That is the southern terminus of our National Scenic byways and National Heritage area. We are pleased that the books tonight focuses on both our northern terminus and southern terminus. You will hear a little bit about gettysburg which is our northern terminus, northern part of the National Heritage area. You will also hear a little bit about charlottesville. Monticello out jeffersons driveway, you are driving on the scenic byway. And you are driving 180 miles north to gettysburg. Mile plotst 180 of land, we have 11 sites. Monticello, madisons willin montpelier, brent talk about these places. We wnant to thank the charlottesville convention bureau, one of our wonderful partners. Kurt, the executive director is here tonight. Thank you. Without further ado, i will introduce our guest. Brent glass, the director emeritus of this and sony National Museum of american the smithsonian National Museum of American History. A National Leader in the interpretation and promotion of history, brent glass is a public historian who provides management to the museum, historical organizations and cultural institutions around the world. Served as, brent has a Management Consultant to more institutions ranging from places like san francisco, president lincolns foundation in illinois. He was a member of the flight 93 Memorial Advisory commission. Lets welcome dr. Brent glass. [applause] glass thank you, shuan. Good evening, everyone. It is a pleasure to be here. Dayent a really interesting revisiting monticello and particularly enjoyed some of the new opportunities and experiences. It reinforces my belief that there is always something new under the sun. I think we are learning more about history all the time through scholarships, through archaeology, through a number of new approaches to understanding history. It is so great to visit monticello and see how that research is being made acceptable to the public. I enjoyed that very much. Fact o recognize the one of my earliest career experiences was directing the North Carolina humanities council. The Virginia Humanities Council the foundation is the official name. Programs hloold that as one of the best, if not the best in the country, so it is an honor to be sponsored by the center for the book and the foundation. I also want to thank the library for hosting this event tonight. Also, to think the journey through Hallowed Ground for inviting me. They were very kind to invite me when the book was First Published in march. We had a program a few weeks after publication at gettysburg. We had a very spirited event about what to include and not include in making our list of significant places in American History. I hope you will join in after my presentation and perhaps question my selections and maybe have some ideas of your own. I do want to recognize a new friend tonight, sarah from the highland, which is the official name. Very Interesting Research going on there. I think it is wrong to say plowing new ground, because we need to be careful when we disturbed archaeological evidence that is now changing some of our understanding of james monroe and his contributions. Very good to meet you and your children. I think it is so great they are joining you this evening. I dontt to make sure want to leave out my good friend emeritus of the Jefferson Memorial foundation. Dan and i have been friends for many years. We are even closer friends now because we Work Together on a number of projects. Just being in monticello today, dan, reminded me of how your emphasis on scholarship and preservation together has enriched not only the visitors experience, but also American History. At dinner tonight, leslie, your successor, we were both singing your praises. Great for you to be here tonight. It is always an honor to see you. I want to recognize Dave Mccullough who encourage me to write this book and wrote the foreword. If you are interested in 50 great places, you get the wonderful foreword. He and i will be appearing together later in boston at the Old South Meeting House where we will be talking about history and the importance of preserving history and 50 Great American places. I wrote this book and David Mccullough encouraged me to write the book that i would want to read. There were three reasons for writing the book. First was to encourage historical literacy. What do i mean by that . I dont mean memorization of dates and facts. The order in which the president are elected or when was the war of 1812 . [laughter] that is a trick question. Im not talking about memorizing those facts. Im talking about historical context. How places and events and people relate to each other in their own time. And how they can be resources for us today. What is the connection between some of these Historical Places and these individuals we read about and our own times . How do they help us understand evene are as americans and giving us meaning in our lives . Historical literacy is connected to citizenship. It is impossible to be a citizen in a democracy without knowing something about our history and it is impossible to have a democracy without having people who understand our history. Especially in the year in which we will elect a new president , every headline we read has some connection to history. Every headline we read about the election and