is anybody watching. >> we were there for opening night of the museum. but my opening question is how this project came about and why. >> well it came about out of a decision that we need to preserve and tell the story of america's founding. and not just as a series of events, but as people who actually achieved it, who fought off these soaring idealing idea ideals of equality and how that inspired a nation, people in our nation to achieve it. it is the most important event in our nation's history. it not only gave birth to our nation but it really gave us the values that make us a people. everything that we cherish and hold dear. >> so it's more than just artifacts? >> it's more more than artifacts. our museum is founded on artifacts. in fact when you come to the museum you will see one of the more comprehensive collection of artifacts of the revolution that has probably ever been assembled. but we really do dwell on the story of the individual people. how did these people who are citizens of the british empire decide to rebel against their king. what prompted them. what were they trying to achieve. and then ultimately what did they achieve and what is it today. in many ways our message is that this period in history was accomplished by real people just like every period in history is. and we wanted to use these objects as witnesses to those people, witnesses of the events that brought about the birth of our nation. >> as visitors walk through the museum on the first and second level. who are some of the unsung heros? who are some of the individuals that they'll learn about beyond george washington, thomas jefr soon and benjamin franklin that are featured inside the museum? >> we bring a lot of people to life in this museum. you will meet joseph martin, a teenager who joined washington's army and served throughout the revolution. you'll meet an african-american at 14 who volunteered on board a private ship. you'll stand under the liberty tree and imagine yourself with the sons of liberty who were the first people to start forming ideas about american independence and american liberty. you will meet women, native americans who bring to light the stories of many people. we use a lot of different store a ryes in that process as well. >> what are folks telling you as they depart the museum after spending a couple of hours inside. >> i'm happy to say we're getting praise and acclaim for the story telling, the exhibits, the art fkts, the films. people are telling us that even though they've never been interested in history before, they're funing the subject matter fascinating, that we found a way to tell it that connects with them. and we're hearing this not just from dauadults from young child. we've hads 16 thoirks school children visit as well. a positive response. they can see themselves, see the drama in the exhibits and the action and they want to know more. and ultimately that is our goal. we want people to learn more about the revolution. >> this may be obvious because you're just a few blocks from independence hall. why is it located in philadelphia as opposed to boston or new york or washington, d.c.? >> well you kind of gave the answer there, steve. because it is so close to independence hall. philadelphia really was the head quarters of the revolution. this is where the delegates came when they first decided to gather in protest to what they viewed as british oppression. this became the de facto capital of the british nation. the british forces seized it at one point thinking it was a knockout blow. when they determined they couldn't hold it, they became a pivot point in the reeve luvolu. philadelphia because a point of everything going on in the revolution. when people think about the revolution, a destination to go to learn about it, one of the first places they think of is independence hall and all of the great landmarks and attractions centered around philadelphia. it's not just independence hall, of course. there are battlefields and encampments nearby. valley forge, the german town battle, the battle of brandywine. there is so much here to allow them to really explore the excitement and the drama of this founding. >> later in the program we're learn how you're able to collect many of the artifacts inside the museum. in just a moment, one of the center pieces of the museum. where are you physically located? in what part of the museum? >> i'm in one of our galleries that explores the terrible winter when philadelphia is occupied by british forces and washington and his army are suffering out at valley forge. it was one of the low points of the war. but as winter waned and spring arriv arrived, it really became a resurgence of the american cause. >> michael will be with us for the next half-hour. we'll get to your calls and comments in just a moment. but last month we traveled to philadelphia and as we mentioned the internet piece includes an original tent used by general george washington. >> behind these doors, and it really is one of most remarkable objects to survive from the revolution. as far as we can determine, it is the only tent other than one other of washington's tents to survive. it survived because washington chose to take it home with him at the end of the reeve lugs. and his family took care of it and reserved it. the full story of the tent is presented in this theater. but the tent itself is a wonderful emblem of the challenge of creating the exhibits in our museum. if you were to see this tent spread out on a table, you probably wouldn't give it a second glance. it's very old canvas, weather stained. it's tattered in places. it's over 240 years old after all. but we had to make its story as being the shelter in which george washington made some of the most critical decisions of the revolution, where he was plunge into the depths of despair, exalted in victory and success to make the tent tell that story. the first challenge we decided is we had to show the tent fully assembled as washington used it in the field. it was truly his command headquarters. but we couldn't put it up the way he did because it was put up with tall poles and fabric and ropes pulled taut. that would tear the fabric apart. we challenged the engineers to develop an umbrella structure so the tent appears to be open. it had to replicate the slight sa sag in the top. once we solved all of those problems, the next challenge is how do you tell the story. we turned to fill makers, historians, our lead vice president for collections, scott stephenson, and they hud lds together and spent almost two years pulling together the story life, the imagery, thinking about the music, the generation, the presentation, the light quality to really give this tent meaning. our goal is to give meaning to george washington's leadership. he was commander in chief for eight years. never left his troops. and he inspired a sense of loyalty, he installed a sense of responsibility in the army that has really become the bedrock of the traditions of the american military efforts. without him the army would likely have dissolved and the war would have been lost. in many ways it's an emblem for the entire museum. how do you take these objects, very simple to our eyes, they don't have battleships in the revolution, they had guns and canteens and powder horns. how do you make these objects come alive and tell the incredible life and death decisions, the horrors, the courage, the excitement of the revolution? it's a turning point in history. and that's what we strive to do throughout this museum. and it's a very exciting place. these objects, they really do speak when you visit. >> and this of course is the exterior of the museum of the american revolution in downtown philadelphia. michael quinn, who is the president and the ceo. our phone lines are open. 202 area code, 748-8900 in the eastern or central time zone. 8901 in the mountain or pacific time zone. whether it's george washington's tent or other artifacts, when did the collection process begin on this week that we celebrate our declaration of independence 240 years ago. where was it stored up until the museum and how did you go about finding some of the unique artifacts? >> the tent is a good place to start. it is not only the most treasured object in our collection. it's also our origin object. becausedescendants of the washington family put it up for sale. it took him two years to raise the $5,000 to purchase it. but once he did, that launched the idea of building a collection, preserving a memory and ultimately creating a museum to tell the story of the revolution. we trace or history back to that moment. he ultimately founded the valley forge historical society and they spent the 20th century collecting. these objects were during much of that time exhibited out at valley forge. but then we were formed to actually realize that larger vision of a museum to tell the story of the revolution. we did ultimately conclude that the right place for that was in the heart of historic philadelphia. as you pointed out, we're just two blocks from independence hall and that enables us to serve the millions of people who come to philadelphia to see the place where the declaration of independence was written, independence all and the other great landmarks here. we directly serve those people and our goal is to give them a broader understanding of the significance of that document and how it came about and its meaning at the time and its meaning today. >> the price tag of the museum, how much did it cost, how much did you have to raise? >> well, there are a lot of numbers in here. the construction of this building was $60 million. our full budget