Programs that will be in the new museum in philadelphia. This is about a century old project. We have been working on the project since five years. We expect to open in 2017. We have a place to show up these wonderful and amazing original object from the revolutionary era. For general view, or sometimes looking at 18thcentury firearms they tend to look alike that this really speaks to the one power of the ideas that were made the country and particularly the men who served under arms. If you look at these pieces of continental currency, you will notice the designs. These have been selected under the direction of Benjamin Franklin from a book of ancient symbology. In the center, it is difficult to see, but there is an image of a beaver chewing a tree. Calling on persistence on the part of the beaver. The idea that this is not going to be a conflict that is one overnight. That persistence will be rewarded the fee so me and is the continental three dollar bill. It has a great connection to this musket. In the center, theres the image of an eagle attacking a crane which is defending itself with its beak. In an latin, the legend roughly translates as the out come is uncertain. If you look carefully at the lock plate of the flintlock, you will see on the head of the eagle, its slightly concealed in the hammer but you will recognize that that same symbol from the continental three dollar bill has been engraved by the gunsmith on the lock of this wonderful americanmade musket. And to think about the the a the the idea that the outcome is uncertain while you are carrying a weapon like that against one of the most powerful militaries in the world, something that can speak to us today. Their pistols here, i brought these out because they relate to a particularly interesting character from the revolution. John Peter Gabriel muhlenberg was a germanamerican man born near philadelphia in the town of trapp, pennsylvania. His father, henry muhlenberg, is still considered to be the founder of the Lutheran Church in america and the muhlenberg family was a remarkable family that many of the sons of henry became very significant a figures in theology and natural sciences, in the military and politics. Frederick muhlenberg, the brother of peter, was the first speaker of the house of representatives and in many ways was considered an important figure in the adoption of the bill of rights. Peter muhlenberg, like all of his brothers, was ordained as a minister at the beginning of the American Revolution. He had gone to london and then ordained in the church of england so that he could then go to virginia in the early 1770s and take up a calling to preach in what is now the Shenandoah Valley of virginia. He became very caught up in the revolutionary politics of 1774 1775, 1776 and was involved in raising a regiment of germanspeaking settlers in the Shenandoah Valley. The eighth virginia, or socalled german regiment. He served through 1783 essentially rose to the rank of general. These are the pistols that he carried through the revolution. He actually bequeathed them to his oldest son in his will. He referred to them as his brass barrel pistols he carried in the revolution because his initials were on them on the wrist plate engraved in script. They are not particularly fancy from a period standpoint. They are fairly plain weapons, horse pistols, but a lot of incredible history they could tell if they were able to speak. This pair of volumes are two surviving volumes from a multi volume set of 18thcentury works on livvys history of rome and these belonged to george mason. Dated 1769 and were later sign by his son Thompson Mason in 1792. They are a london addition and george mason often remembered as the father of the bill of rights. He was very politically active as a member of the house of burgesses in virginia all for the prerevolutionary struggle and a member of the virginia convention. He was involved in drafting the virginia revolutionary constitution and declaration of rights in 1776. Really, a very significant figure. The volume is also significant as evidence of the founders interest in ancient history of routing their political understanding in the history of rome and the history of republics. They were looking for examples from classical history for their political philosophies, how to organize the new republic an governments, that they hoped would replace after the declaration of independence the monarchical system that had grown up at that time. These are very rare pieces and there is only a handful of masons books that have survived. I think we have more than anyone else except the wonderful gunston hall located south of washington, d. C. , south of alexandria which is a wonderful preserved Historic Site that everyone should visit if they are interested in the founding era. Its often difficult to find objects that speak to the presence and the role of africanamericans in the war. This is a socalled descriptive list from the communal army for a massachusetts regiment in 1782. It was after the conclusion of the most significant fighting it. But still while the armies were waiting for the terms of the peace of paris to be published and the army to be demobilized. On this list, there are at least five africanamerican soldiers serving in the continental army. By the end of the American Revolution, there were perhaps 5000 or more africanamericans serving in the continental army. You will see the descriptive list which was away for the regiments to keep track of the mens names, their ages, their size, if they had any kind of trade, were they have been born, their place of residence and a physical description of them when they have been enlisted for how long. If a soldier deserted, you could advertise for him and they he was this tall and had this complexion or this hair. Also, if