the issues, even about the personalities certainly being at monticello and reading anything about jefferson, you know there were some heated personality conflicts back in his time. So we dont have to think about our own time as the only time in which these largerthanlife personalities entered into our political consciousness. I think it is particularly interesting not only in the president ial election year, but in the year in which i think i was told by leslie it is ok to mention Alexander Hamilton in charlottesville. A year in which one of the founders of our country has entered into the popular consciousness and the popular conversation. I think it is fantastic that so many young people, people from across the country, from around the world are interested in the first secretary of the treasury. I was talking to a group of Young College students, women from other countries, who were living in new york for a year. What show we want to go to a broadway show. Maybe you want to see the show hamilton. The first treasurer of the united states. They looked at me and thought why would i want to see a show about a bureaucrat . Its not that. It has great music, hiphop, rap lyrics. Whether they went or not, i dont know. I was also motivated when i was working at the National Museum of American History. I met so many people from around the world who came to discover American History at the smithsonian. After we reopened the museum after a twoyear renovation, we dedicated a public space right outside the starspangled banner gallery for a ceremony in which we swore in new citizens to the united states. I had the opportunity to meet so many of these people who were dedicated to becoming citizens. They were hungry for more information about American History. Mccullough said to write the book i would want to read, i wrote the book that i thought they would want to read as well. That was my motivation, historical literacy. Second motivation was to promote heritage tourism. Americans to go out and experience firsthand this amazing these amazing Historic Sites we have in our country. There is something about the user of place that inspires but also stirs our imagination. It is interesting that when you go to a place like monticello or gettysburg or any other places i write about, our imaginations are what, i think, are most interesting to realize that we use it to fill in the gaps. There is new information but there is much information we may never know about the people who occupy these places. Visiting these places firsthand is very powerful. It is hard to even understand much about American History without getting out and actually visiting these Historic Sites. The third reason, and i should back up and say what is amazing to me is how many of the wellestablished sites are adding information all the time. If you go to mount vernon, there is a new education center. If you go to monticello, montpelier, gettysburg all these places. If you have not visited these places in the last 10 years, you are missing so much scholarship, new educational material. That is another reason to visit these Historic Sites across the country. The third reason was to recognize and honor the visionaries and the contemporary people who are preserving his stortoric places. Historic preservation is vital to helping us understand these Great American places. Centennial year of the National Parks service. Are nationalsites parks. I think of these places, monticello which is in the National Park which has been preserved over the years, these are the places that have been preserved. In each one of the essays, i have a few sentences about some of the heroes and men and women who are not as well known in history, but who played a large role in preserving our history at these great Historic Sites. On Grand Central terminal, i quoted Jacqueline Kennedy onassis who led the fight in the 1970s to preserve Grand Central terminal. She wrote, and she said as she was fighting for the preservation of Grand Central terminal, she said something that was universal as far as Historic Preservation. She wrote is it not cruel to let our city die by degree, stripped of all her history and beauty to inspire our children . If our children are not inspired by the past of our city, where will they find the strength to find for our future . If the children are not inspired by the past, where will they have the strength to fight for the future . I think that really captures the spirit of Historic Preservation and that was another reason why i wrote the book. It is important to realize it is not inevitable. History is not inevitable. It depends on people making choices and making decisions. So, those are some of the motivations for writing the book. How did i select the sites of the book . I had four criteria in selecting these sites. First of all, i wanted to have sites that represented all the regions of the country. Not every state, but every region. Sites, i wanted to have that represented all the time periods, from the free colonial. Period to presentday. The book is arranged roughly in chronological order, although i start with the national law in washington. After the national mall, my essays cover the sites in roughly chronological order. That is important because some of the places i wrote about were listed early