to open the museum was 120. but that covered not just the building, it covered all of the design work to create it, demolition of another building on site, creating the exhibitinexhibits and all of our staff to get the museum to opening day. >> let's go to the phone callincallinscalls. linda from dover, delaware. good evening. >> caller: i have a question. i watched the ribbon cutting ceremonies the other night and they introduced a japanese family as great contributor to the museum. and i wondered why we went to japan to get these people to donate to the museum? >> well, you're referring to alan and her heritage is japanese and chinese. she's a naturalized american citizen. she is so grateful for the freedoms that she's realized as a citizen for america that she wanted to make a donation. and the donation took the form of these beautiful bronze skull chu sculptural on the front of the museum. one is washington crossing the gare delaware and the other is titled the declaration of independence. and it shows the drafting committee of the declaration presenting it to the continental congress in june 28, 1776. these were such magnificent gifts inspired by such a gratitude that america represents that we felt it was only fitting to accept them and display them on the outside of the museum so they could excite and inform every person that passes by this building. >> linda, we're going to showcase exactly what they look like in a few minutes as michael quinn takes us outside. we were up at the museum in june to present some of this, but first daniel is joining us on the phone. good evening. >> caller: good evening sir. vi a fast question real quick in three parts and i'll be quick. my first part of it, at valley forge, the play cato, i knew washington was a fan of that play and that his officers presented that to the troops. was that much of a thing about that? i mean did that really go all right or fall apart or whatever? and also, the sons of liberty, did they have an identification badge in i'm saying that from my childhood, you know, the tremaine movie, they always had a badge around their neck to show they were numbered. if that was true or just hollywood. and the last part of my question, was there any -- i know the continental army was made up of various people, blacks, indians. were there any jews on record that were in the continental army as enlisted men? i know there were some that were finance yea finance years. that's all i wanted to ask. >> thank you for your call. >> first, if cato play was performed at valley forge. the significance of that is that it really harkened to the ancient rome era when rome was a republic. that was the model of the inspiration for leadership at the time, that public servant who gives of himself without demanding anything in return to try and better their country. of course that's what washington symbolized and the army did as well. because although they were being paid, at least they had been promised to be paid, for many of them that wasn't what was telling them to serve. it was the higher calls of the nation. as to your other two questions, i'm afraid i can't give you an answer with 100% certainty. i'll ask you to defer them to our next guest, our vice president, dr. scott stephenson. >> he'll be joining us -- >> he'll be joining us shortly and he's a great historian of the revolution. >> let me ask you how did you get involved in this project and when. >> i became involved in this project five years ago and when i learned about it i thought instant think this is the most exciting project in the entire field of public history. to be able to create a national museum on the american revolution. and yes, the revolution is preserved in many places in our country. but it's little pieces of it, a battlefield here, an encampment, a tavern, a home. this would be a place that would really pull all of that together. and present to the american people the most exciting dramatic chapter in our nation's history. after all, if you regard our nation, our form of government, our values of equality and freedom as important, we should certainly preserve the memory of its founding. they also informed how we think about our nation going forward. one of the messages in our museum is that the legacy of the american revolution means that all of us, in a true fashion, are revolutionaries. because we have to uphold those values and carry them forward as our nation continues. and we must do that for the nation to thrive. >> we'll go to ron joining us from somerville, massachusetts with mike. quinn, the president and ceo of the museum of the american revolution. good evening, ron. >> caller: hello. i was wondering, did you have any exhibits on france' contribution to the american revolution? >> we don't absolutely. france's contributions are enormo enormous. you know that. but even so in many ways, they're underappreciated. you learn about their role. frankly brought them into alliance with us. you learn about their role in particular yorktown. but it was without question the financial support and the military support from the french that helped sustain the american nation and led ultimately to success. one of the things we're very proud of is that we have a portrait of a british marine officer who had themselves portrayed after the revolution wearing his north american uniform. you see this officer looking just as he would have appeared in the battlefields around yorktown. >> michael quinn our first calling asking about the bronze sch schul churs that are outside the billing. we'll be back in three minutes. >> we have wonder l features of the museum that help extend our story and use the outside of the building to inform people about the revolution. these are things you'll recognize. the first one is a giant sculptural relief, that replicates the painting of the declaration of independence. you're looking at the drafting committee that wrote the declaration led by benjamin franklin, john adams and of course thomas jefferson presenting their draft to the entire assembled congress in early july 1776. that launched three or four days of debate before the language was finalized and voted on on the 4th of july. but this sculptural panel really shows you the people who helped create the defining document of the american people. it's the power of the pen because it really is the ideals and the concepts of the revolution that have made it the most important event in our nation's history and one of the most important events in world history, at least in modern world history. the second panel we have, same scale, also cast in bronze, tells the other story of the american revolution and that is the power of the sword. this is a replica of a painting, washington crossing the delaware. we all recognize it. and what this represents is the improbable fete of overcoming impossible odds against the british military in the battlefield. really due to george washington's leadership that we were able to accomplish that. so this pointing really dramatizes washington's leadership. historians will tell you there are a number of details about this depiction that are inaccurate but it absolutely is truthful in capturing washington's leadership in the sense of purpose and mission of the revolution itself. both of these sculptural pieces are donation to the museum and they were donated to us by a naturalized american, a woman born and raised in china but now an american citizen. and she wanted to give these to the museum, to philadelphia, to the american public in gratitude of the freedom and life she's been able to live as an american citizen. that's really the legacy of our revolution, is that we encompass everyone who comes to this nation, no matter when their ancestors came and that they are part of our nation. if they uphold the values of our founding, then they too are americans. it's wonderful to be able to present not only the history of these two sculptural panels but also their meaning in terms of the significance in the life of the donor today. >> and michael quinn as we look at your impressive museum both outside and inside, it had to be prime real estate. so what was located there before the museum now? >> well, steve, this really is prime real estate. we actually are within the boundary of independence national historic park. it was a break through moment for our organization when the park service, the federal government agreed to give up ownership of this piece of the park just for this museum. there wasn't a building on this site. it was visitor's center constructed for the bicentennial of the declaration, 1976 and it served as a visitor's center up until 15 years ago when it was closed. so at the time the park service gave up ownership, it was an unused building and we determined it was just unfeasible to reuse it for the museum. so we tore that building down and over a period of 30 months constructed the current new landmark museum on this location. >> which open in april and we considered the dedication ceremony. it's on our website as well as all of or coverage on c-span.org. we'll go to jackson joining us from wisconsin. good evening to you, sir. >> caller: say hi. >> hi. >> hello. >> hi, my name is jackson and i was wondering if george washington was the only person that slept in his tent or did he sleep with other officers. >> jackson, how old are you by the way? >> 8. >> nicely done. thanks for phoning in. michael quinn, you know the answer? >> jackson, you have asked a terrific question. there was one other person that slept in the tent with washington. it was not another officer. it actually was a person who was his personal assistant. he