soldiers demanded that they would get a discharge during the course of the war this was the kind of document that tracked if they enlisted for a certain term or if they had enlisted openended before the war. You will see that reflected in this document. An example would be caesar perry. His age is not known but he was five feet nine inches, born in massachusetts in rehobeth. Bristol was the county and was listed as having dark hair and dark complexion and enlisted march 1, 1777 and for the war. So it was openended. He would not be able to claim that he could leave early until peace have been declared. Another man was joel thuckermug was 37 years old also for massachusetts, in this case bridgwater, in plymouth county. Had black hair, black complexion, march of 1779 he had been enlisted. Some were prisoners of war and others have been discharged. It is a wonderful document that helps us to establish the presence in service of those whose stories of not always been told in the past fully. This large painting was painted in philadelphia about a century ago by local artist named harrington fitzgerald. It depicts washingtons troops crossing the delaware before the battle of trenton. This is an example of one of our ongoing needs in addition to , raising funds for the museum we are conserving our collection. This is a painting that lived for decades and decades in an unheated outbuilding in a park and suffered through the years. You can see areas of over painting. These are some test patches from the conservatories. Once the painting is cleaned and there is some filling in, it will become quite bright instead of looking like a modern washington, d. C. Snowstorm, it is kind of yellowish brown it will look like an 18thcentury snowstorm. Theres actually a second painting behind this one, same size. It is depicting the troops marching into valley forge. We are working to complete the conservation of these painting so they can be put on permanent display in the courtyard of the museum on the second floor as you enter and exit the core exhibition. The museum will continue the story beyond 1783, the demobilization of the continental army, through the critical period of the critical time of the 1780s and the gathering of the delegates to the Continental Congress and the founding of the United States constitution. It will then deal a bit with the commemoration and memory of the revolution him of the way that subsequent generations of americans have continued to look back at the founding era as a source of inspiration and source of power to try to get through hard times whether there be challenges from abroad or challenges from within. Here are a couple of objects that speak to those later efforts to remember the revolution. Perhaps most are medically, the most dramatically, this painted parade banner. This is a painted silk banner that was commissioned by the victuallers to participate in a parade. The marquis de lafayette returns to america on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the declaration of independence to tour the young United States and recall his service as a close associate of general washington through the war of independence. This banner would have been carried on a pole by an assembled group of tradesmen and all of the different trades would have been represented during this parade through philadelphia down Market Street and chestnut street, past independence hall. Its a very nice likeness of the marquis. Almost certainly, one of the spectators for that parade would have in this man here, jacob lash, who was a local revolutionary war veteran. He lived maybe 10 miles west of philadelphia and had served at least three tours as a militiaman during the American Revolution including the time of the philadelphia campaign, the winter that the british were occupying philadelphia and Washingtons Army was in valley forge. This man was serving the area. He had this charcoal drawing done for a member of the family, probably in the 1840s. He died about 1845. Also, this descendent of the family eventually came in to the collection about 75 years ago. Along with this incredibly rare survivor, this is not a revolutionary uniform but is a summer coat that was a linen coat from 1810. It was when jacob lash and many other revolutionary war veterans were retiring. There were not many of them because of their physical disabilities that they suffered during their service. They were unable to support themselves and by the time of the war of 1812, there was an increasing movement for congress to try to do something to support these veterans. It was a National Embarrassment to see veterans who were begging on the street or unable to support themselves. Congress eventually passed the First Pension act in 1818 that would put these men on a public assistance in recognition of their service and that was eventually expanded in 1832. The unintended consequence of that pension act was to bring produce a remarkable oral history archive on the war of independence which is now Available Online and the original is in the National Archives in washington. Many of these men would not necessarily have their discharge papers or the recordkeeping which have been sporadic during the war. In order to prove their service, these men would go to court in their local communities and they would have to swear an oath and then recount the revolutionary service. They would often bring witnesses if there were any and testify to the veracity of these men. These documents are an incredible oral history archive, the stories that come out, the memories of these veterans of seeing general washington, serving in many of the actions of the revolution, they are really irreplaceable. They are available through the National Archives and they make for great reading. You dont even have to leave the