in the book meant they were more important than the sites that are wrote about later in the book. I had someone call me and said im happy my site is more important than gettysburg because im number eight and gettysburg is number 15. No, this is roughly in chronological or. Der. These were sites that were publicly accessible. You can get to them fairly easily, many of them for free. That was important to me. The fourth criteria was i selected sites that represented major themes in American History. Themes that i think represents and a fine american identity. Those themes are freedom, and innovation, diversity, landscape. Freedom, war, innovation, diversity, and landscape. Fwidl, if you are trying to memorize that. We can argue about that. Maybe there are some themes that are not uniquely american or that i should add or subtract. Those are the things that guided me in selecting these sites. I will show you a few images from the book, not all 50, but about 20 images, 20 sites that represent important themes and 50 Great American places. Under freedom, i have to start with monticello. And, as i said earlier, i think we are learning so much about Thomas Jefferson and about his contributions to American History. Thanks to monticello that we know so much about his time. Today, i was fascinated with the walkthrough the building of monticello, the putting up and pulling down was the name of the exhibit. How often he built and rebuilt and changed the appearance of monticello. But, also to think about jeffersons contributions to the story of freedom, to the fact that now monticello is talking about the history of slavery at monticello. That freedom story is being told here. It is a very rich site for all of those reasons. At the smithsonian, we had possession of jeffersons bible. Many of you know about jeffersons bible. I know dan does. A great story of just how original a mind jefferson had and how he did not accept anything. He had to challenge everything. Monticello tops my list in terms of it could be in many different categories, but in the freedom story, certainly it belongs there. The freedom trail in boston is another important site that i believe in the next few years you will read more and more about boston as we get closer to the 250th anniversary of the american revolution. The stamp act, the 250th anniversary was last year. Along the freedom trail is where i will be on wednesday. There are 16 sites that helps us understand the events that led up to the american revolution. Many of the important meetings took place there leading up to the american revolution. Seneca falls. Seneca falls was mentioned there we go seneca falls was mentioned last week when Hillary Clinton accepted, or didnt accept, but was giving a victory speech. Seneca falls appeared in the video that was shown prior to her victory speech. Ill be speaking at seneca falls in july at the annual anniversary of the Womens Rights Convention which was held in july 1848. What always amazes me about this in early july, the women came together for tea and decided finally enough is enough. They were staunch abolitionists, progressive reformers, but they decided we will have a convention about womens rights. We will hold it for three weeks. We are going to draft a declaration of sentiments. One of the key provisions of the declaration of sentiments will be that women have the right to vote. If we were planning a convention, wed start a year or two ahead of time. They had 300 people show up at the convention before fax machines, before the telephone, before airmail or the internet. They sent out the word and people came. 150 people, men and women, signed the declaration of sentiments. That document launched the Womens Suffrage Movement and the womens Rights Movement in this country and around the world. It is a very important site. Not far from seneca falls is the town of auburn, new york. Who knows the two important people that lived in auburn . One of them was william seward, Abraham Lincoln secretary of state. His home is beautifully preserved. Home, thism sewards is a connection to Alexander Hamilton here so if you will follow my logic, who lived in auburn . Harriet tubman. For the last 50 years of her life, she lived in auburn, new york and her home is open to the public. The connection to Alexander Hamilton is she will be replacing Andrew Jackson on the 20 bill. Worthwhilehat was a story to bring us back to seneca falls. A very important site. The National Park service does a wonderful job interpreting the Womens Rights Convention. The building on your left is the chapel that was restored by the park Service Several years ago. After it ceased operation as a chapel, it was used for almost every use you can imagine. A laundromat, rollerskating rink, office building, used car dealership. Everything was in that building but somehow the bones of the building survived and the Parks Service restored the building years ago. The building on the right is elizabeths home just outside of seneca falls. In atlanta, the Ebenezer Baptist church. Another important landmark and the Martin Luther king birth which is just down the street in the area of atlanta called sweet auburn. Ist i found interesting when you go to the Ebenezer Baptist church, the Parks Service has restored the church and has a