[inaudible conversations] hello and welcome to the heritage foundation. Thank you all for joining us today. I just want to take the opportunity remind everyone watching inhouse to silence your cell phones. For anyone who is watching online, youre welcome to submit questions by emailing speaker at heritage. Org. Hosting the program is lindsey burke. She focuses on reducing federal intervention education and empowering families with School Choice. With that, i will hand it over to lindsey. Great, thank you, andrew. Thanks for everyone being here and everyone watching online as well. We are happy to welcome vickie alger to discuss her thorough and newly interested new books in the failures of federal intervention and education and she doesnt miss words at all. The title failure, its time to end and not mend federal intervention and education. Dr. Alger explains in her book federal government left education alone for about a hundred years recognizing that it was purview of states and localities but gradually federal restraints gave away and by 1979 we saw the first cabinetlevel agency for education established , the department of education. And today that agency houses nearly 5,000 employees, manages over 150 federal Education Programs and has a discretionary budget of about 70 billion and i might add its really the tip of the iceberg because we see this relationship with state education agencies as well who have to be responsive to all of the federal mandates and as a result have also increased their staffings over the decades as well. And so, what have we gotten for this federal large as dr. Alger contends, it has not improved education outcome. Its red tape, bureaucracy and wasteful spending. The u. S. Has increasingly centralized education policy during through increase programs and through efforts such as common core. Its interesting to note that other countries, high performing countries have gone other direction and empowering families and fostering competition. So is there a better pass for the u. S. . Can we too embrace decentralization and competition. I will let vickie an those questions. Answer those questions. We do have restore private lending as a major step to reducing federal intervention and in general jest limiting meddling in whats a state and local issue. Dr. Alger is a Research Fellow as independent institute and director of the choice project. Prior to that dr. Alger was a associate director at the Pacific Research institute and director of the goldwater initiative. She received her ph. D in political philosophy from the institute at the university of dallas. Please join me in welcoming dr. Vickie alger. [applause] well, good afternoon. I would like to thank lindsey and andrew for putting this event together. Its such a thrill to be here at the heritage foundation. Thank you all for coming and talking about the very important topic that actually touches every one of our lives and thank you for listening to an opening discussion on my new book about the federal department of education failure. As i was traveling here i recall the words of a former democratic member of congress from illinois who was a former teacher and lawyer about his vision for the department of education. It would be a pure fountain from which a pure stream could be poured upon all the states. We want controlling head by which conflicting systems could be harmonized by which there could be uniformity. I take the high ground that every child is entitled to an education at the hands of somebody and that this ought not to be left to the caprice of individuals. Sound familiar . Well, its probably not who you think. This argument was actually made by representative Samuel Molton of illinois 150 years ago, one year before the u. S. Department of education was originally created back in 1967. As the title of my book suggests, i have a different view about the supposed purity of the dc stream pouring on states like my home state of arizona which is wildly hailed as one of the National Leaders in School Choice. I see we have some arizonans in the audience. Goo, arizona. I was inspire today write this book as we were approaching the 30year history of the u. S. Department of education and i wondered, are we better off because of it, frankly, i dont think we are and based on the increasing calls for the departments avolition this president ial cycle i think its fair to say a lot of us think its time to pull the plug on the department of education. But what does that really mean . If the departments history teaches us anything, its the government bureaucracies are not like fine wine, they dont get better with age. History also teaches us that bureaucracies are resilient. The u. S. Department of education was downgraded defunded and reshuffled from one federal agency for another throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries. We decide today keep decide today to keep it around. The result common core. This isnt what we were promised in 1979. One improve student achievement, two not supplement federal government and three improve management and efficiency of federal Education Programs. How did those promises turn out . Lets turn to number one. Improved student achievement. Achievement across subject on the nations report card as well as international tasks have been essentially flat during the periods proceeding the u. S. Department of education and up till today. As far as i can tell from the track record, we are spending above average amounts for squarely average student achievement and spending onethird more than topperforming countries in the world. The department of education was to supplement. Our Founding Fathers never intended for the federal government to be quote, unquote partner with the states and education, much less the boss. In fact, the word education doesnt even appear in our constitution. By going along with this partnership, it has been a bad deal for students, schools and taxpayers. During the no child left behind era, for example, 20022009 the department of education paperwork burden increased by estimated 65 and was larger than the burden imposed by the departments of defense, energy and justice to name a few. In fact, the Administrative Burden is now so great most employees at state Education Departments are hired just to deal with federal Education Programs. Today in the common core era, spending is estimated to be 80 billion according to a former u. S. Department of education official. Thats nearly 20 times the entire 4. 