Takes you to museums and historic places. The Alexandria Apothecary Museum located in virginia just outside of washington, d. C. , operated by the same family for over a century. We will learn about what an apothecary does and how it has changed over many years. My name is gretchen and i am the director of the Apothecary Museum in alexandria, virginia. It is owned and operated by the city of alexandria. Today we will look at the leadbeater Apothecary Museum and we will learn about its history. Alexandria in the 1790s is a booming economy. A lot of new construction in town, a lot of people are starting to move to the city. Edward stabler moves from leesburg to alexandria in 1792 and he opens a small shop a couple of doors down from here today. He moved to this location in 1805 and incorporates the building next door into his business and uses that as his warehouse. An apothecary, in this time period was where people went to essentially see the doctor. They went to an apothecary. They would tell them what was wrong and they would mix up something to cure what ails them. In the 18th century, doctors were trained generally by university. They would go through a formal set of courses to learn their practice and trade. They would often go and not have their own practice the way we think of that today where we go to Doctors Office, they would go to your house. Because they are performing home visits, things were a little more expensive. If you are an average citizen, you would solve your ailments by going to an apothecary. An apothecary had anywhere from 4 to 7 years of apprentice training. In a formal setting where they would read reference books but also herbs and roots and things like that, that they would be able to take the properties, mix them up, and prescribed to patients. In the late 18th century, after you served your apprenticeship and opened your own apothecary business, you would keep up with emergent trends in medicine and also the drug business by reading journals and reference books that were produced, learning about Different Properties and regulating how medicine was produced. As the 19th century went on, there were regulations and a general consensus. There would be a list of things, drugs that were regulated and prescribed in using recipes for medicine. Some of the tools for the trade, for edward stabler in the 17th century and the leadbeaters in the 19th century. A lot of people recognized from cooking and grinding herbs and things like that. It would have been used to grind dirts, barks, roots, into the powder used to make the medicine. They would have used a measuring scale like this, a mid to late 19th century scale. Other things that would have been used with have been in the trade would have been something much like this. You would wet the cork and put press toough the cork make it smaller. You would then use your condensed cork and it would expand to fit, forming a seal. The raw ingredients would have been ground, often combined with alcohol. You would have using pill roller, or handrolled the ingredients. They are now sort of in a pill form. Chocolate or gelatin. To make it easier to consume for the customer. If you are a customer in the 1790s, you would purchase or purchased your medicine in a bottle similar to this. Everything was handblown. Bottles would have been more expensive. In the early period, they would import a lot of bottles from overseas. As class factories started to emerge in america, things became a little bit cheaper and routine and easy to buy, so you would buy something formed in a mold and a bit more uniform. As the 1850s emerged, the use of gold foil and fancy labels as a display, similar to a lot of the bottles you see here, that the leadbeaters kept over the years when they acquired the business, because they are very pretty, so they do the job of putting raw ingredients, compounding and putting them into medicine, a more festive thing. It is very pretty and more professional. Things like that. You can see the collection over the years of the bottles for the different raw ingredients that were used for the medicine. Some of the ingredients you see in the bottles would have been readily recognizable to a lot of not only customers in the late 18th century but also to todays public. Such as cinnamon. We also have this ingredient here. Normally, that is made from bark. It was thought to, starting in 1820s, cure malaria. It is quinine. A very popular drug still in use today. You have got a little bit of murder myrr. Some things he would have noticed is some of the bottles havethin necks and some very wide necks. Anything liquid wouldve had you would not have needed a large spout. One thing that we are lucky to have is an extensive collection of paper labels that the wouldrs and leadbeaters have applied to something they were either retailing or had concocted to gift to their customers. They ran a gamut from things we consider to be pure medicine to floor oil or mothballs or things like that. We know the full extent of the products they sold and marketed to their customers. In our collection, we have a lot of products would have been recognizable not only to people in the 19th century, but also todays customers. One of these things is listerine. It was not actually a word in the vernacular but it helped them sell a product people recognized. Maybe i do have bad breath and maybe i need something for it. Dropsll see vicks cough which has a lot of something in it to help ease the breathing when youre sick. Peptobismol, all summit wild cherry, something you would use if you had a cold. Things like that. Other things we have in our collection include a lot of poison bottles and bloodletting. Equipment. In the 18th and 19th century, not everybody could read. So if you gave them some thing that could harm them or possibly kill them, you wanted them to be aware there were some precautions. What was recognized is something that included poison. Would be these blue bottles. That was a sign that perhaps it is something they should have been aware of. We have got bloodletting devices in the 18th century and a little bit in the 19th century. It was thought that there were too many humors and