recording of Martin Luther king delivering sermons in that church. It is quite powerful to hear him speak and know he is speaking in that building. When you go to his home, you go into the room where he was born. Many people dont realize this but when Martin Luther king was born, his name was michael king. It was not Martin Luther king. His father who was a baptist minister took a trip to germany in the early 1930s just after Martin Luther king, after michael king, was born. He became so interested in the story of Martin Luther and the protestant reformation that he came back to atlanta and changed his name to Martin Luther king and changed his sons name to Martin Luther king, jr. This is when Martin Luther king was five years old. I think that is an interesting story because it tells you something about the family and their commitment to social change and just how powerful that story was to Martin Luther kings father. This was an important site in the story of freedom. Now, in the story of war. Moving to the other side of herginia, at yorktown, t culmination of the american revolution. In addition to visiting yorktown and understanding the importance not only of the victory over Great Britain in october 1781, but the alliance with france that made it possible. Many americans forget totally about the fact that without the french help i see dan nodding in approval without the french assistance, we would not have onwon our revolution. The french remind us about that frequently. We helped than as well over the years. Essay aboute jamestown, colonial williamsburg, fort munro and the amazing array of Historic Resources in the virginia peninsula. Gettysburg, i have visited gettysburg many times and every time i go there, the northern end of the journey through hollow ground, every time i visit it is a new experience. Im interested in the memorial landscape. More than 1300 monuments and memorials that have replaced, mostly by the veterans. What im showing you is the Peace Memorial that was dedicated by Franklin Roosevelt on the 75th anniversary of the battle of gettysburg. Poignantarticularly is after the ceremony in 1938, the world was about to enter another major war. The dedication of the Peace Memorial has a particular meaning to me when i visit gettysburg as i have many times. There are several new museums in gettysburg. The Seminary Ridge museum which opened a few years ago in the lutheran the illogical seminary theological seminary. It played a pivotal role for the north and the south. The museum that tells you something about the effects on the battle of gettysburg on People Living in the town. Always something new to see at gettysburg. Essays in 50 Great American places is the indian wars. On your left is the little bighorn memorial in montana. On your right is the wounded knee massacre memorial in south dakota. The indian wars and the whole story of the federal governments treatment and conflicts with the indians is not a happy chapter in American History, but i felt it was important to include several sites that are essential to understanding who we are as americans and how we have overcome a number of barriers in our history. So, the indian wars is an important part of that story. Finally, i will show you one other site in the theme of war and that is the uss arizona memorial at pearl harbor in honolulu. This memorial was dedicated in 1961 and was made possible by a fundraising benefit concert by elvis presley. Series ofing his films on hawaii and he found out they were running short on money for this memorial. He was a very patriotic person who just served in the army. He did a benefit concert and raised enough money to help finish the fundraising to build this very memorable and important memorial at pearl harbor. It will be the 75th anniversary on the attack on pearl harbor this december. When i was growing up, pearls for arbor day was a day everybody renumbered. I dont know if the young people in the audience know anything about pearl harbor. Im not pointing fingers. Easily these places slip from public memory unless we find a way to introduce them and reintroduce them and not take for granted for why it is important. And these events shaped who we are as americans today. , slaterr innovation. Ill, the first textile mill a mechanic trained in england and then came here with that a textileand created conference. A museum there was a wonderful example of power technology. The First Heritage area was the Blackstone River so i would recommend to slater mill. Inis a way to see innovation American History. Calre shops. Mt. It started in 1928. On july 4, 1828, john quincy ground forreaking the canal. On the same time they were setting the cornerstone. The do not know whether canal for the railroad was going to be the shaving technology that they both started on the same day trying to get to the ohio valley. The railroad became the shaping technology of the 19th century. In west orange, new jersey. They do a wonderful job of recreating the important elements. Edison was probably more did try. D although he more than 1000 patents in his name. Libraryhe sites at his laboratory was the re reconstruction of his movie theater. He called it black maria. It had a retractable roof. He was one of the first to develop motion pictures. In the last example under