4 billion raised to the top program that was incentivized state reforms and what about number three, a u. S. Department of education was supposed to improve management and efficiency of federal Education Programs. After a full 30 years in operation, the Government Accountability office or gao found that the Education Department was one of dozen or so agencies operating 300 social, Education Programs and that no uniform definition of Education Program even existed at the federal level. The gao also found that within the department of education alone, eight different offices administered over 60 federalteacher quality programs. Well, how are programs like these performing . According to to the office of management and budget omb, just 6 of u. S. Department of Education Programs are deemed effective. But how can that be . From 1980 through 2010, department of Education Program spending increased by more than 57 billion outpacing student enrollment by more than 5 to 1. So after more than three decades with the department of education, the educational performance of American Students has not improved in spite of massive spending increases funneled through this department. The department has not achieved the promise administrative efficiencies, reduced paperwork or better management of federal programs. So its unlikely that more time, more fiddling with the chart or more money through the department is really going to improve education in United States. Its time we reject the common place notion that the federal government has some traditional or historical role in education. On the contrary, such notions have no constitutional basis, even if the u. S. Department of education were getting great results, its time that we also reject half measures such as incentivizing the state to improve within promises of more flexibility. There is no evidence that officials in the federal government including those in the u. S. Department of education know best. Neither for that matter do state officials, the key difference for those of us who believe in constitutional federalism is that state citizens are best situate today hold state lawmakers accountable and enact reforms that actually work. In fact, as we are seeing today, the u. S. Department of education obstacles to effective programs that parents want and children to which children are succeeding. Does this look familiar to anyone . Have anyone gotten any of the letters . Its a letter sent out in late december from the u. S. Department of education to all chief education. I call it a happy new year nasty gram. As a result of parents, godgiving rights to direct upbringing of education of their children they decided to opt out of educational test. The letter sending tips to the state chiefs on how how you can threaten schools and how you can threaten students. Essentially this letter is threatening to withhold our money from our students and our schools unless we tow the line. Theres a word for this kind of relationship and its not partnership. Its time to end federal control through the u. S. Department of education. Now, efforts to abolish the department of education began immediately in 1866 1979 each time efforts failed because either truly sought to abolish the department of education and instead, for example, beginning in 1868 the department was downgraded, changed we called the department, it was reshuffled around until ultimately it was restored, full Cabinet Level Department in 1979. Restoring Constitutional Authority over education requires a genuine abolition plan. History has shown if half measures will not prevent the u. S. Department of education from operating as a costly pass through to the political agendas of washington, d. C. And special Interest Groups, all at the expense of children and taxpayers. That reality is the foundation of any blueprint to abolish the department of education. Now, im a reasonable person, im not going to tell you we need to get rid of all the programs, get them out of dc. I keep three here. The first one would be the Dc Opportunity Scholarship Program as the name suggests, its a dc program, has a constitutional basis but i would have it privately managed. Theres no reason to have a u. S. Department of education involved in the Dc Opportunity Scholarship Program particularly since the efforts of the u. S. Department of education, this is one of the few programs deemed effective by the departments own what works decision, so dc opportunities Scholarship Program stays but privately managed. Number two, post secondary education scholarships for veterans, of course, these scholarships are an earned benefit, not entitlement that should be administered by veterans affairs. Finally, the office of civil rights could be moved to office of justice. However, since there wont be any education plans, any funding it would see to oversee u. S. Department of Education Program would be restored. They wouldnt get it anymore. Now, i wont go through the remaining more than 120 Department Programs administered by the 29 offices and 4600 employees. It simply transfers programs, management and associated funding back to the states. So number one, right off the bat, by getting rid of the fiscal plant and associated personnel, that would be 14. 