house. Use that internet. Bringing the story up to the 20th century, i have to introduce the reverend Herbert Burke who was the founding father of the museum of the American Revolution. He was an episcopal minister in the philadelphia area at the turn of the 20th century. He became obsessed with the idea of creating a museum here in the area that would tell the story of the American Revolution. It would recall and celebrate washingtons efforts to bring the nation into being, its leadership during the revolution. His first act was to purchase from descendents of marshall of Martha Washington, the daughter of robert e lee, one of the campaign tents that washington used through the American Revolution. This is the sleeping and office 10th at washington used as his field headquarters when he was in the field. Burke brought the tent to valley forge. He was building what is now known as the washington Memorial Chapel he placed it on display. He had to raise the princely sum of 5,000 which was no small fee in 1909, to try to purchase this tent. What we have is the actual original visitors log from the washington Memorial Chapel at valley forge. This is recording all the people who came to visit and pay their couple of nichols in order to see the tent. As you can see, september 8, september 9, lots and lots of folks, 1907, he is raising the money over the course of a couple of years. I marked a page here because there was a remarkable visitor here. On september 18, 1909, the Famous Artist howard pyle and his wife ann and his son godfrey visited to see the tent. This is a reproduction of a painting that he had on a couple of years earlier, an illustration from a magazine. He was wellknown for the illustration of tyrants and early American History. He is still beloved as the progenitor of the socalled Brandywine School of art you can see at the Brandywine River Museum in pennsylvania and the Delaware Museum of art in wilmington. He had already imagined washington and his tent a few years earlier for this magazine illustration. This mustve been going through his mind. He actually did a little caricature of general washington after visiting the tent. I enabled assure you a portion of washingtons tent. We are doing the final conservation work on the tent to prepare it for display in the museum of the American Revolution. Michelle and i will carefully reveal part of the wall of general washingtons tent. What you are seeing this is an image that is showing the way the tent will actually be displayed in a museum. It will be in an object theater. The tent will be in its own climate controlled case not unlike the starspangled banner at the American Museum of history. The tent is composed of a roof and a sidewall that hangs from the roof, not unlike a tent you would rent for a party today. In many ways, its very contemporary. What you are seeing laid out here is the linen wall of that tent. This is what was known as a sod cloth, so this is the bottom of the wall that would hang them and that would fall to the inside of the tent to try to keep rain and dirt and critters from coming into the tent very easily. There would have been a line of little iron hooks and eyes along the top of that wall. As you can see, it is raked a little bit or has a rise here because of the end of the tent where the door is located rises up a little bit. One of the interesting things we found in our initial assessment and documentation is that when it was originally constructed, the doors were about six inches lower and that early in the process, they had been cut and additional material was added to raise it up. When you think about washington being 64, he was a tall man for that time so maybe his hat got knocked off one too many times and he sent it back for repairs. There is tremendous information that can come from examining these old objects centuries after they were produced. It is still revealing a lot of secrets as we continue our work. The museum of the American Revolution will be a National Museum dedicated to learning about the revolution. We will present the entire story of the American Revolution and really give people a place to go in this nation to discover the miracle of how this country came into being, an incredible experience awaits every visitor walks into this museum. Yes, they will see some amazing artifacts, original witnesses to the American Revolution, the men and women who achieved it. And at the same time, they will be experiencing the war and the era in surprising and novel ways. They will be immersive environments with films that will bring the story to life. You will meet the people and get to understand the importance of the revolution. Where the drive came from to sustain this country through eight years of warfare, why the ideals of liberty and quality and selfgoverning or so important, where these values came from that still the finest still define us as americans today. The museum of the market is expected to open early 2017. You can learn more about the museum, and see and explore their artifacts online atamrev museum. Org and you can view this and other artifact programs at www. Cspan. Org history. Youre watching American History tv. All weekend, every weekend on cspan3. To mark the 60th anniversary of the capitol hill newspaper roll call, cspan is featuring the papers reporters, and talk about how rollcall covered some major news events of the past 60 years. When rollcall went to press on the june 6 edition on 1968, they didnt yet know what would be the fate of Bobby Kennedy. They do have been shot, and that he had been rushed to a hospital in los angeles. But they went to press not yet knowing exactly what the outcome would be. And so the rollcall, staff at the time of the founder actually went ahead with a frontpage editorial in which they address the broader i