innovation is Silicon Valley. You can drive around Silicon Valley and see the little garages where hubert and packard started. Where Stephen Wozniak started. You can go to the google garage. At this building and mountain view, california which was the Computer History Museum you can get a great overview of the importance of the Electronics Revolution that took place mostly after world war ii. It was the home of the tech Company Silicon graphics that failed. It was a reminder that many of these text startups do not succeed so i recommend of this. To palo alto. It is now the shaping technology. Diversity, i chose a few sites that i think represent the diversity of american preserved by the natural Parks Service. It is the largest of the Cliff Dwellings that were developed at the very end of the occupation. The 13the dates from century. It was only occupied for a few decades and then mysteriously it disappeared and we believe they resettled in arizona and new mexico. Pueblos arethe direct descendents. While we think of them as nomadic, he had permanent settlements that stood several hundred years. Just south of tucson is mission san xavier. I dont know if youve ever visited this place but it is , one of thef tucson last of the spanish missions. They didnt complete the belltower. Anonymous statues of ordinary indians and spanish resident. It still has an active parish in it. It didnt always start in virginia or massachusetts. Mississippithe valley. Jamestown was founded. These colonial empires all had their beginnings. This is a good place to understand that. Indiana this is the home of two utopian societies. It came to pennsylvania in the 19th century. They were phenomenally said successful and they had granaries. Years they sold their utopian village. This was a community where everything was owned by the community. Pure communal society. They were a celibate organization and they do not have a succession plan. They sold it to a another utopian society. Successful scottish, he was it was not a religious community and unfortunately his experiment failed after three years. On the other hand they moved in the townsylvania of ambridge. A new harmony they preserve the and the a wins society. This was reconstructed. Simple. Very important building rough on the outside and smooth on the inside and that reflected their about human nature and about who we are as human beings. Diversity isple on this auditorium in nashville. This is a good example of the building that started off as being something different. In fact it was built as a church. There is a Woman Entrepreneur responsible for reviving this auditorium as an entertainment venue. In the 1940s she had the idea of leasing the building to produce the radio show. Successame a phenomenal in the south and later throughout the country. The Ryman Auditorium is the center of that newspaper revolution. Today it calls itself music city. It was not always that way but realizee they became to that many genres of music was vital. I will close with a few images of landscape. The only National Park that i not in my book is yellowstone National Park is because it was the first National Park. It cannot be developed. Yellowstone was the first example of that. Public structures associated with it. , it wasrancisco bay another example of the influence of plans gave on American History. It she was the first republican candidate for president. San Francisco Bay will be to north america with the golden arm is to constantinople. That inspired him to name the site but we know it as the golden gate. And then the National Park ownership andk responsibility for it and today you see it asund the birthplace of aviation. That is four points. It is open to the public and the entire base of the army. Ofre are many examples architecture. Is thisove the most arch of the bridge. In the 1930s when they were designing the bridge they decided they had preserve it. An early example of Historic Preservation on the west coast. Willa cather captured the beauty whotriumph of the people lived on the great prairies and nebraska. Right now this foundation has preserved her home and a number of the buildings. They have now preserved this with a few trails that you can walk through. One of the great writers in American History. This is the place where memory and identity and commemoration and celebration take place. I can tell you the people from all over the country and all over the world. We understand who we are as with the and i Close National mall which is the first essay and the image i will show you today. I welcome your questions and we will have a microphone today. Thank you very much for your attention. [applause] what was number 51 . That is a great question. You are not the first to have asked me that but it was hard. I havent really thought about anyone place in particular. Sitesvent seen all the but what i tried to do was Pay Attention to the theme and to make sure that every region. Choose know what i would by it is not only because of the recent news of mohammed ali. Important city for many reasons. You have some of the iconic parts in history. That would be one that is important. Did you get any letters from. Ites that were not included i did not get any letters yet but the first talk i gave was in hudson, ohio. It is also the town where john brown grew up. Everyones in hudson said how could you leave it out. There were places that were not included. The Wright Brothers shot at home so i am sure there are some places in pennsylvania. Sites and thate was a bit provincial on my part. This is where the french and indian war were pretty important. I hope you wont write one either. Should you entertain volume two or another one i would like qualm in theer northern merion islands. 