Supports cspan2 as a public service. I hope you all having a good time. Well start our second panel today, first i want to introduce the moderator, our very own colleens who is the Senior Vice President at the david m. Rubenstein National Center for white house history of the White House Historical association. Mr. Shrks shogun has a ph. D. In american politics from Yale University as well ass a bachelors degree in Political Science from boston college. She she has almost 15 years of service in the federal government including prominent roles with the senate as well as the library of congress. She teaches government students at Georgetown University and served as vice chair of the womens Suffrage Centennial commission. Another feather in her cap is that shehe currently serves as e cochair of the board of directors at the womens Suffrage National Monument Foundation designated by the congress tos build the first memorial in d. C. Dedicated to the history of the movement for womens equality. Its a huge deal. [applause] to begin with ourto panelists, e have Elaine Bachmann who is the statema archivist of maryland ad the coauthor of a wonderful book, designing camelot, published by the White House Historical association. And im proud to say it was launched in this very room on july 28th which happened to be Jacqueline Kennedys beth day. I wasas there for that birthday. And i was there for that event, io look through the book, and t heals me and i go back to litigate. [laughter] thank you for the signed edition. Like Jacqueline Kennedy herself, ms. Bachmann also studied art history at the undergraduate level, in her case at indiana university, and she is an expert on marylands historic public buildings including the statehouse and governors mansion. Shes a frequent collaborator of the current governor, larry hogan. Ms. Bachmann is former director of property, exhibits and outreach as well as curator at d the maryland state archives. Next we also have Melissa Nolan who is the associate cure a rater of Decorative Arts at the white house where she has served since 2003 and the presidency of george w. Bush. Ms. Nolan previously held posts at mountno vernon, the museum in delaware and the strom museum of rochester, new york. He holds a masters in early american a culture at the university of delaware as well as a bachelors degree from smithee college. And last but not least, we have susan s shellworth, the executie director of Historic Preservation and collections and the robert h. Smith senior curator at George Washingtons mounteo vernon where she directs the ark tech architectural preservation and interpretation of george and Martha Washingtons home, the surrounding plantation structures as well as the hand scape. A ph. D landscape can. A ph ph. D. Graduate of yale and has a bachelors degree from the university of notre dame. An exhibit that ran from 2016 through 2021 created by dr. Shellworth and her colleagues led to the creation of an awardwinning exhibition entitled lives bound together slavery at George Washingtons mount vernon. Please welcome our moderator and our next panel. [applause] [inaudible conversations] good morning, everyone. Thank you, brandon, for that very kind introduction. When we were first planning this symposium with the national trust, this wasth one of the topics that myself and my colleague Matt Costello certainly wanted to include, because we thought it was one of the most important elements of discussion. And as brandon said, you know, im not a historian, im a political scientist, so i approach these types of topics in a particular type of way which is always asking how, why if to what effect. Anday i think today we are going to talk about the how, the why and to what effect, and were going to have some terrific stories talking about the historic role of women in preservation from places like mount vernon all the way to the white house including our own founder, jackie kennedy, which elaine will talk about in the course of our discussion. If were going to start with susan. Susan, you work at mount vernon and, of course, mount vernon is the home to one of the most amazing and interesting preservation stories in the united states,s, one of the eary preservation stories in the united states. Can you tell us a little bit about that story, and you tell us why women saved mount vernon and not men . If. [laughter] because they were there. [laughter] they stepped up to the plate. [applause]an thank you so much, colleen, and to our sponsors today, its wonderful to be here. If i can have the first slide . All of you being here today, youre all invested in preservation. Im sure youve heard the story of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association of then union, but i will recap it again briefly in case youre not totally immersedded in it as i was not before i got to mount vernon this 2010. In 2010. The Mount Vernon Ladies Association was founded in 1853 by Anne Pamela Cunningham of South Carolina as a grassroots effort to acquire and preserve the home of the nations founding father. Now, anne pamela was in turn inspired by a letter from her mother whor had seen mount vernn in Something Like the condition that you see it in the photograph before you from a river boat and was quote, as she wrote to her daughter, painfully distressed at the ruin and desolation of the home of washington. If and the thought passed through my mind, this is her mother writing, why was it that the women of his country did not try and keep it in repair if the men could not do it . [laughter] instead of