would have used the term valet. his name was william lee. and actually he was an enslaved african-american from mount vernon. and he accompanied george washington when he took command and he remained at washington's side throughout the entire revolution. it's one of the incredible truths of history, the ironies of history that when we look at this tent we are really seeing the wartime home not only of our commander in chief but of william lee. that's the story that we do tell to our visitors. we want them to understand that fact and the complexities of the era. >> caller: was there a second tent? >> there was a second tent. the tent that we present served as his headquarters, which means it was the office where he worked. he did have private meetings there and his sleeping quarters as i just described. there was another tent, larger tent that would have been used for dining. this is where his entire military family, the adjuncts, the aides that would have worked with him, other general would have gathered for meals or probably lunch or meetings as will. >> naomi thank you for waiting from austin, massachusetts. you're next. >> caller: hello. how are women from the revolution related to the museum? >> and how old are you, naomi? >> caller: 9. >> i love these young callers. >> i didn't quite catch your question. >> you want to re-ask your question? >> caller: how are women from the revolution represented at the museum? >> thank you. >> well women -- thank you for repeating it. women are an important part of the revolution. the revolution happened here in our country which meant people are living throw it. it's around them. they're unavoidable swept up into it. one of the things you learn is when the sons of liberty in bos don decided to boycott british goods, the people that affected were the women at home because they had to give up the manufactured goods that were an important part of their lives. but you also learn about the role of women throughout. probably one of the more significant is the role women played in supporting washington's army. it literally depended on women. they were the cooks and seamstresses that supported the army and then the medical corps after battles. there was literally a women's auxiliary that accompanied the army throughout the revolution. you'll also learn about women at home and women from all walks of life. that's a great question. >> delores, good evening from spring, texas. you get the next question. >> caller: yes. i would like to know how the city of philadelphia became the city of brotherly love. >> the name, the city of brotherly love really arises because philadelphia was founded by women penn who was a quaker. and he instituted a policy of religious toleration in philadelphia that was consistent with beliefs of quakers. and that led to it being regard ed as a city of tolerance and love for all man kind. we say it's the city of brotherly love and sisterly affection. and you still feel that quaker sentiment and you certainly at times feel like you could bump into william penn or ben january minute franklin as you explore the streets of philadelphia. >> having lived this over the last couple of years, if you could have asked george washington a question, is there one you would pose to him? >> i would want to know why he didn't give up. there were so many low points and there were times that, from his private correspondence we know he was near despair. and yet he kept that to himself. and he was just unyielding in his determination. an incredible power of will to sustain that and for eight years of leadership of the army. so i would love to know where that strength came from, where that determination, where that certainty that ultimately that he would succeed and the country would be created. >> kathleen, rockville, maryland. good evening. >> caller: hi. thank you for taking my call. i was wondering if groups such as the sons of the american revolution or the daughters of the american revolution made any financial contributions to the museum or maybe they contributed artifacts? >> the answer is question on both counts. the daughters of the american revolution made a contribution that helped us put on a display a magnificent replica painting of yorktown, in the atrium of the museum. the sons of the american r revolution are strong supporters and we are able to borrow items from both organizations. >> joining us next from gardenville, new jersey. go ahead. >> caller: no. gardenville, california. >> go ahead. >> caller: thank you. i'm originally from new jersey and my question is, does the museum include any artifacts or documentation or even acknowledgment of black patriots who naugfought in the american revolution, such as sons of liberty who thought that concord not only including james james, a spy at yorktown. >> you do learn about that issue go through. and i'm going to ask for the details on that, you will discover james horton, a young black, young african-american who volunteered on board the florida private tier. i'll be glad to have dr. stephenson return to that question. >> we have time for one more call with michael again, president and ceo of the museum. mark, go ahead, please. >> caller: i've been to the valley forge museum numerous times. my question is how difficult was it to get the artifacts you have there. i notice behind you have soldiers in uniform. i wanted to know if you have any that were in authentic uniforms. how difficult was it to get the donations that you got? >> thank you, mark. >> thank you. the soldiers you see behind me are not in period clothing. they're in replica clothing. and what they're recreating is that time 18 months after the de declaration of independence when philadelphia is captured by forces and independence hall is reduced to a prison for captured american soldiers. what it illustrates is how easily this war could have been lost. and another one of those low moments in the revolution itself. we have 500 objects on display in the museum. close to half of them are from our own collection. the others are on loan to us. and what we are really found is that many institutions, many private collectors are eager to loan to us because this is -- this essentially the only way for these objects to be shared with the general public and they with treasures. we're very proud to bring these objects to the american people and to help them understand their meaning. see real artifacts that were held in the hands of people who carried out the revolution. >> what's the price of admission to enter the museum and what do you think visitors will better understand when they depart? >> the price of admission is $19. that is a two-day ticket. so every ticket you buy is good not only for the day of purchase but the follow day. and i think what people will learn in their visit is that the revolution was carried out by real people. and that it's people like you and me. and we all have the ability to change the course of history. and that we are today as americans the heirs to that revolution. created the country that we live under. and it also requires our continued participation in the nation to uphold and sustain a revolution. >> michael quinn, the president and ceo of the museum of the american revolution joining us from downtown philadelphia. we thank you for your time this evening. >> thank you so much. pleasure to have you here. >> and more from inside the museum as we continue our look. it opened in april and tonight an inside view of the exhibits on display in philadelphia. >> i'm scott stephenson, the vice president of collections, exhibitions and programming at the museum of american revoluti revolution. we're standing on the second floor of the museum. this is where our core exhibition space wraps around this court that i'm standing in. we enter here on my left and you wrap around through 16 galleries and theaters, you know, pass behind the big painting that you see on the south end of the court and the way around and you exit just opposite of where we're standing here. you enter a subject of king george, iii. when you leave you're a citizen of the american republican. so we tell a story. the core narrative is about 1760 to 1790 but then we carry you through to the present day for the legacies of the american revolution. but first we have to step back and actually start with a recreation of the moment on july 9th, 1776 when a group of soldiers and sailors in new york city first heard the words of the declaration of independence and gathered down at the bowling green, which is now near the raging bull on wall street, the landmark familiar to many viewers, and tore down an equestrian statue of king george, ii, marking the beginning of the war of independence, the beginning of the american revolution. and so this is really our first gallery displaying object from the period. we call this gallery rule britanni britannica. after you've been in that moment of 1776, we take you back 15 years really to the end of what was known as the seven years' war, the obsession of the view of king george, iii, british monarch. this is the period in which britain wins this incredible victory, what winston churchill calls the first world war. we know it's the french-indian war. this vastly expanded the territories from india, africa, the west indies and particularly north america, the territories that britain laid claim over. behind us we have a collection of objects owned and used by colonial americans that speak to the presence of the king's everyday life. one of the great objects here, this is a cast iron fire back made at oxford fur nans in new jersey. this was placed in the back of a fireplace raging