The association. I would like to welcome our friends who are joining us by cspan and those who are here with us tonight who are the really smart people in washington because you have chosen to be here above the National Baseball game and above the televised president ial debate tonight so we think that weve got the best thing going and we are glad that you chose to be with us tonight. I would like to acknowledge some very important people. Who are with us this evening. Mats appearance, tim and Debbie Costello who are here with us tonight. And his wife christian, who is here. Tonight and of course in my book the two most important costellos or sofia and theodore and they are at home, i guess. They can come next time they are mad and christians wonderful little kids. Id also like to welcome the members of our board of directors who are with us tonight. We have and stop, lets give and a hand. applause and bob mcgee. applause and we have two that are in route Anita Mcbride and gayle west. They will be with us here tonight. Steve strong is the national cochair of our White House National council on white house history. Which and his wife andrea are here tonight. This is one of our most important groups here at the White House Historical association. Their support, their current courage, meant their inspiration, their wisdom, it really puts the winds in the sails of so much of what we do and are grateful to have you here with us tonight, steve. The program tonight doctor Matt Costello is going to share with us about his brandnew book it is hot off the presses and this is the first time that we are making it available. We are very proud of matt it is one of our historians here the association. He has been with us now, along as it . Been three years on november 1st. And he has made quite a mark and quite a contribution to our work here at the association. Prior to coming here, he had contributed to the George Washington bibliography project. He was a fellow at mount vernon. And he is currently doing two things that i am particularly proud of. One is he is teaching a course at American University on white house history. To our knowledge this is the first time this is ever been done anywhere and we hope to broaden that beyond just american universities so that classrooms across the country can join virtually and we can expand that impact. But its really a cutting edge first mover opportunity for us, we are very proud of. He is also working on his next book which will be published by the White House Historical association instead of Kansas University press, which published this one. And we are very proud to have the opportunity to publish this next book which is on the renovation of the white house undertaken by president Theodore Roosevelt in the early 20th century. Following his remarks, this podium will be moved away from the stage so everyone over here can have a clear view and he and i will have a conversation, a few probing questions i might have about his book, and we will open the floor to questions. And then you are all invited to join us in the courtyard for some refreshments following. Thank you very much for being here. Matt i will turn it over to you. applause good evening and thank you steward for that wonderful introduction. It is truly a privilege to be here tonight with you all. One of the most gratifying exercises about finishing the book is that you get right acknowledgment so you get to take time and really think through the people and the places that made this project possible, and im thrilled that many of those people are here tonight today, including my college here at the association and thank you for your support, here encouragement we show this accomplishment together. And in the spirit of that we are sharing something collectively and that is my segue, tonight im going to talk about the subject of the book about the property of the nation and essentially what im getting at is who owns history . And i use washington and his to him as a lens for trying to understand that process and how it unfolded in the 19th century. This project began as an offshoot of research i was doing around the washington monument. As i was exploring different efforts by congress to build statues and memorials and monuments, i was drawn to this particular incident in 1832. Where members of congress were debating and then voted in favor of removing George Washingtons body from melbourne, and in intoning it in the event just below the crypt in the capital rotunda. As i go deeper and pun intended i discovered that this was one of many attempts to physically remove washingtons body during the 19th century. Naturally i was also curious about what was happening exactly at the grave site. And i found some pretty fascinating stories. The tomb served as an intersection for historical tourism, recent class relations, copy the culture, religious expression. All things that were transformed by the avenue of political advent of political. Democracy these experiences illuminated how the democratic impulse transcended the president. As more americans sought to know, touch and even possess pieces of washingtons best. Different individuals and groups interacted with washingtons final resting place in montana and it was through these visits that citizens, politicians, artists, writers, entrepreneurs and enslaved storytellers reimagine the collective memory of washington, democratizing the first president and creating this popularly held belief that he was indeed the property. Of the nation but in order to talk about the memory making process, unfortunately we have to start with washingtons demise. On december 14 1799, washington came down with would appear to be a winter cold, it accelerated quickly. Studies now believe that he probably suffered from acute the swelling of the larynx. Whether it was bacterial or viral in nature, we are not too sure. The medical treatments at the time only accelerated