being such a blot on our country. Now to your question colleen, why not men, i think thats a story of opportunities not taken because, in fact, mount vernon has been made available by the washington family who still, collateralng relatives of George Washington who still owned it since the 1830s. And both congress and the legislature of virginia, the state of virginia, had been approached and declined because, of course, this is no model for, there was no model for preservation at all, much Less Government owning private properties to we e serve them. To preserve them. So congress and the Virginia Legislature both declined and, thus, it was remaining in private property when anne pam that cunningham began to create this brass with Roots Organization in 1853. Now, step ahead to your second question, you know, would it have made a difference. We have there were no precedents for Historic Preservation at the time. There were no white papers, there were no best practices, there were no asl technical leaflets. Nextle slide, please. So Anne Pamela Cunningham and her deputies, the vice regents as they were called and still are called, when they came back after the civil war and really began actively preserving the property, they are really making up the maybook as they go the playbook as they go. And i think whats notable about anne pamelas vision, it was both conservative and inclusive. From the very beginning, she made clear that her goal was to restore the house, the outbuildings, the gardens and the grounds, quote, as nearly as possible to the condition in which they were left by George Washington. Now, i say that conservative in the sense that it wasnt aggrandizing. She wasnt trying to improve it or embellish it. She wants to present it to people as washington knew it, and it was inclusive because she envisioned it as not just the mansion and the tomb, but all of the buildings that were surviving in 1859. But architect, by Landscape Architect and those included ideas such as feeding out the grant as memorial park, conserving scarce spots by preserving only the matching and the f family to the other structures that was set at the time of no interest as their only fors. Quoteunquote the medial, by which of course was meant to insulate people who are making the plantation really operate and really responsible for all the washington legendary hospitalitys. Another suggestion was to preserve the mansion by effectively dissecting it, disassembling it, constructing a replicate of more durable brick, stone and iron and then quote i find all of the old interior parts, essentially creating a veneer of authenticity. And finally, to horror, closing it all ended dont of either in class and protected from the elements. And finally improving what washingtons landscape by introducing terraces, flowers, quote making them both of the grounds and would because clearly washington had not done enough. Next slide, please. I think that in all of those were coming from the authorities in the field and i think any of these would have resulted it a far different mount vernon that we see today. And arguably could have set preservation in general on a different path. Do i think it made a difference . I think the evidence indicates that perhaps it did make a difference here thank you to those women. Thank you, susan, for leading a softer were going to move from mount vernon ande moved to the white house and we are here today at the White House Historical association. Melissa, i know you done some research recently in a presentation about some of the first ladies prior to Jacqueline Kennedy who engaged in preservation efforts at the white house. Can you share some of those lesserknown stories and with these women really the necessary predecessors to what we see eventually realized under the Kennedy Administration . Sure. Be happy to. Absolutely i think sometimes the story of Historic Preservation as a social with the white house begins and ends often with Jacqueline Kennedy and there were many, many precedents that were i in place when she became first lady 1861. So many first ladies were involved in this effort but i wanted to highlight with you today if i could have the first slide. The first first lady who really had a habit of promoting Historic Preservation at the white house was lucy hayes. Her husband rutherford b. Hayes came in office quite controversially in 1877, but first of all i want to point out she appeared on the scene years before mrs. Kennedy and she was really the first first lady to have an interest in history and genealogy antique and looking back at americas history. She had visited the philadelphia centennial exposition in 1877 and was very influenced by that. And when you got into the white house she consulted with an old friend of the hayes who was then serving as librarian of congress here to try to decide in what ways could they have the white house better invoke the history of the past which up to that point had not really been highlighted. And one of the plants they came up with with commissioning portraits of former first ladies and president s that had not, that were not represented and that was the vast majority at that point there was very little find art in the house even when mrs. Hayes came in. Ioned during her time there the first of Martha Washington by alethel at andrews and this was done as a companion portrait to the lansdown. Gilbert stewart portrait of George Washington, which was referenced earlier and you know is is of the same scale is that portrait and those two portraits of hung as many of you