1 billion that would be returned to tax payers in the form of a tax rebait. Number two, the remaining 216 billion in associated Program Funding along with another estimated 275 million in associated employee salaries would be restored to the states to be administered through state education agencies. Taxpayers in the states would not longer fund this program through the federal government but would instead pay for them in state taxes until the programs preexisting expiration date. Continuation of various programs previously administered by the u. S. Department of education would deem on taxpayers to warrant ongoing funding through the state. But what happens to schools during this transition . This is one of the questions i get most often. Its worth considering that as it stands right now under prevailing relationship from states and federal government, federal funding roughly 1 to 5 years depending on the program and federal fund asking no guarantied to cover 100 of actual costs much less paperwork and overhead burden. Whats more roughly every decade or so a successive administrations assume office in washington, d. C. , students, schools, teachers and taxpayers are subjected to new nationwide education agendas and mandate that is require expensive replacement of the previous administrations program with lines from the current administration. What makes strategic dismantling different is one controlled over Education Programs and funding is returned to the states, lawmakers, taxpayers, parents and educators can work more closely together at the local levels to better ensure clear education policy priorities, customized to meeting specific needs of students in communities across the states without all the chaos caused of the previous several decades of federal leadership and education. Now its the time to End Department of education. There are 61 School Choice programs in 30 states in the district of colombia, there are 26 voucher programs, 26 voucher programs, 21 tax credit Scholarship Programs, nine individual tax credit and deduction programs and there are five educational savings account programs and together these programs are helping more than a Million School children and families. Not to mention the millions more students attending public district, charter, home and online schools all of their parents choice. Dc didnt bill any of those programs, citizens in the states did. More than 30 years after creation of the state department of education students are not better off but we can be. After decades of waiving the constitutional barrier to a federal role in education under the guides of partnering with state governments, it is time to dissolve that partnership and abolish the u. S. Department of education once and for all. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you. Thank you, so much, vickie. What do you say to someone that says, well, the state, they within the doing a great job before intervention, how can we be certain that we are going to see improvements if we hand it back over . This is a critique that you hear frequently. How do you respond to that . I would say thats the number one critique, frankly we have been hearing that since the progressive era. What really runs through the core of our thinking that somehow dc knows best is that we really cant trust the states. What sounds interesting going through the history of what we now have is that early on before the civil war era, there was what i would call constitution constitutional, president s, washington, james madison, poor james madison, he tried more than anybody else, four times the constitutional convention, so many times as he was president , he wanted a federal role in education so badly and he said and so many others said, until we amend the Constitution Congress has no authority. Now, obviously we saw that give way and no longer were we looking at enumerated powers. We were looking at the spending clause. Its in the National Interest for government to be taking the view of education. Thats how they were able to do and run around the constitution. Lack of respect for the constitution really coincides with does disdain and disregard for parents. If you look at the performance of u. S. Department of education, we gave them a fighting chance. More than 30 years. We put the quote, unquote experts in charge. What we have is no better, we are just spending a whole lot more. Thats the best case scenario. I would say we couldnt do any worse and if you look at the scientific findings on the more than 60 Parental Choice programs we are doing a heck of a lot better. Thats what we should be expanding, not dc. After that if we can take audience questions. Absolutely, i think there was, when i think of the National Defense and education act in 1958, defense is clearly in the National Interest. There is a clearly a role. Im reminded of the words of senator from my home state, barry goldwater, who objected to it and i love why he did. He objected first and story most there is no constitutional role. Number two, there were 12 federal mandates. My gosh, by todays standard 12 federal mandates is a rounding error, this argument made by senator goldwater really resonates with me. If the good people of the state of arizona have any funding gaps, we are more than capable of making up for it. And that is what, that is what i ask people, are you willing to make up any funding gaps. Lets be real, there is no such thing as federal tax dollar. They are tax dollars that we send to washington and come back to us. Rather than funneling it through as senator goldwater said, minus the washington brokerage fee, we would be doing much better. Raise your hand if you have a question and wait on the mic. Yes, sir, in the back. I know youve done the research to look at how many extra employees at universities, how many extra employees in school districts, how many extra employees at the state departments of education and maybe even local school districts. Can you give us some idea to also so we can compare the 509,000 at the fed 50,000 at federal level, what other savings we might get, giving idea of quantity of those people at other levels . That is a good question. Unfortunately hard and fast numbers dont exist. They are estimates. Whatteer seeing from the historical record, take school districts, for example, what the ratio, starting in the 1950s, School Teachers in administrative staff, used to be teachers dominated. Now were seeing teachers and administrators, at