his declining health. Washington passed away between ten and 11 00 at night. And assemble 18th, he was privately entered out mound vernon. Six days later, on Christmas Eve 1799, president john adams asked for marthas consent to move her husbands body in the future, to the capital, what we then see was essentially the apotheosis of washington. There was a National Mourning period up until his birthday, february 22nd 1800. General killer has done a great study detailing essentially all the different funeral processions. He counted over 400 different instances. This was an outpouring of National Grief that the Young Country had never seen before. Now, at mount vernon itself, letters of condolences streamed in and particular to martha. But not all of these were sympathetic, sorry for your loss. Some of them were very actually opportunistic. For example, a number of individuals were asking for locks of washingtons hair, which sounds strange to us but it was common in the 18th and 19th century. There was one man who claimed he had served with George Washington and asked martha if she could write a pardon on his behalf to the governor of pennsylvania because he had been accused of stealing a horse. They had not been able to outfind the real thief, and only the winner of washington could save him from his unfortunate faith. She did not reply. With this revolution resolution to move washington and 1799, this opened up a new question about, how would we venerate the memory of our past leaders . Things like education. What would be very public displays of things like statues, monuments, or even something that appears as antithetical to the revolution today. Something like appear middle mausoleum. This one was actually proposed by benjamin henri, the same architect who designed the cater house. This pyramid was supposed to be 100 by 100 feet which would have made it one of the tallest structures in the United States at the time. It would have been made out of granite and marble, very expensive, but this issue of hero worship came in the way between federalist and republicans. Is this for a man or a pharaoh . With the United States be different from other countries . Obviously, there were comparisons with egypt, ancient roam, ancient greeks. Ultimately, this measure is defeated. Public opinion turns against this idea of creating a grant muzzling for George Washington. They argue its not what washington would have funded. The government does not have money for Something Like that. The federalist really sort of sunk their ship when they proposed only they would be involved with designing the actual mausoleum. But the issue of entering washington in the new place never goes away. An 1816, the new owner of mount vernon, the Supreme Court justice, the nephew of George Washington, hes actually solicited by the virginia General Assembly. They propose moving the body to richmond to be placed underneath a monument that has not been built yet. Again, another attempt, but this time by a state government. Congress gets wind of it. They write mr. Washington as well and inquire about moving washington to the capital. Theyre rebuilding it theyre having these conversations. He declines. That is another attempt to move him. Free masonry, and the free masons come along in the 18 twenties and propose raising money to essentially build a new tomb in honor of George Washington and his may see on accomplishments. It would propose putting together money that was raised a different launches and even creating a national lodge, and having washington attached to it. Part of what i argues that in the 18 twenties, keep in mind that free masonry has sort of taken a turn. There is the rise of the anti me scenic party. More and more americans are becoming suspicious of what they see is elitist free masons. The free masons are still visiting washingtons grave. Theyre still attributing his memory to their own brotherhood. Theyre saying any criticism against us is just the same as criticizing washington himself. They are a great example of societal organizations using washington as a shield to guard against criticism and anything like. That. Really where we see a major transition into how washington is perceived, how he is marketed and how people profit from it, is with this gentleman, john august and washington the third. He is actually the last private owner of the mount vernon estate. He agrees to a contract in 1858. He formally vacates the estate of 1860 that before then, he labored to turn out vernon into americas first historic tourism destination. He invested and several ventures hoping to catch capitalize with a famous so that they could have direct access to the pure landing at mount vernon. A continent constant flow of steamboats would come between the city alexandria and mount vernon. He even authorizes the building of a wooden plank walkway which you can see in this photograph, and charged it to the company. Probably the funny or things that came across in my research was that, this land was so valuable that there was a man named george page who arrived at mount vernon along the shoreline in 1851 and he was holding up a deed, saying that he owned part of the shoreline of mount vernon. This through, john agustin into a fifth. It did not go too well for george page, but it does go to show you, and george page also, worked for the steam packet company. There were other agents who were operating on terms of bringing people to mount vernon who wanted that access as well. He took a cut of their ticket sales and you could see this is actually the advertisement from the thomas collared. That was the one that went down several times a week. We start to see the beginnings of maybe the spirit of mount learned today. Essentially, making the estate more accessible and more affordable to people. They started offering things like confectionary. Sometimes they had liquors depending on what type of cruise you are going