the bodies. So they needed to be drained out in terms of draining some blood. They would do it in specific amounts. Sometimes up to a quart of blood. There were different ways that you could do it. We have this small device that we know edward stabler in the 1790s sold quite a few of. You could buy a fancier set or a much more mundane and less fancy device. Istop, you have what essentially a much more industrialized version of the lancet. Against theace it skin, it was springloaded and it would go directly into your veins and you would drain the blood out. And otherold lancets devices he was not necessarily , performing the service after at the shop. He would prescribed them to doctors and they would purchase the devices to use in their own private practice. Bloodletting was not done in an office, i Doctors Office like within today, but in someones private home i someone who is trained to do that. Edward was very dedicated. Faithame an elder in his and that would be the focus of where he was taking it in every stage of his life. So he left the business to his oldest son, william. The business really transfers from edward to william. While the apothecary stays in the same family for 41 years, it does transfer in marriage. John leadbeater had been working here with william and fell madly in love with williams sister and came back to work here. It switched in the family from stabler to leadbeater. The way it looks today, by 1852, it has a new interior that you can see with ginger breading and a more updated, gothic revival style. They were trying to stay current and keep attracting a new and fresh clientele. They had a Loyal Customer base. Have a lot of the primary stores, ledgers, letters, orders , and prescription files in our collection. We can tell who is shopping here purchasing and what the , prices are for the products they are purchasing. They are getting people coming in off the street. They still have a whos who in alexandria customer order. One of edward stablers most prominent patrons is martha washington. In 1802, she sends a letter requesting his best bottle of castor oil and requests it sent to mount vernon. Sadly, she passes away may 22 from a fever. Robert e. Lee is another prominent name that our leaders visitors take away from the tour. He purchased whitewash and he purchased lavender as well. Lavender was a great remedy for migraines. At the peak of the business, the family was operating out of 11 different buildings in town. This is retail and they also had a retail on the corner of king in fairfax. They loved the history in space. The history in this space. They almost had it set up as a museum. They were really into the fact that they had served the community and so many prominent alexandrians throughout their time. Through the civil war, it was starting to increase the business and starting to include a wholesale line of products. With the civil war, alexandria was occupied. Because the family were quakers, they were pacifists and also abolitionists. They were allowed to keep running a business here in town. After the civil war, the economy in alexandria slowly started to recover. John leadbeater, with the assistance of his son, edward , starts aadbeater wholesale product in three different states, in 500 different businesses locally in the region. That really helps them expand the product line and become wellknown in the area. The room we are standing in is what we refer to as the manufacture room. It is where a lot of the raw ingredients were stored moving to the building in 1805. All the way through through the 20th century where they close, they are using it more as an office space and also as storage. This room would have been used to store raw ingredients. The raw ingredients would have been purchased in the 18th century by edward stabler, not only by merchants in the United States and philadelphia and new york, but they also would have been purchased from as far away as london. There were many apothecary vendors that would have sold both the raw ingredients. It would have taken roughly a month over by a ship. Alexandria in the 18th century was a thriving seaport. It would have been very expensive farther west and farther south. It would have been readily available for him to sell to his customers. As the 19th century regressed, progressed, the leadbeaters were working not only on the retail business, but they had expanded to have their own line of products. One of the things in the line would be pure sweet oil. It would be made from almonds or olive oil. You can use it to alleviate any tummy aches. You could also use it for cooking. In the early 20th century, other products wholesale to under the name would have been things like they made their own brand of paints and you can see the different varieties of colors here. You also wouldve had a line for extracts and flavorings for food, such as ice cream and cooking and things like that. Those were very popular. In the early 20th century in response to influenza outbreaks in the United States, they had their own proprietary brand of medicine to deal with that. It was called quibon. Killed chills and la brippe la grippe. It was chocolate covered pill that would have been easier for people to take. The leadbeaters took over the business a lot of the same original layout of the manufacturing room. A lot of the same chores and the same cabinet and things like that would have been preserved as they were used in the 18th century and also in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1933, a lot of remaining contents were preserved just as they were when the business was open. In the beginning of the 19th century, things like this would have been used by edward to conduct business, answer letters, do any sort of accounting in his day books and account books to keep things up to date with his customers. As the 19th century went on and into the early 20th century, additional buildings that the leadbeaters head purchased. On the corner of king street and fairfax street could have been used as a more formal office and a large office space. During the late 19th and early 20th century, you would have had book keepers and secretaries on this