best about equal, in some states on average administrators outnumber teachers what weve seen is a general growth. Unfortunately there arent specific numbers, annual numbers, that you would be able to quantify that. I wish those numbers did exist. But i can tell you that off the record, state superintendents will tell you that as much as, ive heard, ive been told 90 or more of their staff simply deal with federal programs. Theyre not taking billboards out on this. Theyre certainly not advertising it. It would be very controversial but im hearing that from a lot of state superintendents of puck instruction. Sorry public instruction. I am sorry i dont have a better answer for you. You talk a little bit about other countries that are decentralizing in their education is improving. Are those that have gone quite this far to eliminate the federal presence in education . I like to think, if you look at most countries, it ising interest to me, countries, particularly european countries, china, various Asian Countries have high degrees on centralization. They say ahha, these countries are doing well because they have very strict government control. Well, these countries are about in most cases the size of one of our states. So first thing off the bat. The second thing, even though they have, these countries about the size of one of our states in most case, they will have standards but they give schools, parents, autonomy. Look at some of these very socialistic countries. For example, sweden. They have a voucher. You know what the attitude in socialist sweden. We dont care where you go. Do you go to the month sorry school, you monty sorry school. There is not push back from teacher unions. We hear pushback, we couldnt do it to the teachers unions. That is not true. We stand up. We outnumber the teachers unions. We dont have to look halfway across the globe. One of the best performing countries on growth is our neighbor to the north. They dont have a centralized government out of ottawa. Every province is in charge of their own education, deals with their own needs, just to stave off, wait a minute, that is not a fair comparison, canada has as much or more immigration than we do. Canada does have poor people and they have children who speak other languages than english. Canada also spends less but also very decentralized, most canadians dont know it because it is so commonplace, they have voucher programs. I think what matters most is empowering parents and empowering teachers. Let teachers be professionals they are. People start betting nervous. I talk about teachers. I make a distinction between the rankandfile teacher and politics of the teachers union. Let parents pick their schools and competition, that spurs Continuous Improvement in the education seeing in Top Performing countries at a fraction of the price. So i have kind of a twopart question. Okay. My first is, what do you think the most effective form of School Choice is, vouchers versus [inaudible]. Whether your ideas how to grow the programs and create more problems across the country . Thats an excellent question and ill tell you being from arizona its a lot of fun because generally with program were the first out of the gate. But then we have florida. We have friendly rivalry with florida. Florida usually implements it, which is great. We learn that is how you promote Continuous Improvement. I would say that underneath Political Considerations aside, if i were in charge, esa is the way to go. So interesting that well be celebrating friedman legacy day towards the end of this month and just because we fund schools through government doesnt mean that government knows best. Some people would say, get government completely out of it, that will take more than an hour so dealing with the way things are now, what i love about Education Savings Accounts, as you know Education Savings Accounts, basically all operate the same way. Parents who dont prefer a public, district or Charter School education for their children, simply inform the state. The state deposits 90 of the funding it would have spent to the district or school. Parents get a type of dedicated use debit card and funds are dispersed quarterly and, shock, shock, parents actually have to submit expense receipts and go through verification before more money it sis percented. Oh gosh, somehow, someone embezzled tens of millions of dollars we found out about it five years later. There have been five cases im aware of where parents miss spent about 2500, a couple thousand here and there. Their accounts were frozen and held accountable and had to pay the money back. I would say esas are my favorite, because it allows parents to choose not just where theyre educated but how theyre educated. With were seeing in arizona, arizona was the first state to have that starting in 2011, and we have successfully expanded the program, parents are not just paying for private school tuition, but also getting a tutor and taking practice tests. Were also getting ready for college. I think its a Wonderful Program that leads to that individualization in education churn see, a stark contrast to the trends were seeing now, homogenization, one size fits all, what i like about esas, any left over becomes a College Savings account. If you see success in one state, a lot harder for neighboring states to say, oh, the sky is going to fall. Nice to be able to share experiences in the states share with each other. You can customize it rather than having it come from the top down. Something you said spurred a thought for me. We have the voucher programs, pretty robust ones, theyre just at the higher ed level and not extended to the prek level. Very rarely ever hear someone say, well, those pell grants, i dont know, so why is it that we have, do you think this disconnect between how we finance Higher Education where it is something that is portable for the most part and yes, there is institutional funding but as a student you can go where you want . Why is there this disconnect between how we finance higher ed and how we finance k12. Even as