1941 the japanese. Ent to hong kong and singapore in this city which is roughly a hundred miles to the north where it both atomic bombs worth if you would entertain suggestions. Thank you. One of the criteria is that i failed to mention is that i visited all these sites. Now you have given me a good reason to go there. This was the third of the major laboratories where the materials of the atomic bomb were assembled. This is where the plutonium was produced. That reaction is now open to the public and you can visit and it is a fascinating story of recreating this town, not in a total wilderness. , not in a total wilderness. There were native americans living in this area. The federal government came in and created this factory to produce 14 pounds of plutonium. 350nk theyve spent million at this time to do this. At hanford, told washington. One of the great outcomes of visiting meaningful places like this is that the transformation that occurs when we discover and learn is there any moment of discovery that you experienced that you would like to share with us whether it is about the orce that you havent been changed you in an unexpected way. The question of whether i was change by visiting a site in a is that i hadnt anticipated it is a really good question. In illinois, that was a surprise for me. That is a wonderful book think is wonderful. It wasnt expecting to see how it was. D have nound builders advanced technology. They built these extraordinary structures with the major mount itself whereplaza couldk place but you climb to the tallest mound. In the essay that i ride right where i combine these two because these were symbols of two different civilizations. This was the greatest insider perspective and actually being in that place which isnt as so i would have to put that in response to that. We will take one more question. When you are researching and , i grew upese places near there. Civilization has really encroached. It is right on the border. Places, howse other did you feel about that and what can we do about it. The question of how we can protect the sites is a very important question. I think to the fact that here in virginia and not too many years ago is there was a proposal to put a disney theme park on. It was through the efforts of that this wasgh inappropriate or sacred ground. Historic innovations have to win all the time because if you lose one battle, it is gone. Where today it is impossible to think. You walk through that magnificent building and i one point there was a proposal to build us die scraper. That wouldve compromised its integrity. It wouldve led to the demolition of much of the building. I think that we need to be and at one time i served as the state of preservation officer for pennsylvania. People. Say to the you cannot do enough to preserve. Most of the calls i received from legislators. We need to know that preservation is a good thing for our country. Research will show that Property Values actually increase in areas where there has then an organized preservation effort. Document on the 50th anniversary and this is a good time to raise that awareness. We are out of time so lets give him a round of applause. Thank you all very much for coming and if you have any official questions we will set him up in the back and you can get your book signed and talked in their and you very much. Youre watching American History tv every weekend on American History tv. Like us on facebook on recent history. One day before this years Democratic National convention began, we had several archived nomination acceptance speeches. Beganhere is a preview. And above all in this decade decade ofs, this decision and progress we will witness the continuation of the inals with a renewed faith the internal ideals of freedom and justice under god. [applause] you inre that many of this hall and temple is television might ask. My answer is yes of course. Of americans regardless policy want a better life for their people. What is the difference them. In the way we is propose to reach these goals and the records shows that our way works and theres doesnt. Were going to prove it. [applause] we produce on the promises that they make. We succeed where they fail and you know why . Our primary reliance not upon government but upon people for progress in america. That is why we will succeed. We must never forget that the strength of america is not in its government but in its people. We say tonight that there is no limits to the goals that america can reach provided we stay true to the Great American tradition. Government has a role and a very important one but the role of government is not take responsibility from people but to put response possibility on them. It should not dictate to people that encourage and simulate productivity of 180 million free americans. That is the way to progress in america