floor. Dealing with and communicating with wholesale customers and also the vendors or suppliers as far away as philadelphia or boston or new york. Over time as we hit the 20th century, it has a slow decline. They do shut their doors. Part of that is the depression. Part of it is, they are not able to change wholesaling in from wholesaling back to retailing fast enough. Of the the demands changing economy here in the United States. They do close their doors in 1933. A company in baltimore buys a good portion of the content of the building. At public offering. The Landmark Society preserves the two buildings we know today at the museum, preserves those and opens the museum for 1939. The Landmark Society operates these two buildings as a museum through much of the 20 century. Through much of the 20th century. By 2006, they look to donate, the buildings to the city of alexandria. They underwent a full restoration where the second floor was open, that was the first time the public was able to see the manufacturing room on the second floor. The buildings have been operated since 2006 by the city of alexandria. Thank you for visiting the Apothecary Museum today. That museum is open year round for a nominal admission fee. We encourage you to come by for a tour and to learn more about alexandria and the history of medicine and more about life as an early business person here in alexandria. You can watch this and other american artifacts programs by visiting our website at cspan. Org history. Week we bring you archival films that help to tell the story of the 20th century. Revolutionican bicentennial commission was authorized by a joint resolution of congress to prepare an Overall Program for commemorating the 200th anniversary of the United States. The commission was asked to plan, encourage, develop, and coordinate the Historic Events commemorate the Historic Events that preceded the American Revolution. It will give special emphasis to the ideas associated with the revolution and its implications for future generations. Itself ission composed of members appointed by the president. Eight congressional members, four each from the house and and 11 members who are secretaries of various federal agencies. The commissions charter is brought. The responsibility is great. The way that we as a nation choose to celebrate the 200th anniversary will have an important bearing on what we learn from it. And on the inspiration that we draw from it. The bicentennial commission plans to emphasize the continuing effort to achieve the fulfillment of the ideals and ideas of the revolution as stated in the declaration of independence, and the constitution, to inventory the progress of the last two centuries, and to state the entertained goals, new and old the unattained goals, new and old. Some of this work will be solemn. Some will be festive. The birth of our country should be a joyous occasion and a solemn rededication. Members of the American Revolution bicentennial commission, and representatives of various states, gathered at the white house at the invitation of president nixon. They heard him charge them with a responsibility to not just move forward in reaching for material goals, but to move forward also in the realm of the american spirit as we enter century three of american life. The president said nixon as you know, we are gathered in this Historic House for the opportunity that comes to people once in a century. The 200th anniversary of the United States which will take place in 1976. We are starting to plan now. We have representatives not only from the federal government but most of the states in the nation here to plan that celebration. I would like to speak to that subject very briefly. Perhaps in a way that most of you would not have thought of. Traditionally, when we think of this kind of celebration, we think of the nations past and we glory in that past as we should. We think of the nations present and we consider the problems we must deal with. This celebration i would hope would look to the america future. Goals inr ourselves 1976 which we can achieve. Years, wece of seven can achieve great goals so that when 1976 comes, we can look back over those 200 years with even greater pride than we did 100 years ago. I refer to the early days of this country, to a time when this nation was founded. To the words that were spoken by those, who at the time of the declaration of independence, thought of the mission of america. What america could mean to the world. Act nothem said, we just for ourselves, but for all mankind. We hear that today, and we think that was perhaps a very appropriate statement to make. History has justified that kind of optimism. Goals, i canrth tell you that this administration is thinking in terms that are tremendously excited. Hunger, it will be possible to the year of 1976, to abolish hunger in the United States of america. Yearll be possible in the 1976 to make enormous progress in the field of housing, in the field of transportation, and all of these areas that are tremendously important to every american family, that are also admired and respected around the world. Who come from the states and those from the federal government, let us set 1976, not just moving forward in the material areas but to move forward in the world of the american spirit. I know that this sounds too illusory, too uncertain for us possibly capture. It, we put our minds to must put our heart to it. That brings me now from the state. America is 50 states. America is big cities and small cities and small towns. It is all the homes and all the hopes of 200 million people. That is why we want this to be national. It must go directly to the people and derive its strength from the people. We want people all over this land to sense the greatness of this moment, to participate in it, to help us all discover what that great spirit is. I would charge this commission to move forward, to move forward in reaching the great material goals, of which we know we are capable. That is the easiest part of the job. That the best bet, the best clothed, the best housed people in the world, the strongest nation in the world, and the richest nation of the world