were seeing states, you mentioned florida as good example, that do some sort of public prek, most of those options end up taking form of a voucher model . Why that disconnect, why that fear . Thats a great question. That is one of those inconsistencies i love pointing out. You know on any given day in congress you could have a member of Congress Testifying that we need more money for pells. Go to another committee and oh, say, this is terrible. We cant you know, d. C. Voucher program it is terrible, terrible. I think it has to do with the politics and the history. Higher education really had such a flourishing landscape, so many private, so many private institutions of Higher Education and there was a natural development. So, funding that way, there really wasnt any sort of political special Interest Group around that. Fast forward to you know, k12, and now were seeing, trying to creep into the prek. I think the politics of it. There has to be, as opposed to this very diverse Higher Educational landscape, the Common School model that started in massachusetts, we have to imprint that all throughout the country. Those of us who are in western states, part of our constitution, the condition of our joining the union we have to have Common Schools, they have to be this, that and the other. So i think you have that sort of diversity on the one hand and one size fits all on the other and i think thats been the challenge, the different histories in that regard. Yes, sir . You talked about the duration of some of these legislative programs not being legislator, can you, i dont know the statistics of that. Do all the programs have a legislative end to them . Is it usually three years or five years or one year . Thats a great question. As i go through, particularly chapter 10 i go through and i give you a blow by blow on all the programs. They generally run, if youre talking, for example, a pell grant, thats for one year. If youre talking about some of these multiyear, research or Program Improvement grants, they can run anywhere from two to five years. So it really does depend on the program and how it is appropriated and so forth. So there is a huge amount of, there is some variance but it is not insurmountable variance. There is no reason states couldnt take over management, say, programs that help disadvantaged students but they do vary and chapter 10 outlines those and pretty exacting detail one more question on my end, then i come to you perfect. So you mentioned states could take over Something Like special Education Funding. So can you explain a little bit the funding discrepancies or not discrepancy the funding share, right . So you have a federal government that the despite all the spending increases that weve seen over half century, still represents a relatively small share of overall 600 billion we spend. Does that factor into how you think about how we sort of restore state and local control, that 90 10 share. Absolutely. Thats a great question. You would think of all the mandates and Regulatory Guidance which piles high, we would be getting, gosh a third or more, originally National Education association, countrys Largest Teachers Union want ad third of our funding to be federal funding. It is reality, it is 10 or less in any given year but our schools, we become so dependent on that 10 , we really have become addicted to our own money. It is only 10 and something to keep in mind, pardon me, as we see these very heavyhanded mandates. All of these rules and guidance. Even with flexibility. Listen, i was hoping beyond hope that with the reauthorization of the everything succeeds act, that is the latest reiteration of elementary and secondary education act first enacted in 1965, i really wanted to believe we were going to get flexibility. I really wanted to believe that secretary king was going to as he said, follow the letter of the law, and then we got that letter. Keep in mind, when we get things like this at best, theyre contributing 10cent of every dollar we send here. And that 10 cents, it is not a a 10 cents. Well spend a quarter to pay for the mandates and red tape that comes along with it. Hi. Based on my research and more current experience and stuff, in k12 education, i have, am really surprised about the amount of other federal involvement there is at the k12 education level. Department of agriculture, department of health and Human Services and one of the things that resonates with me, education, k12 education isnt just about educates or helping students learn. It is being a parent, about being the social workers about being the psychologist, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Can you talk a little bit about that, please . Oh, absolutely. When we see these things, especially what is going on in schools, we think, onestop shopping for raising children. It was never supposed to be that way. Youre setting yourself up for failure. A lot of those models, and historically the progressives, you know, back in the 1800s, thought a great idea. Things going on in europe are so excited. Why cant we, that pesky constitution and pesky guarranty of republican form of government and we cant impose the School System that would be essentially, womb to tomb. Compulsory government systems, to make good subjects, very compliant, go along, provides social services, nobody gets, everybody is getting taken care of everybodys. It sounds like a good idea conceptually, what were seeing in reality, most families do not need to be assign ad social worker. Most families do not need to be told what to pack in their childrens lunches. Look at the school lunches, i have four schoolage stepsons go to Public Schools, oh, the lunches, theyre terrible. Theyre worse than your cooking. Oh, that is pretty bad. So, you know, trying to take over these things, youre setting yourself up for failure. You certainly cant do it in a free society that is going to entail basically making children the creatures of the state. So for all the good intentions i would say be very careful what youre signing away for the sake of convenience