial Heritage that really start at the time of the Blackstone Canal. 1828, the canal opens on october 7, and while there is small industry in worcester before that, then it really starts the heyday. It goes through the 20th century. Mr. Arning what is interesting about worcester is that it became a shire town. And it is significant because of the communities, which were much larger than worcester, had the offer to be you could be where the court meets, the kings court. None of them wanted it because when you think about you have a major trial, it kind of brings all the crazies out. The communities of seven of southern massachusetts and lancaster, massachusetts were much better and they were also very religious and they didnt want to have those people coming to their community. Whereas worcester said, yeah, we will do that. And it was also a place that you could get to. And part of the reason for that was the Blackstone Canal. Folks in providence had a real problem with moving their goods inland because there was no roads. So they built the canal from providence to worcester, and all of a sudden that opens up worcester to the heartland of massachusetts. I think one of the real strong messages to come out of the canal area and to give you insight into the england mindset, worcester was a hamlet village kind of. It didnt have a lot of people. It had merchants in town. Nathan herd. And he put an ad in all three newspapers. He said that he had bought the contents of the first boat sight unseen. And he put in big bold letters, by the canal. And what that told everybody who saw that ad, it was fresh because it had just gotten off the vote in providence. The boat in providence. It took a day and a half, two days to get up to two worcester, that was fresh molasses, fresh green. You think about proctor and gamble in marketing, nathan was way ahead of everybody. And he would do that period ically throughout the left of the canal. It just transmitted this wonderful marketing concept to this new republic, this new section here in the center, the heart of the commonwealth here in worcester. So that is an important story to talk about the value of the canals. The way people see things differently and try new things. And trying new things. The top hat we have over here, inside the silk lining is this wonderful engraving. Why would you put it inside your silk hat . Because the merchants men had great pride in his community. Im going to make sure they identify new entrepreneurial growth with my silk hat. Mr. Wallace the Monkey Wrench is one of those great moments of innovation to come out of worcester. You can imagine yourself working in the factory and you are working in tandem, dependent on one another for a successful operation. Rather than shuffling through a box full of wrenches, pullman came up with the idea that by pulling the safety on the machine and having a range you could addressed with one thumb, you could adjusted to the side of whatever you are trying to fix. You could do it quickly, you could go back to work. You could just imagine that in a creative and vibrant workplace, how are we going to fix this immediately. So you create something that is an answer to need, and then you patent it, and then you are selling hundreds of thousands of them all over the world. Mr. Arning this case is filled with the products of one particular shop in worcester. In fact, it is from the mayor field shop. He built a major complex in which you, in which he had a lot of good idea, but did not have a lot of capital. He went in for . 10 a square foot per year. You got a workshop and you could tie into his belting system. So you could be the man who wanted to assemble rat traps. Mr. Arning the rat trap is two prongs. Two prongs with a round head, and the prongs would be held back with a wire spring. When the greater triggered it, when the creature triggered it, the prongs would go right through the neck. We are in front of the end of a crate from a shredded wheat box. Henry first produces commercial wheat in worcester long before it goes to niagara falls. Niagara falls is often times what you see on the box of shredded wheat. It comes here from denver, upstate new york, and then the boston burbs and he gets a lot of investors. The serial Machine Company cereal Machine Company. It is part of that tradition of health care, a new approach to your body and how it is going to be kept in good shape because you are no longer working seven days a week and on a farm, you are six days a week in a factory. You might be sitting in an office. He tells people there systems are not working the way they should, so he creates shredded wheat to solve that problem. Worcesters is pretty much known as an Industrial Center, but also a machine center. You are not going to find a lot of women working here. One of the places where you would find women working is here. 1950 is a tumultuous 1915 is a tumultuous year in United States history. A lot of the companies are manufacturing for their european buyers. And a lot of money is being made, but a lot of the workers are not seeing that. And the women here at the Corset Company are a good example of that because they have to buy the thread to make the corset. Not uncommon in that timeframe. 