heat out into the room. as you can see it includes the arms of the -- the royal arms of the king of england. we also have objects that introduce you to british heroes. so the upper right, a tavern sign, and this is on loan to us from the connecticut historical society, a wonderful historical society with amazing collections that generally placed this on loan to the museum. you see general wolfe. this was a british general who died after being mortally wounded at the battle of question back in 1779, helped to capture french canada for the british empire. and he was elbratcelebrated by americans. it was held by israel putnam, famous as a general in the american revolutionary war, part of the battle of bunker hill. the second part of the gallery we titled the price of victory. more empire, more problems. so after the british victory and the seven years' war with this vastly expanded empire, particularly in north america, britain faced this challenge. of course everyone is excited about having this larger empire but there are now tens of thousands of new subjects. and so the objects in here and the media piece really pull that story apart. so for native people, for instance, in 1763, they're the first group of people to sort of rise up and push back against an increase british control of their lives in a rebellion sometimes known as pontiacs rebellion. and they pushed the crown to guarantee their sovereignty over their lands in the west. you know, the british conclude that the best way to kind of get their arms around this new empire is to build forts and stations, more than 10,000 british troops in north america. not to oppress the colonists but to keep the populations separated from each other. that's a very expensive operation. in parliament, of course, no one is thinking well, we should just continue to tax british taxpayer to pay for this american colonists have enjoyed the victory question should ask them to contribute. the idea comes up and eventually passes through parliament of what becomes known as the stamp act. this is actually a depiction on the wall here of the design of that stamp. this is not a stamp that you put on a letter, of course. this is a very old method of taxation, very familiar to british people because it was essentially a stamp that was placed on paper. and you can see an original example here. this is a london newspaper and in the lower right-hand corner you see the design that's been stamped on that paper. and that was a design -- that meant that a tax had been paid on that paper and then the newspaper would be printed on it. this would also apply to parchment that you would use for legal documents. it was on playing cards. and so this was the design for the stamps that would have been used in america to help pay for those british troops that were supposed to police the empire. >> and this is what that exhibit looks like live inside philadelphia in the museum of the american revolution. and we're joined live with dr. stephenson. you have a fun job. you show your excitement. >> i have to pitch myself every morning to remind me that i am the luckiest man in the world. >> let me ask you about something that david mccullough, i now he was at the ceremony in april when you opened the museum. he said roughly a third of the colonists were in favor of the american revolution, a third were content to say a part of the british 'empire and another third were waiting to see what happened. is that a fair assessment? >> it's tough to go up against a fellow like david mccullough. that is a quote from john adams that is often taken out of context. the original letter is actually referring to the opinions of americans towards the french revolution. you know, a little bit post war. but it actually is -- i think speak to a larger truth that we try to present in the museum of the american revolution here, is that this wasn't just a unanimous decision of all of the people in british colony to rebel and all have the same idea about the revolutionary project that they were embarking on. you know, this has been a -- this has been a subject of a lot of scholarly relationship. particularly recently there's been a lot of great work on loyalism. one is just defining what we mean by a loyalist. most historians would agree that majority of the population probably was kind of sitting there a little bit neutral, uncertain which way things would go. of course most people when you think about people's loyalties, you know, it's to family, it's to community. almost like the rings of an onion. a lot of times determining which sides people in a particular time and place support it really stems from local circumstances. it's not always the story we want to hear. we want to believe of course everybody was always motivated by noble ideas and of course there were lots of people who were. and there was in many areas of british north america, united states, very fervent commitment to the revolutionary cause. but i think it's fair to say it was -- yeah, there was a small subset of very fervent loyalists, those who took up arms with took an active part in trying to preserve what they saw as the freest empire since ancient rome, the british empire and then those who supported the revolutionary cause and then the population that really had to be won over. so it's that kind of contingent nature of the american revolution that we really try to here in the museum. >> we want to bring to our viewers and listeners. let's go to vincent joining us from stanford, connecticut. good evening, welcome to the program. >> caller: thank you for taking my car. my wife is dar and obviously we both love american is history and we just visited the new american history museum in yorktown just a month ago. we haven't been to your museum yet. we will. we're wondering what kind of relationship you're going to have between your museum and the one in yorktown, if you're going to be collaborating or sharing artifacts, what kind of relationship you'll have with one another. thanks. >> thank you, vincent. >> thanks, vincent. great question. personally having lived in virginia for many years, vi a lot of good friends who work at the american revolution museum at yorktown. or a.r.m.y., its acronym. and both of our programs have been enmeshed in designed and constructing and opening ironically very close to one another. we've had a good collaborative relationship particularly in marketing and promotion. and we sort of look at this -- we often use a jeweller's row kind of analogy. you can't have too many diamond stores on jeweller's row. particularly in a time when the decided nature of the politics today, the public need to really connect to this founding history and these founding ideas. this is the glue that holds this together as a people. it's not that we all have the same religion. we're all from the same place. we're all the same race and country of origin. it is really is history and the ideas that come out of the period that have always been the rock that allows us to get through some of our challenging days as a people. and to, you know, some of our greatest aspirations as well. so we feel like we're all bre h preaching from the same book so to speak. whether it's the mount vernon, like monticello, freedom trail in boston, our neighbor here in philadelphia, independence hall, and then also museums like the american revolution museum at yorktown and the museum of the american revolution in philadelphia. we're trying to hook more and more people on to becoming lifelong lovers of history, engaging rising generations in a real appreciation of the sacrifices and struggles and achievements and the ongoing need as americans to continue to be actively engaged as citizens. so we couldn't be warmer wishers for our companions in virginia. >> and one of the goals that we have here. we'll go to gary in michigan next. >> caller: hi, scott. i wanted to ask you about the mannequins. i'm sure you were involved in the french and indian war exhibit that tousred the countr and they have some excellent mannequins. can you talk a little bit about the mannequins at the garry. including the two behind you. >> yes, right over my shoulder. ur like to say at this time of the night they all come alive and they look like they're from real people. and in fact they are. yes, i was very involved in that exhibit called the clash of empires that originated in pittsburgh. and it's something i feel particularly passionate about. it's telling history of a prephotograph ii iic era. the place we have to start is getting visitor to even believe these events took place and these people were real. the power of a photograph just cannot be underestimated. and we don't have that for this era. the artwork -- there's some great dramatic artwork but it can be difficult to access for a modern audience and it's very selective often in who is portrayed and it certainly doesn't cover a lot of segments of society that we want to talk about in the museum. so you then have a couple of choices you have to make of how are you going to bring these people to life. of course film can be very effective and we do use that in a number of places in the museum here. but film does require certain lengths of time for you to suspend our disbelief and really be pulled in and forget where you are. so used sparingly and of course it's extremely expensive. you can commission new illustration. that's something we use in the museum as an interpretive technique. over the last 30 years that i've been interested in working in museum, i've on a number of occasions employed the technique with working with talented artisans who do the life like figures. these are not the