because lets face it, oh, gosh, some mornings, it is easier to let the kids get lunch, whatever theyre serving at school but no, it is the state coming in and taking over. There is a pattern weve seen so frequently, we just need to help this group of people. You know, low income children, they cant really do that. That is usually a springboard for universal, universal access, i guess im a little too sensitive doing this research. Universal access quickly degenerates into universal mandate and compulsory and one size fights all. For example, send your child to preschool and get programs you want. It is, you must send your child to this type of preschool. You cant let, cant leave little johnny or little janeey home with grandma, she is not certified, she doesnt know what she is doing. That is what is happening. Were trying to grasp two very incompatable molds on to each other. I came from soviet union and i think education is the most soviet type of entity in the United States because that is only, we dont have choice. And now i presumably, we have good School Choice in the program but we have income gaps. Only for low income people. And we dont go in with that anymore. I was recently in nevada. In nevada, governor sand volume, north of you, signed a radical bill looks like. Can you maybe elaborate. You can choose any form. You can do homeschooling expenses is. Absolutely. Thats, it is so wonderful, my neighbors to the north in nevada, their Education Savings Account program is far better than arizonas. It is universal. Basically if, you are eligible to attend a Public School in nevada, you are eligible for an Education Savings Account. It is being challenged in court but it looks like it, looks like they will have very positive results. Looks like the program will continue. That is how we should be doing it. Why shouldnt in fact i would say esa should not be used just for people who dont prefer a public, district or Charter School. If you are a citizen in the state, a child in the state, you get an esa. Thats it. In ideal world were not there yet, but what i would like to see is that families pay for their own education. You have your own Education Savings Account. I dont care what type of school, whether youre public, public private, shouldnt, that distinction really ultimately should go away. We should focusing less where children are going to school and whether the public is educated. I would ideally like all Education Funding as a first step. Just go into Education Savings Accounts at every level and just like college. Pick where you go to college, pick where you go to school. Lets face it if youre not happy with the results, take your child elsewhere. Even in families, you will get examples of the Public School works well for one child. The Charter School, the homeschool, the online school, the private school. You need all those options. Would i say nevada is absolutely the way to follow it. We even could combine it with preexisting tax credit Scholarship Programs. The direction we need to be moving, we have to take back ownership of our childrens education. Not somebodys responsibility to pay. We need to take it over. One thing, frankly makes my blood boil, somehow government isnt funding it, if government isnt involved, oh, children wont get an education. The United States of america, americans, consistently, every time it is ranked, the most charitable people on earth in terms of time, talent, treasures. What we donate. I have a very hard time believing when there is a need and a child generally couldnt afford to go to school, that the community wouldnt rally, whether it is civic groups, faithbased groups, what have you. That is how it used to be before we had government involvement. I agree with you. Thank you so much for bringing up nevada. Im very excite. I will be there next week. I get to see how it is working firsthand. That is Wonderful Program we should be going and other states should be following. Time for one more. Yes, sir. Turning back to esa, the legislation was written such a way gave bodies correction to the secretary to kind of fill in the blanks of the legislation. It is systemic problem of congress which is another tangent for another day but you could highlight shortcomings taking the approach if what are some unintended consequences that may come up for parent and children alike . Absolutely. I think we were all, well, finally we reauthorized, we have a reauthorization in place. None of that waivering and all of this uncertainty. What really it boils down to me to one thing. You read all the pages and pages boils down to one thing. For all the talk about flexibility, the fact that we in the states have to have our education plans approved here in d. C. , by a secretary of education who, lets face it, these folks are not friendly to true education reform. That letter proves they are not friendly to parents. So, i think, my biggest warning, my biggest advice would be, any phrase that says, a state plan has to be reviewed by d. C. , thats a nogo for me. Wonderful. Thank you, vicki. Please join me in thanking vicki for a wonderful presentation. [applause] booktv is visiting the city of port huron, to learn more about the citys writing contributions. We speak with author t. J. Gaffney, who shares the citys history with his book, port huron, 1880 through 1960. We are currently standing in front of the last known surviving structure of for the grashit, a military installation that was originally constructed in 1814 during the war of 1812. At the time canada next store was part of the enemy as you could say. Under british control and this structure was built in 1829 along with several other structures of similar design to replace the original stock aidstyle or log cabin style buildings originally built. Prior to the telephone and the communications we know of internet, the postcard was one of the quickest way to send small snippets of information back and forth and the idea there was to keep things in a format, a creating to let people know you arrived at a location, and remembrance of where you