have seen for many many years in the east room of the white house the portrait at the bottom of john adams is by edgar parker and again is one of the many president ial portraits that were commissioned during this is hayess tenure and those portraits tended to be copies of life portraits. So this is a copy of a Gilbert Stewart portrait of adams. This is hayes was also known for going through from asking the staff as they were investigating some of the lesser scenes faces at the house that if anything looked old and historic to bring it to her for her evaluation, and so i think some of the things that you know, were identified as historic in the 19th century certainly can be credited to her the whole concept of in american of highlighting. American history and furnishings is something that she highlighted in the selection of the state china service, which i would argue that the hay service is probably the most remarkable service. Thats probably ever been created for the white house throughout the 19th century because there wasnt american porcelain factories that were producing wars that would considered fine enough for white house state services. They were all being purchased from france and they tended to be french in design and mrs. Hayes was adamant that her service should really be american in theme and so she hired an artist Theodore Davis to design come up with unique drawings paintings of american scenes american flora fauna animals crops and some of which you see represented there on the right. Next slide please. Um, i also wanted to highlight edith roosevelts wife of president Theodore Roosevelt and during the mckinney in white renovation of the white house, which took place in 1902 Charles Mccann who was leading the project. He really wanted to start with a clean slate in the white house and really get rid of essentially everything that was in the house up to that point very, i mean as you you have to i dont have pictures this but you have to if youve if youre familiar with the images of the white house from the late 19th century, it was very high victorian and style and throughout the 19th century that had been what the families had used in decorating was everything of the latest fashion and kim wanted to return to a classical vision of the house and but mrs. Roosevelt put her foot down in certain things. She for example, love the lincoln bedroom suite which Mary Todd Lincoln had purchased for the best guest. Over during her time and so she insisted she was going to have it for her bedroom, which you see in that center slide the the famous lincoln bed and the accompanying dressers and table there all in use and so that of course called his bluff in terms of being able to get rid of it and she did that for for a number of things. She was also the first first lady to really install any sort of true museum type installation in the white house you see that in she had cabinets commissioned in the ground floor quarter and historic China Services displayed there. And possibly most importantly she also decided that the auctions that it happened all throughout the 19th century of white house furnishings needed to stop and that was a real turning point in terms of how you know, what remained in the house and what did get slide, please. And then i wanted to give a shout out to namie eisenhower who is usually not always considered in discussions of Historic Preservation, but she like mrs. Kennedy was very interested in antiques when she came into office her pet project was the state china and president ial services. She was concerned that not every president ial family was represented in the white house collection at the time. And so she used a lot of the techniques mrs. Kennedy did in terms of inviting the press in to highlight her search and to have them publicize it and help her get the word out and she was successful in locating descendants of the families that she was trying to search for china force. You see her there being proudly next to some of the acquisitions. She acquired in sheer numbers of acquisitions to the white house collection. Its hard to top her in terms of the collection of mermaid that came. And under her tenure in 1958 vermei is gilded sterling silver and its believed that the donation came about through her and general eisenhowers excuse me, president eisenhowers friendship with Margaret Thompson biddle who was an american heiress living in paris and who entertained the eisenhowers when they lived in paris when general eisenhower was serving as the commander of nato and then finally mrs. Eisenhower the first period room in the white house was introduced under mrs. Eisenhower. It wasnt her idea. It was proposed to her by Michael Greer of the National Society of interior designers, but she agreed to it and honest, you know, if she hadnt agreed it wouldnt have happened and they proposed for the first time. Furnishing a room in the white house with all antiques of the same period and so the room that was selected was the diplomatic Reception Room on the ground floor the oval room there and their members donated everything from the idea was to create a federal style parlor of about 1800 and so american antiques and furnishings that would have been available to wealthy americans at the time. Were all donated to the house. You see mrs. Eisenhower president eisenhower accepting the donation there in the top photo. So a lot of the a lot of the stage was set for mrs. Kennedy. Thats a perfect transition in elaine into a question for you you of course are the coauthor of the book designing camelo