1915, they go on strike. 1915, the brewery workers go on strike. And the loom manufacturers go on strike because all this manufacturing is taking place and a lot of people are making money, but it is not the workers. It creates all kinds of problems here. You will find worcester was not a labor town. But this is the one thing people can begin to focus on that needs to be addressed. So youll find a lot of unhappy people here who will come from around the world to find their job in worcester, but it is not working for them. This is a display in worcester for its 125th anniversary in 1956. What it is is a representation of worcesters strong tradition as a wire manufacturing city. The first person in new england to draw continuous brands of wire. As a result, he goes gangbusters. In the 1870s and 1880s, he is telling the world he is making close to 1 million a year in his business. He is making cable for bridges, for telephones, he is making pno wire, he is he is making piano wire, he is making literally everything he can out of wire. That continuing tradition of of stamping from a wire, you will see what i call a diner knife stamped out of a piece of wire. If you cross the golden gate bridge, it is worcester wire in the original cables. The same thing with the bay bridge from San Francisco to oakland, lots of worcester wire. It was a major, major industry of worcester capital and private. The mid20th century part of the exhibit, what we are looking at is a case of materials from the david clark company. David clark was a weaver who started making underwear and moved on to making integral components for space, and they make the suit for the First American walk in space in 1965. The orange suit is a High Altitude pressure suit, some of it what is adjacent to it is one of the backup headsets for the moon landing. When you hear Neil Armstrong say this is one small step for a mad, he is saying it through a david clark head sets. It is part of the worcester story of innovation and enterprise in the 20th century. Part of the exhibit is to give people a sense of pride, but also be a sense that we all contribute to the economic, cultural, and vibrancy of the city. You will find an investor in worcester and you will find a place to apply it. You can stay in worcester, you can create, and have a welcoming workforce, a welcoming group of investors, an exciting community. In 1963, they themselves had. One through a period of unrest they were acquiring companies. They were emerging. Their headquarters were in worchester. They decided what they needed was an inhouse morale campaign. And they came to Harvey Ballin said we are going to ask you to come up with a simple design that we can place on a pin or a with ourd use it employees to improve morale. Their ideaown and was something that would encourage employees to smile. So he set down and into a sure period of time, he coming up with the smiley face. It was sort of intuitive. According to him, its going to be yellow. It will have two eyes and a mouth. Thats it. He sent to the bill to state mutual. He got paid and went on with his next project, whatever that was. Really come back around to him for at least a couple of years. I guess he was very surprised, pleased. It wasnt something he had ever anticipated. The symbol continues to stand for goodwill and good cheer. It certainly has been commercialized throughout the world. Origins, it has become sort of muddied or murky overtime. Mentioned, i guess the famous forest gump scene where forest gump sort of indirectly appears to have been the creator of it. Alive, dad was still people would say to him, you did not create it. That was forced out. It has gotten pretty murky, in fuzzy in terms of the popular mind, i guess, as to authorship. Level, i think it seems to be generally recognized throughout the world and that it. He was the first one to potential paper in that way. The impact on his legacy is certainly tied up with the smiley faces. No question about that. It is something that he understood in his lifetime and was very proud of. It certainly has spread out to the city and everybody in worchester. We are sort of a big small town here. Everybody knows the harvey ball smiley face story and everybody is pretty proud of that. Announcer all weekend long, American History tv is joining our charter to medications Cable Partners to share the history of worchester, massachusetts. To learn more about the cities on the 2015 tour, visit. Ww. Cspan. Org tour we continue note the history of worchester. Mechanics hall was built in 1957. In association was formed 1842 as an educational organization, reminiscent of similar organizations that were in europe with the burgeoning of the industrial revolution. The europeans primarily in britain established Mechanics Associations to teach skilled labor. The term mechanic means someone who works with the hands. To be a member of the association, you had to be recommended by someone of some sort of authority and you had to be morally upright. You had to be a hard worker. You had to be industrious and reflect the characteristics that mechanics believed would bring this community and the country into the future. They