wax sculptures that you would mock when you would go to the old time attractions from the 1950s. these are like casts in the sense that they pull molds off of the faces and hands and bodies of real people. they use that pink gooey stuff when you go to the dentist to get an impression. you get all of the details, all of the pores and imperfections, the skin. and then that's used to produce the figures which are then oil painted and could be really realistic. and so we can bring these people to life in a way and then it's more than just recreating the people themselves. one of the things that we try to do with our approach to using museum figures is to sort of think of them as a three-dimensional illustration. i'm mindful of the classic age of american illustration illustrators, ncy, the classic age and american illustration where the illustration actually had a narrative quality to it. so, these are not -- these figures you see behind me and elsewhere in the museum are not there to display a certain model of canteen core. they are not display figures, they are conceived as a three dimensional illustration. so, we often capture a larger historical moment or introduce you to particular characters you wouldn't otherwise be able to see. finally, you know, we all are voyeuristic. we love to stare at people, particularly interesting people. in most cultures, this is considered rude. they don't mind in you stare at them. >> scott stephenson, let me ask about the communication and the delay to communicate between the colonies or between london and philadelphia. so, how did that affect the revolutionary war and how do you try to convey that in the exhibits today? >> hmm, great question, yeah. coming into control then as now, absolutely critical for military observations. the 18th century, the fastest ships and, you know, a month, two months might be the fastest crossing to get from philadelphia or new york to london, for instance. so, what you tended to have is, of course, a set of often very detailed instructions for a campaign. frankly, not just in the military sense, also conducting politics across the sea can be quite difficult as well. you can send a petition to the king and it might be six or eight months before you hear back on what the response was. so, you have a lot of, of course, local control by commanders, military and political figures that had to sort of adjust and make decisions. the classic example of this is from, not from the american revolution, but the french and indian war for the seven year war where a british expedition was attached to protect spanish expeditions in the philippines. the spanish port of manila was captured by a british expedition after the peace treaty had been signed because it took so long from the time they were dispatched. the whole peacemaking process had taken place. it was a little embarrassing. so, yeah, it's an absolutely complicated feature that we take for granted in our instantaneous communication world. a couple examples of that, early on, an early gallery, we have a marvelous punch bowl. it's an image of a ship on the bottom. it says success to the triphena. it was excavated on the site, almost below where i'm sitting, 40 feet below from a privy or outhouse that sat at the back of a tavern kept by a quauker couple, benjamin and mary humphreys. it was an 18th century speak easy, unlicensed, but we got a remarkable treasure trove of artifacts. it was dug in 1786 and filled in 1789. out of the fill of this tavern waste is this wonderful bowl made in liverpool, commemorating a ship that in the 1760s, sailed regularly between liverpool, philadelphia, charleston into the west indys. it has a remarkable connection in that it carried in 1765, a petition signed by 300 merchants here in philadelphia. addressed not to parliament or the king, but manufacturers and tradesmen of england. they are the producers shipping goods to be sold through these merchants. it was sort of culling up the supply chain to the manufacturers asking them to intercreed with parliament. of course, that petition is dispatched from philadelphia in december 1765. it did arrive january or february of 1766. you know, it was passed on to parliament, then, of course, word of the overturn of the s p stamp act takes months and months to come back. we explore the lens communication in a couple early ones in particular. >> we learned a couple minutes ago about the stamp tax. we will have you showcase the liberty tree. a quick question from john joining us from massachusetts. >> caller: yes. i'm a founding member of the museum and i enjoyed my visit there very much. i think it would be terrific if in the future you had an exhibit on the spies of the american revolution. >> thank you, john. >> john, thank you, first of all for your support of the museum. our members are extremely important to us and particularly being a founding member and the fact that you have been able to visit us here in philadelphia is very much appreciated by us. yeah, no, obviously, with things like the amc series turn and a lot of great books that have come out, there's a lot of public interest in spying. one of the things that a museum like ours can do is dive down deep below the hollywoodization of the story and look at the real stories of espionage and the american revolution. we do hope that will be a subject of a special exhibition. of course, one of the difficulties, there's a million different ideas, being a museum, it's difficult to find objects. people are hoping to see real, tangible objects. of course there are some documents that have survived in british and american archives. it's a good thought we might do an exhibit. we do, in our programming we talk a little about this in our family programming area on the ground of the museum. we have opportunity to use codes and compose letters and decode letters. actually, the scene that's right behind me where i'm sitting, which is, of course, depicting independence hall during the british occupation of philadelphia, which lasted from september 26, 1777 to the 8th of june, 1778, when this was occupied by the british, there was a tremendous amount of espionage and james bond-type activity going on in the neighborhood we are sitting in. some took place in smuggling messages in and out of independence hall. the second floor of the hall, known as pennsylvania state house in the period was turned into a prison for 70 captured american officers captured at battles like brandywine. there's a tremendous story, there's a woman polly frazier, her husband of pennsylvania line served with anthony wayne, had been captured a few days after the battle of brandywine. he was in prison there, the upper floor of independence hall and she later left memoir of her coming into philadelphia with her 9-year-old daughter. they had to slip through the lines, pass by centuries. they got into the hall. she smuggled out a letter in a piece of moldy bread, fed to the prisoners and inside her petty coat and managed to smuggle it out of philadelphia and rode to see general washington and initiated a series of letters back and forth. frazier escaped, sliding down the building with the knotted bed sheets and going to a safe house. it's absolutely a riveting subject. i hope we can explore it more fully in other kinds of programming and perhaps through an exhibition in the future. >> we are at the midway point from philadelphia as we look at the museum of the american revolution. back with more of your calls and comments, but first this. the next room, which we call resistance is about the decades stretching from the stamp act in 1765 to the outbreak of the revolutionary war in 1775. so, this is a room that also introduces one of the exhibition techniques we use, to create these immersive spaces to make you feel transported back in time. we have recreated the elm tree that stood in boston in 1765 that became known as the liberty tree. this was, of course, a phenomena that spread through other towns, other colonies but it was a place where sons and daughters of liberty gathered in open air, political meetings to talk about how they would react to these efforts by the british to impose taxes through parliament on them. we have embedded in the trunk of this tree, a piece of wood from the last standing liberty tree. it was -- it was standing until 1999 on the grounds of st. john's college in annapolis, maryland. this is a piece of that popular that was blown down in a hurricane and some of the wood was salvaged. it's wonderful to have kids, in particular, feel like they are touching a piece of history here. so, this also is a gallery which we explore some of the symbols of the resistance movement. forms of resistance. non-importation, the impulse to boycott goods that were manufactured in britain and replace them with locally made goods. we think, nowadays with the buy local, buy american movement is something we invented. this has roots going all the way back to the 1760s. save your money, save your country. that's a slogan from a news paper in the period. >> back live inside that exhibit, the liberty tree. we are joined by scott stephenson. how successful was that buy local movement in the 1770s? >> well, actually, um, of course, the stamp act was repealed by parliament in 1766. that buy local movement really grew with the resistance to the acts passed in 1767. it was, of course, very difficult to enforce, first of all, not everybody would -- was equally offended or felt they, you know, it was necessary to go to such extreme lengths. it does take self-sacrifice to often, you know, participate in an extended economic boycott. again, they were successful in repeals