into. They also had music. It became sort of part of this larger experience that a lot of americans enjoyed in the 19th century. He was not only investing in this particular company, he was taking a cut of their sales. He started buying stock, and then he actually started selling wood from the estate, and the idea behind it was to essentially package and sell pieces of washingtons world that American Consumers could be more directly connected with the man himself. Now this is a particular example, made by an english businessman named james credit. Most famous for his installation of gaslighting of the capital but he also had this business on the side where he was manufacturing washington trinkets made of wood from the estate. Much accustomed to like we are today, anytime you get something that is supposed to be authentic, youre going to need a certificate that goes with it so you could prove to people, this is legitimate. You could see from the little you get poetry, washingtons face. A statement from the mayor of washington d. C. Attesting to the character of the man in question. Also telling you exactly where the wood came from. In the certificate he says, it is from the same hill where George Washington is buried. I think that is particularly interesting because this was a place that was considered secret to americans but when i actually went through his books and i try to plot out where exactly he was taking this wood from, it was not always from the hill. I think John Augustine washington was good at sales. This is what people wanted to hear. Some of the would actually came from the shoreline where George Washington had affectionately called hellhole. He called it that because nothing could grow their. For whatever reason, whatever he tried, he could not get anything to grow their. That is technically part of the hill. We were going to let that one slide. With the mount vernon jim, this one dates november 1856. John Augustine Washington was helping credit with his business but he was also simultaneously selling things that amount vernon. He was collecting sales that enslaved gardeners. He was also collecting any type of revenue when people came in and for a time, there was a number of different ways that were kind of the foreigners to the mount vernon of Ladies Association taking over. That Organization Also embracing the strategies. How can we capitalize on people that are drawn to mount vernon . Even though jon washington was involved in profiting he was the unclick slaved community of mount vernon that were the primary storytellers, keepers of the tomb. These were the people where the on sites storytellers and interpreters and used that platform to weave themselves into various washington legends. Some of them used these positions to assist track tips from people who are not as knowledgeable as about George Washingtons life. Others were able to highlight washingtons treatment and depending on the audience, his slaves and his will. Interesting conversation that enslaved people were having with guests. In fact, there is one instance where bush bush rod washington gets called in for selling slaves and the question his character in comparison with his uncles. It compare between, essentially using a sleeve account of a visit at mount vernon. Using enslaved people to service tour guides was not a new idea. Bush rod ross kingston lifted to his overseers, gardeners and slaves to interact with patrons, but then he was shocked when he found out that his and sleep storytellers were telling them things about what was happening on the estate. They were not bound by the same type of rules of etiquette that maybe bushrod thought that they should. We can see another sources, and heres an image actually in the post civil war. This is really goes away. African americans are very much involved in telling the stories of washingtons life at mount vernon beyond the civil war. We can see in other sources, because that is one of the difficult things is trying to track down the voices of the enslaved. They played a very prominent role not only in sharing accounts with people in newspapers and periodicals, but even an example like this. This is a piece of sheet music, and there were many musical scores about washingtons him. But the image is very striking here because if you look closely, you can see there is an African American man sitting next to the two. He is ready to sell he has a number of walking sticks lined up. Washington canes became very popular in the 19th century. It tight people directly to the estate, it was also a symbol of affluence. Many accounts of enslaved people either selling these walking sticks or marketing these walking sticks, or making a number of them for people while they are on the estate. Sometimes they say theyre peddling these trinkets, but apparently, this was much more successful, because he eventually goes out of business. These enslaved storytellers keep selling these things up through the civil war. No matter how you look at it, whether it was their role cutting the wood for the canes, or laying the plank from the wharf to the tombs, or it was them actually selling things on site and sharing stories. African americans were very involved and perpetuating some of these washington legends, but also writing themselves into it, but also challenging some of the thoughts about how washington felt about things like emancipation. One of my particularly favorite stories, because oftentimes they would make comments about whether or not they were given some type of gratuity or tip. There was one instance where a gentleman was not able to give anything to a particularly elderly enslaved woman, and she asked for a pinch of tobacco. It just goes to show you that it was not always about money. Sometimes it was just whatever a visitor might have on them. There was an expectation that there would be an exchange for service. African americans were a vital part of that.