Reached out and began speaking with the u. S. Public Health Service in january because we get began thinking about how we document the story, so it has been a slow process for us and we ramped up since we have come home, to think about collecting. Steve at what point did you pandemic would stretch into the summer and into the fall and potentially the winter . We definitelyns, have thought about the difficulties that are inherent in making a vaccine and so we this pandemicre would last if her amount of time, that we would need to remain at home for some months while a vaccine was being created. What is dont know happening, as you know, and so we are still taking things week by week in the museum. What do your job duties and how has it changed over the last few months . I oversee historians of medicine and science, and we have been planning an exhibit on the history of medicine for the museum. We started that four years ago, so when the pandemic was beginning, we were very deep into the planning for our exhibit and we began thinking about changing slightly. We thought it would be important to include covid19 and that to thinkeant we needed about covid19. We do collect objects as history unfold, but it became an imperative, especially in regards to the exhibit we were planning. We went to our planners and asked in a Harry Potterish kind of way to provide room so we could have a section on covid19. It is not that everything in american medical history leads but we know19, visitors are going to try to understand the past and where we were before covid19 in terms of medicine when they come, so in many ways, it has reshaped the exhibit. Steve to followup on your line, Harry Potterish addition, what do you mean . Alexandra when designers plan an exhibit, they document and create a plan that accounts for every inch in the exhibit. We had already claimed all of that out, and we knew we needed an additional section to deal with covid19. We had to go to our designers and say can you find extra room in your plan . They were wonderful in helping us find extra room and shifting a lot of the exhibit. They found that extra room we needed to tell that story. Steve that extra room will include what . Alexandra we are in the middle of collecting objects around covid19 and weve done a lot of thinking about which objects are most iconic and will tell the most powerful stories about this event. The ventilator is something we are thinking a great deal about. Dealcans hear a great about the ventilators. They dont know what one looks like or necessarily how it works. That is something we might think about putting in the exhibit. We also know that masks are an essential part of the story. A maskmerican is making or thinking about making a mask. Living in a place where they are asked to using mask so that is a story that represents all americans. Mightight be an object we include. We think about the test kits, as well. The faulty ones as well as those that have been much more effective. It is something we are in flux depending on how long it takes to create a vaccine. Weve even thought about leaving an empty space in an exhibit demonstrates the vaccine is coming, that we have this empty blank space at the moment. When it isepends on able to open and how the story pans out. Right now, it is up in the air. Steve clearly a lot will depend on the vaccine and other therapeutics that would allow us to return to life as normal. Best expectation, when did you think this will be available to at the vista smithsonian . Alexandra we are thinking it was originally scheduled to open in 2021 and unfortunately, it will probably be pushed into 2022 because of all work on exhibits, fabrication and things like that have been stalled at the museum. Steve lets go back to one of the last major pandemics, so 1918. Ttention on weve seen many pictures from that time period, but what do you have that tells that story . Alexandra although i want to 191819 is not the last pandemic we have had. Hivaids pandemic, but there was an influenza pandemic in 1957, 1958, and in 19681969. 1918 is the pandemic most of us are familiar with the 20th century. Museumtingly, we at the dont have any objects that relate to that pandemic. I think there are multiple reasons. One is the National Museum of American History as it is currently constructed and with its Current Mission didnt really the same way in 1918, although we are very aware of that pandemic now and although we talk a great deal about that pandemic, the truth was that in the 1920s, people really wanted to forget what had happened. In fact, one of the scholars who wrote about the pandemic in the thes called his book forgotten pandemic, because people were trying to move away from and put that pandemic in the past so the fact we dont have any objects is really not that surprising. Are other museums here in the u. S. Or elsewhere around the world doing what you are doing right now to try and chronicle this moment and preserve it for future historians . Alexandra yes. Across, many museums the world are trying to document covid19. Weve been in touch and have been working with colleagues at medical museums across the u. S. To talk to them about collecting because we think this is such a need totiative that we coordinate and talk to one another so we understand what our colleagues are doing elsewhere so that we can document the story without replicating what other museums are doing. This is such a huge story and as you can imagine, all museums have limited space. There has been a fair amount of coordination. Steve to that point in processing the story, are you collecting material you think potentially could be used by some of your successors years from now . Alexandra absolutely. We know the objects we bring in will be of interest to historians in the future and we know that because we have a fabulous medical selection in the museum right now. We have a collection that actually has objects dating back several thousand years, not just american medical objects, but also Roman Medical objects as well. Scholars come in and use these objects and study them and write about them. I also know that my colleagues in the future might also be using some of those objects, probably to do an exhibit on covid19 pandemic. It is just such a huge event. That very hard to think 100 years from now the museum would not be thinking about doing in its exhibit about covid19. When visitors walk through your exhibit, potentially in 2022, what do you want them to learn . What will the takeaway be . Alexandra one of the most important things for people to learn is that pandemics have always been with us and they will always be with us. Mentioned 19181919 and i mentioned there were a series of pandemics in the 20 century. Beforelways hard for us covid19, it was hard to emphasize or understand what it was like to live during a pandemic, the kinds of fear that people had, the worries about how to protect themselves. When we originally began planning the exhibit, and the exhibit opens with two epidemics and a pandemic that occurred in the United States before 1860. We talked a lot about how do we get we know they will come through with a very different understanding of what that feels like so what we are really trying to do is show them the