the townsend act as well with the exception of keeping the tax on the tea, which leads to another explosion that ultimately leads to war. but, you know, depending upon the city and/or region, they were fairly effective. one of the things we try to do in the museum, in the gallery that surrounds the liberty tree is also explore what did that buy local movement mean? there is a very strong, kind of tradition in america when you serve an association with the word homespun. when we think about this era, the image of the spinning wheel and kind of the rustic simplicity of the clothing and the dress at the time, is what we associate with what they would have called domestic manufacturers, things made in america. in fact, particularly in a place like philadelphia, which, really, you have access as a resident of philadelphia in the mid-18th century of virtually anything you can obtain in london. the seas were highways, not barriers in the 18th century. this was the way goods flowed around the world and fashion would appear in london and paris in the spring and would take a few months to arrive in philadelphia. so, there was a real taste, consumer taste for fine goods. in fact, benjamin franklin used the metaphore for the british empire of the fine and noble china vase, a porcelain vase as a metaphore for the british empire. it was beautiful. this was used in 1776 after the declaration of independence. once it's been shattered, however, it can be put back together, but it never has the strength it once had. using a material object, exotic object to reach a place like philadelphia reminds us people were not sleeping in hollow trees and dressing in burlap. on display, we do side by side comparisons of items traded with british manufacturers and locally produced items, so blown glass cream pitchers, for instance. one made in bristol, england and one in new jersey. probably the most dramatic piece is one of the rarest items on display in the museum. it's been generously loaned to us from the philadelphia museum of art. it's a piece of american made porcelain, produced a few minutes walk from where we are here in south philadelphia by the american china manufacturing. this was a partnership established near the old church in south philadelphia in the early 1770s to try to produce the fine, imported porcelain like that that franklin was referring to in philadelphia. there are only a dozen pieces that have survived. one of those is a beautiful p k pickle stand, we display that along an english made example to show tradesmen in philadelphia, new york, boston, charleston, they were capable of making beautiful, decorative arts. the objects tell us a lot about how sophisticated the people of the british colonies were in this period. >> we have been looking at the exhibits inside the museum. let's listen to teresa from pennsylvania. good evening. >> caller: this is so exciting for our region. thank you for being on c-span to show off philadelphia and the wonderful work you are doing there. our city a wonderful spot in this period, our museum, art museum and the piece you discussed. how are you working with the other museums in philadelphia to influence programming and particularly, some of my work at the kennedy library i have seen. our student population is now, so, with all the history we have in the city of the museums are you communicating with those museums and with students around digital development? >> teresa, thank you. >> yeah, thank you, teresa. great question. of course, you are absolutely right, philadelphia is -- has an embarrassment of riches, of wonderful historic sites, preserves. i think there are more historic house museums within 35 miles of where i'm sitting than any concentration in america. it is tremendous, the collections and the sights we have here. one of the things we were very self-conscious about in designing the museum, picking this location is that we felt that while there are all of these tremendous sights, there wasn't a place that was kind of a visitor center for the founding era, a place where you would go to get the big narrative that connects those sights together. so, a couple great examples, i think, you know, starting just locally in the neighborhood, right behind me, telling a part of the story of independence hall, over 700,000 or 800,000 people go through the hall each year. it's a 15-minute tour, a brief introduction of the building, declaration of independence, if you are lucky, you will hear about lincoln's funeral, then you have to move on. we thought that by arriving with more context. so, earlier on the gallery, you learn about its role as the meeting place of pennsylvania's colonial legislature. that's back where you are learning about the taxation issue of the 1760s and the feelings that local british clone yans had for those assemblies as miniature parliaments. they felt, not that weren't going to pay taxes, but if they did, it's through their own elected assembly. you are going to hear independence hall as the meeting place for congress and the role it plays as it has meeting place of congress, the place where the declaration of independence is debated, adopted and signed. you will learn of another chapter of its history behind me in this area. later on, we come back 11 years later after the declaration of independence to learn about its role in the federal constitution. we do those kinds of connections with other sights, whether it's brandywine, literally 15 feet from where i'm sitting is the entrance to what we call the field of battle, an immersive battlefield experience where we put you on the front lines of the fighting, near the birmingham meeting house, a quauker meeting house where the early fighting took place on september 11, 1777. what we are trying to do with these is we can't tell the whole story of every sight, but if we can spark interest and curiosity and learning more about that story, that's a great way to hook people and we direct people and visit them. it's not just philadelphia. it's not just the region. we have a lot of involvement here. we tell the story of comfort in massachusetts. because of the generosity of the concord museum, which entrusted us with the loan of a number of items from their collection, we can tell the story of april, 1775, dramatize the fighting at the north bridge and the shots heard around the world and see witness objects. we hope that sparks an excitement to go visit those places. i could go on. your question about certain digital connections and that, we have a website. we have started to put more and more material online. we are starting to develop what we call a microsight, which is embryonic at the moment. we are hoping to grow it out as a connector to partner sights and related sights in the region and beyond that. we are also hoping that we can take a number of the digital interactives that we have developed in the mus yums as put those online. one of the great examples is a piece we call finding freedom. we wanted to tell the story of the complicated stories of african-americans and what their experience was in the american revolution. first of all, to make the point there isn't just one african-american experience, there are many kinds of experiences. there were people who were free, there were people who were enslaved. we focused on virginia, 1781. this is the time you have two armies, british continental, crisscrossing through. for enslaved people, this was a time of great danger and opportunity. there's a kind of internal revolution going on where people are trying to find their own freedom. now, that's a story that we have virtually no objects, no images of any of these people. documents that allowed us to piece together some pretty wonderful personal stories of ordinary people and personal journeys for freedom. we picked five people, researched them carefully. we worked with people to do an animated, graphic novel, taking you through the experiences of these different characters and learn what happened to them in the end. also, give you access to the documents we use to reconstruction those stories. that's an example of a piece we think that by deploying that online, it will have great, great classroom use anywhere in the world. anyone with connection to the worldwide web. we are, again, hoping to expand our digital prezsence as well. thank you, great question. >> that story continues from two years ago, scott, when you allowed us to show how the museum came together and the people you profiled. let's take a look at this from 2015. we are back live in three minutes with scott stephenson at the museum of the american revolution. >> as american colonists begin shouting very loudly and increasingly loud about their rights as englishmen and their feeling there is a conspiracy to enslave them under way in the british parliament. the whole issue of slavery, increasingly, the contradiction of these calls for liberty, in the presence of slavery, particularly in america. orv of course it existed in britain. it became louder and louder. this item is a rare and important work. this is a volume of poems by a young woman, phyllis wheat lee, the first published african-american poet in american history. filly wheatley was enslaved and brought to the new world in the 1750s. as a young girl, maybe about 8 years old. she eventually was sold to a family under the name of wheatley. the daughter taught her to read and write. she has a real natural talent for writing verse. of course at the time, this was an extraordinary development. so much so that there were those she began publishing pieces ott news paper and they began to be circulated. there was actually a trial held in