built Mechanics Hall to inspire and to be a sort of the trade show of the industry of worchester. Building. Markable when it opened in 1857, everything was american made. It was pretty a stunning because, prior to that time, many skilled laborers had to be brought over from europe. It was built to be a showpiece of what worchester industry could create. The cost of the building was 168,000. And the community was really abashed that they would spend so much money on a building until they came in and saw how magnificent and beautiful it is. It is victorian. It is kelly on take, neoitalian tape architecture. But it was made with tender loving care. You can see that even today after all of the history of the building. It is 158 years old now. The a performance of the people that have come into worchester and spoken on our stage or performed on our stage was intentional. Industrialists were doing in the 19th century was changing the world, certainly changing worchester, changing america. But they changed everything about how we do things. They employed a lot of people. For good or for ill, the industrialists changed everything and we have what we have today because of them. It is a Pretty Amazing story. Because of worchester itself is centrally located in new england, it was key to the social reform activity of the mid19th century. Worchester was a hotbed of social reform activity, includinglution abolition. Spoke on abolitionists our stage. Frederick douglass was in the hall about a week after it opened, delivering a speech on what was happening with slaveholders and slavery in the south. Our stage was a prestigious stage to speak on. People came from all over, including from boston and from all the other New England States to come to Mechanics Hall to hear these amazing speakers. Association also opened its doors to the womens Rights Movement. In the 19th century, that was not about voting rights. To ownabout the ability land and to inherit land from your husband. So there were great speeches made in Mechanics Hall about womens rights. The first Womens Rights Convention happened behind before the hall opened. But afterwards, most people came here to speak. Lucy stone is a portrait that we have here. She came here many times. Certainly abby Kelly Hostetter Abby Kelly Foster and her husband. Worchester was a Central Location and Mechanics Hall is where everything happened. If anything happened in worchester, it happened here in the hall. The Temperance Movement, the Mechanics Association was kind of the Temperance Movement because they knew firsthand what alcoholism would do to families, destroy men and families. We have a portrait here in the hall of john gough who was a very successful businessman became on hard times, deaths in his family drove him to drink. And he run his life and he lost his business. But he was a member of the association and the mechanics pulled him up by the scruff of the neck and said you are a mess. Clean yourself up, which he did. Orator ona worldwide the evils of drink. We dont know if he was completely abstinent from drink, but we do know he made a remarkable second career of speaking around the world about the evils of drink. You think about what has gone on here, think of who has some here, who has played here. I point out to the young people coming up on this stage this is the stage that six president s of the United States have spoken from. Feel the importance of this. And they still do. Remember that. We did invite people of different points of view to come here to Mechanics Hall. Can ask hall is known in its history for those people like William Lloyd garrison and Frederick Douglass and Abby Kelly Foster, who talked about the evils of slavery. But there was a different point of view in the civil war. There were those who thought that the civil war was totally unnecessary. And that slavery was a fine institution. There was that was a view more spousal in the south. That there were a few around here. The Political Parties of the day came to Mechanics Hall to have their annual or semiannual, biannual convention. And they came to this room because it welcomed those disparate points of view. This is where people celebrate to be inspired. We want that to tap into the future. That what this building says about human endeavor is the story. We give free concerts for children. We have been doing them for many, many years. It is one of my favorite activities to come and watch them come into the room. Ecause they are wowed most have never seen anything like it and they get excited and they sit up straighter in their chairs and they listen intently because they feel how special it is to be in a remarkable space. The intimacy of the room also speaks personally to the people who are enjoying an activity here, especially a concert activity. Just asanswer inspiring today as it was in the 1850s. Think it raises us up. It allows us to dream. Its because of this feeling in here. I dont know if you can feel it, but it is just an amazing space. Our cities to her staff recently traveled to worchester, massachusetts to learn about its rich history. Learn more about our stir and other stops on our tour at cspan. Org cities to her. You are watching