were. The name of my book is, port huron, postcards, 1880 to 1960. I wrote it as, kind of a continuation of a project my father had wanted to do. My dad collected postcards of sinclair county in this region for about 40 years and unfortunately he passed away before he was able to get the project finished. And so i, i guess you could say i helped finish it for him. I chose 1880 to 1960 because the time frame, biggest or largest occupation of the port huron area really fits within that time frame. It was period of largest growth. From a photography perspective it is a fairly welldocumented period of time. In our area one of the best known photographers was a gentleman named of lewis patia. It he worked in very small period of time in about 1912, roughly from about 1905 through that period. Only a seven or eight year period. It is known he took close to eight tee thousand images during that period. When you understand what that took in plate glass negative era that is pretty astounding. The postcards were in a variety of forms. Very often photographers themselves would have studios. I mentioned lewis, he had a studio in marine city south of here and in ontario. You could purchase postcards directly from him. He also had several locations within hotels, train stations, not unlike today when you go to a tourist attraction and there is a kiosk where you can pick up souvenirs. It was very similar to that back in the postcard era. Lewis patias images, because of their clarity, because of the forethought he took to pose people, and, sort of understand the time frame that he was in, several of those images were ahead of their time in terms of how he took them. In many instances theyre the only hone images of the subject matter that he took, those photos, i can think of several great lakes freighters, passenger boats, that he took images of that, in one instance there is great lakes freighter known as the cypress. It was only above water past three weeks. It was constructed, pasts through the st. Clair, and there is only one other image because it sank in Lake Superior roughly one month later. Those kind of things really stand out. Historical connections with several of our local businesses as well were important. One of the more important aspects to the postcard era was development and change in transportation over time. You see that through some of the images that show. The shift in means of travel most of us dont even recognize today, by would be a trolley or electric inner urban which was a vital connection in our era is highlighted there. It was a short period of time and took place mostly in this era. You see several images related to streetcars, say within the middle of a generic town image, or you know, out in the hinterlands if you will. It is interesting, when you look at some of the images, one of the things that stands out how people spent their leisure time. Not unlike today, you will see people doing a lot of outdoor activities. One of those is, you will see several images of people canoeing. Bicycles were very, very popular at this point in time. You will see images of those. One of the most important aspects of the images that you see in this book is documenting how the area has changed. And, port huron has gone through several changes since this era, even since the end day which seemingly down seem that long ago in 1960. But even in the 50 years hence. The images often depict, as i say, buildings, parts of the city, that are no longer there. And, also sort of a time and a place that is very indicative when the photo was taken versus now. It is fun. I had several people that purchasedded the book tell me they like to take the book in kind of find out where the photo was taken. To see how that was changed. In these type of books, very often, so much is driven by the image that some of the commentary gets lost, or, isnt, isnt as emphasized as much. And, i worked very, very diligently to, when i was, giving background to the images, to try and give folks a real chance to make that connection with today. And so, i will very often reference in captions to the images what was there, what is there today. And then what made those images significant to the history of the community. One of the things that i think that tends to get lost when youre looking at several of these images, is, you know, what is conveyed on the back as well as on the front. And because you were forced at that time or the people of that time were forced to write things in a very short succinct format, it gives you an indication what they felt was important. In many cases it is very different from what we feel is important today. In many cases it is very much. They tended to stick in the words of joe friday, just the facts, you know. They really believed that conveying, the most important things are important but it gives you a real idea of what things, what people, what event were important in their daily lives and that kind of a window is very often a tough thing for historians and in particular to get an idea of. So, that is one thing in particular that i think the postcard era really has been able to document in ways that you may not have been able to document the eras, prior or maybe even eras since. For more information on booktvs recent visit to port huron and the many other destinations on our cities tour, go to cspan. Org citiestour. Youre watching booktv on cspan2, with top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. Booktv, television for serious readers. Next the communicators with a discussion on the voice of america and u. S. Broadcasts to cuba and former soviet bloc countries. Then federal judge henry hudson talks about the importance of having a plan to deal with a work place shooting. After that, live, a discussion how campaigns, candidates and elected officials can reach out to voters with disabilities. And youre watching the communicators on cspan and we are at the broadcasting board of governors this week. This is an agency that houses voice of america and radio marti
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