boston where john hancock and other significant figures in the community were brought together to basically put her on trial, ask her questions to try to determine if it was possible this african-american woman could have written poetry like this. of course she passed and they wrote a testimonial saying they believe she, in fact, had been the talented writer who produced this poetry. in 1773, she traveled to london and this volume was published. it's also remarkable in that we have an engraved image, presumably a good physical likeness of phyllis wheatley. this volume would be wonderful by itself. it's one of the few examples that have actually come down to us with phyllis wheatley's signature on the volume. it just doesn't get better than that. trying to find this tangible object that allow us to discuss the very important contributions of african-americans to the founding period of our nation. it can be a real struggle as a cue rater to find this material. we are incredibly blessed to have that volume available to us and share with visitors once we are open. itd will be in the same gallery, located next to the liberty tree. visitors can reflect on the contradiction between these calls for liberty and the continued persistence of slavery. >> from the warehouse tharks gallery is open inside philadelphia. scott, where did you get the book? how did you come about that? >> phyllis wheatley. it was a -- someone turned it up in new england in a box of old books and approached us and actually a board member of ours stepped up to help acquire it so that we could fill in that part of the story. i mean, it is one of those objects that just trembles on the table in front of you. just amazing. >> nell is joining us from maryland. go ahead, nell. >> caller: hello. i wonder, so much of your exhibit is devoted to the southern campaign. nathanial green is a favorite of mine. >> thank you for the question. >> yeah, good question and thank you. yes, we actually have a considerable amount of attention to the war in the south. of course, as you know, after the british abandoned philadelphia in june of 1778, partly because of the french alliance. the french signed a formal alliance with the united states allies, itself with the revolutionary government and declares war on britain. now, what starts as that colonial rebellion that spreads to canada, the west indys now becomes a global conflict. britain has to protect all its possessions. many of those rich sugar producing islands in the caribbean, for instance, have to be protected. troops need to be withdrawn from america, from north america, sent down to the caribbean. it's a long, complicated, strategic decision. the british decide to abandon philadelphia to march overland to new york. washington is at valley forge. this was june of 1778. we often think, based on the painting over my shoulder of washington marching into valley forge. we think about the snow. washington's army is there until the second week of june. they march helter-skelter across new jersey to get to new york. they collide in the battle of monmouth in june of 1778. the british make it to philadelphia, ultimately. really, at that point, both armies failed to knock one another out. while there's certainly plenty of fights that takes place in the north, ultimately, british commanders decide that the way to try to confront the revolutionaries is move the fight to the south. there are a number of factors involved. one is, it is presumed there is a larger loyalist population in the south. these people will rally to the king's colors as they said in the 18th century. also, because of a higher proportion of enslaved people. enslooifed people living throughout the colonies. the proportion is greater in the lower south, places like south carolina, but also virginia as well. you know, as early as 1775, the british had offered freedom to the run away enslaved people of rebel masters. this had been a way to cause a great deal of chaos to actually try to enlist men who could be used primarily as laborers but armed in fighting units. so, beginning, you know, at the end of 1778, 1779 and particularly 1780-'81, the south becomes such a crucial place for trying to figure out what the end of this seemingly attractive war will be. we have two galleries. it provides an overview and we focus on key movements. one is the capture and look at the liberty and slavery in occupied charleston. we focus on the battle. we look a little bit at the fighting that takes place, particularly in the southern country, the kind of civilian fighting between loyalists and wiigs or patriots as they were known or we call them, that kind of, you know, vicious civil war that took place in the back country. then we move to an area i talked about earlier, finding freedom interactive, tied to another historical life cast figure that is dramatizing one of the stories we tell through the interactive, born in london, an enslaved teenager in virginia, who ultimately finds his personal freedom by joining a loyalist unit. at the end of the war, actually ends up in nova scotia as an african-american who find their freedom becoming canadians. then, of course, we talk about the ultimate victory at yorktown in 1781. of course, the fighting continues for two years after that, including fighting that claims it life of john laurens. >> when did you first begin your interest, your passion in the revolution? >> oh, my goodness. well, like many people who are watching american history tv, i think a lot of folks are exposed to history through their families, perhaps. if you have a family member. in my case, i had a grandfather who never took the highway anywhere, always took us on back roads, fabulous at painting david mcculloch-like stories. see that field there. there used to be a whole town there. this is talking about an oil drilling community in northwestern pennsylvania, called pit hole. it's all now forest. at the time this big boom town. telling those stories, getting interested in the past. that ignited this interest in the, you know, things that happened long ago. then, growing up in western pennsylvania, i became very interested in george washington. the george washington we know in person pennsylvania is a 20-something-year-old bumbling virginian suffering defeats, manages to start a war and places like ft. necessity and ft. pitt were my stomping ground as a teenager. that leads to an interest in the american revolution. i have been incredibly fortunate that i eventually went to graduate school, studied this period. i worked in public history for 25 years or so and managed to actually do a tremendous variety of projects from working on films and pbs series and exhibits and public programs, but always being able to stay focused in that era of american history. so, i think the first thing i said whep we started talking is i actually pinch myself every day that i have been so blessed. >> we appreciate your insights tonight on c-span 3. the chronicles of the story the american revolution. you have been patient, thanks for joining us from virginia beach, virginia. >> caller: good evening, mr. stephenon. first, congratulations on the opening of this absolutely fantastic museum. i'm a dar. you can imagine how thrilled i am to see this museum. my question tonight, my d.a.r. patriots is my fifth time great grandfather jasper alexander moyland who came over during the revolutionary war to join his brother, general stephen moyland and his other brother john moyland and my grand fath ere's wife was eleanor. they got together and lived around walnut. they all fought and conspired and did everything. i'm so proud of them. george washington was very close to stephen moyland. i read a back about my grandfather and found out he and george washington were very, very close. i'm wondering if in your wonderful museum if you have artifacts or information regarding either of them rr the irish fighters in the revolution of which there were many. thank you. >> thank you for the call. >> sure, yeah, we are in the moyland neighborhood. i can't throw a baseball that far but a pitcher could hit all the locations you mentioned. i don't know that i can point you to a specific location of the ancestors in the exhibits here. certainly, there's a lot of irish involvement, frankly, on all sides of the conflict, not just the revolutionary side t. character that pops up, immediately to mind is a young, british soldier by the name of william burke. he was gallic and irish. he left a memoir of his service. he arrives in new york as a young soldier, never seen a shot fired in anger and we thought he was a great character to, again, point out the kind of ethnic diversity within all these armies, not just the continental. the british army. william burke wauz great character. incidentally, he's another life cast character. we picked our assistant curator to model him. a lot of people will do double takes when he walks through, checking on an object in the case. thank you very much for congratulating us on the museum. >> we have a question on our facebook page. it's going to be impossible to answer in a minute, but i'm going to ask you to do so, if you could. what should every american know about the american revolution? >> i can answer that in a minute. i'll say, one of the -- i would say, one of the most important messages that we are trying to convey in the museum is that the american revolution and the revolutionary war are not the same thing. we often use the revolution as a kind of shorthand for the revolutionary war. we say the revolution was an eight-year war or something like this. this was a matter of actual debate among the founding