different approaches medicine has taken over the years, the take andthings we accept the idea of germ theory, that was a very long time ideae people accepted that and it began to inform the practice of medicine. I want people to understand the idea of change and how long change happens. Revolutions are fairly slow. The other thing we want our visitors to understand is the very different way that disease has impacted different groups in america very differently. Were a part ofou the native American Community in the 19th century, your experience with disease would have been radically different. Alexandra steve this is that a Public Health issue and medical issue and also a political issue in 2020. Is there a way to deal with all of that . Alexandra it is interesting as a customer in two think about the different ways politics and culture always shape the responses to pandemic. The tension we are seeing over mask wearing, that was fairly common in theirly 1918, 1919. Race for a vaccine, the technological element to the story, that occurred in 1957 and 1958 as we were trying to control the influenza pandemic but there are a lot of parallels , in a lot of ways in which these pandemics are shaped pretty much the issues we confront in our society today. Health care represents Racial Disparities that have a long history that is deeply rooted in American History and we want our visitors to understand that as well. Steve as you go through this process so far, what has entry to the most were surprised you the most . Alexandra that is an interesting question because multiple things have surprised me. When we first began, we were somewhat uncertain as to whether this would emerge into a fullblown pandemic. As you know, there was a sars outbreak previously and the mers outbreak previously so we were a , little uncertain as to whether it could become quite as pandemicd and massive in the way it has become. That was oddly surprising to us because we all knew we were long overdue for a pandemic. We still were shocked by how howkly this escalated and widespread it became and that is obviously the result of rapidity, the rapid nature of travel in the world today. So that was shocking for us to see that play out, even though we expected to see it. It is one thing to think about something theoretically and another to see it play out. Surprise, i have been surprised by the vehemence and pushback that has happened over mask wearing. In 1918 and i think the pushback 1919 was understandable because people did not grasp germ theory in the way we do today, so i have been surprised. Steve are you getting oral histories and will that be included in this . Alexandra we have asked americans to contact us with their story or objects they may have. We are collecting those stories in the emails. That has been very interesting for us. We are also planning to do oral histories in the long run. We would like to do them with practitioners and also ordinary americans. That is a longrange project for us, because we historians always like to have hindsight whatever whenever we do a story. We do not believe we will be doing oral history for about two years. We are also looking to budget for that and so we will need to plan ahead. That is a major part of the project we would like to do. Steve and what is your background . Why do you decide to pursue this area in history . I went to the university of wisconsin. We had a separate department in the history of medicine. I became really fascinated by this when i was an undergraduate and i was studying not American History, but italian history, inking at the medici family 15th century, 16th century florence. I was really struck by the prevalence of disease and the way disease shapes peoples lives on a daytoday basis that it did not do for us today and that is really what fascinates me. Germ theory has radically transformed the world we live in. We never think about this. We never think what it means to turn on the water and expect to have water. We do not think about sanitary measures in place as we go to like hospitals. We take this for granted. Us to having a difficult time emphasizing or understanding the world of the past. Start by thinking about how very different disease was in that period it would not have been uncommon for most. They would have experienced the death of a sibling or parent. We do not have those experiences today. People inught about the past, to me that is one of the largest differences in the way that they live in the way that we live today. That fascinates me. Steve leslie lori is with the American History museum. Thank you for joining us on cspan3s American History tv. You are watching american hours ofv, 48 programming. Follow us for information on our schedule and to keep up with the latest history news. This week on the presidency, we will see abraham lincolns summer cottage, herbert hoovers fishing camp and hear stories of the kennedys, clintons, and obamas during a forum hosted by the White House Historical association. Here is a preview. We are on the porch of the brown house. Hooverhave told me that was a dour man without a sense of humor, but i kind of doubt that. I think it is fun he named this brownouts. Get it . S is where the coopers hoovers were. Of peace anda lot rejuvenation from the outdoors. When ms. Hoover designed the responsibleshe was for all details, she wanted to look for ways to bring outdoors in and provide Great Outdoor spaces. All of these cabins have these huge wonderful decks. I want to take you to a particular feature of this deck. Panel you to notice this and these hinges. We will talk about that in just a few minutes. It looks like there is a problem here. You see a hole in the deck. That was totally on purpose. Loversvers being huge of nature did not want to cut down the trees. They let the tree go grow through the root. Lets look inside and see these relaxing beautiful spaces she created. The hoovers came often and one of the things that happened to evolve about the camp as they started to use it as a working retreat as well as a recreational retreat. Cooper would have theme hoover would have themed weekends. He liked to isolate them to have intense conversations and not be interrupted. He invited the postmaster general and they discussed the possibility of airmail. He did a lot. Hing here is what i wanted to talk to you about that window. We look at that panel. This is the inside of that panel. Because you wanted to bring the outdoors in, she created these panels. The inspiration for that was. Ense she wanted campus. His is what they had at first there was this incessant flapping and it drove them nuts. They wanted to come more often in the chillier months. They enclosed them with this german siding. Because she loved the idea of tent flaps, she created these wooden tent flaps that went down. The windows tilt out. Again, she is bringing the outdoors and. Learn more about president ial retreat this sunday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, 5 00 pacific on American History tv. The meeting at the summit, the most momentous International Conference of the International Era through the eyes of the world for the trinkle swift capital of geneva. Palace ofaming nations, the big four, american england france, and russia,