fathers, about what do we mean about the american revolution. there are wonderful letters back and forth as they discuss, what do we mean by the revolution. john adams discussed in 1818 where he claimed the american revolution happened before the war. he said this was a kind of change in the morals and attitudes of the americans that prepared them to where they were an independent people and the war was confirming a transfor mags that already had taken place. i would say if we have an institutional affiliation, it's probably toward a philadelphian, benjamin rush, dr. benjamin rush, a remarkable philadelphian, a signer of the declaration of independence. not long before the institutional convention, rush reflected on this question as well and we put this on the wall in gallery 15. he says the american revolution is over but this is not -- sorry, he says the american war is over, but this is not the case with the american revolution. only the first act of the great drama is over. so, by what we mean by the american revolution is that broader transformation. our core mission focuses on a 30-year period from 1760 to 1790. the transformation, subjects of the british empire, monarchy, citizens in republic, but also the sense of the american revolution is an ongoing experiment in self-government, which we are still in the midst of. that took longer than a minute to answer. i would say that's one of the most important lessons, i think, that we want visitors to come away with. which is why at the end of our exhibitions, we have a media piece to bring you back to the place you start, which is the tearing down of the statue of king george iii, july 9, 1776. today, it is bowling green if you have been to the site where the bull is and the sculpture of the fearless gir confronting the bull. the statue of king george iii still stands. now, a fence that protects the king from the people in 1776 contains people from around the world who are pursuing life, liberty and happiness and ultimately, reminding us that we are still in the midst of the american revolution and it requires the active, engaged citizens to keep us alive. >> we are going to show that coming up in the next half hour. we should point out that we are only showcasing half of the museum because there's so much to look at inside the museum of the american revolution. scott stephenson, the vice president in charge of programming and exhibits will continue to be with us. first, the shot heard around the world, concord and lexington and the start of the war. >> as americans are gradually finding themselves more and more alienated from britain, both sides are hardening in their attitudes to one another. the fall of 1774, king george feels they have crossed the rubicon. it is really going to be a matter of military showdown to determine whether americans, he feels, are trying to found an independent nation to succeed or not. it's like they are living on a powder keg and the spark comes in the spring of 1775, april 18th, night of april 18, 1775 when a secret exhibition marches out of boston, toward concord, massachusetts. the spies have revealed the americans have been gathering arms for this military confrontation. and the british troops, of course the alarm goes out. this is the famous ride of paulry veer. he was one of dozens of riders and didn't get as far as many others did. they alarm the countryside and there's a confrontation that takes place out of lexington, massachusetts and a few hours later at the old north bridge in concord. that's the scene you see playing out behind us here. we actually animated a period of the fighting at concord bridge. that's, again, a place, concord, massachusetts, that every american should visit. you can stand on this ground today, see the house that stands up on the farm, above the ridge where it stands today. these are all objects, which are american objects, whether it's a piece of wood that literally is one of the diagnosal braces from the bridge. looks good over the river on april 19, 1775. that actually came out of the river in the 1950s. it was right there where the bridge stood. there was only one bridge made of oak that ever stood on that site. the river changed course, they moved the bridge to a different location. so, it, you know, matches perfectly. that location and description of the bridge. that fighting, then, brings soldiers from up and down the east coast together. b but, what happens is because the fighting sparks and men from all over the colonies string together, they fipd they have a ways to go before they see themselves as fellow americans. so, this gallery is about the beginning of that quest for unity. the scene, we refer to as tableau. these are life-cast figures. we pulled molds off faces, hands and bodies and carefully research hands and clothing to compensate for the lack of photographs from the 18th century. the scene is based on a pension deposition of a man named israel. in 1775, he was this 10-year-old boy in the red coat whose father brought him to war. he was in massachusetts, a boy, they were yankee fishermen, who were in a regimen from the north shore of boston. they encountered a group of virginia rifle men who had come in their fringed hunting shirts, trying to appear like american indians. they come together around the college buildings at harvard college at the time. now harvard university and a fight breaks out among these men from the two different regions. israel, in 1845, remembered that george washington rode into the scene, broke up the fight. this was the moment washington was writing home his brother in virginia, talking about the challenges he is facing of trying to get men for whom their colony was their country, to think of themselves as americans. we think this is sort of a wonderful story telling device to point out how long that journey would be, perhaps a journey that's not finished yet today for us all to see ourselves as americans, despite our diversity. >> and, as we continue, back to your calls. let's go to steve joining us from ft. myers, florida. good evening. >> caller: good evening. i have a couple comments. the declaration of independence was first read in three cities, philadelphia, trenton and the other city was my hometown of easton, pennsylvania. just to show everyone how history can still be alive today, the gentleman that read the declaration in our town square was named robert levers. every year, my fellow high school classmate also reads the declaration of independence and his name is also robert levers. it was his an zester that read the declaration. the other comment i have is people that visit the museum, i would hope would allow themselves time to look into the pozibility of having an ancestor in the revolution. i was able to find a captain john hart, a captain in revolution. he's an ancestor of mine. he's also buried in easton, pennsylvania. the last comment is that easton is the home of lafayette college. i wonder what type of exhibit you might have of lafayette in the museum. >> thank you. interesting trivia there. scott stephenson? >> thank you very much for that comment. i know easton very well, being a trout fisherman, the poconos are a weekend destination for me, often. we do tell a similar story of the declaration being read and disseminated through all of these communities up and down the eastern sea board. so, of course, we don't have the engrossed copy of the declaration of independence you see at the national archives. that was something members of congress are the only ones that saw. most people encountered the declaration through newspapers or broadside printings or through public readings of the declaration. that's a story we tell in gallery 7. we rotate every couple months, different printings of the declaration. right now, what's on display is one of two surviving copies of the declaration published in july, 1776 in philadelphia in jerman. there's one in state archives in germany. the other is owned by gettysburg college in pennsylvania. they placed that on loan for us. because they are works on paper, they are light sensitive and have to be rotated and rested from time-to-time. that is a great opportunity for us because seeing over time newspaper printings not just from philadelphia, but all throughout the colonies as well as printings of the declaration, that took place across the seas. one of the most interesting copies of the declaration i have ever seen is actually in an archive in belfast in ireland from 1776. it's the full text front page, full text of the declaration of independence. at the bottom of the page in the lower right hand corner, a stamp tax that was paid on the paper. the irony of that was really not lost when i had the privilege to see that a few years ago. >> we are looking at the german version of the declaration of independence. how many languages was it written in? >> ultimately, it's been translated in hundreds of languages. pennsylvania, in particular, had a large german speaking population, maryland as well. whole regimens of german speaking immigrants or children of german immigrants were raised. they were referred to as german regimens so there was a lot of demand for english samples. published in french, most direction of benjamin franklin. again, we have to remember the declaration of independence was as much a diplomatic document as anything else. with the idea that the eyes of the world were upon the united states, this was a document that explained the action that it actually occurred two days earlier than july 4th. july 2nd is when congress declares independence. july 4th is when the declaration is adopted. that is the document that explain that is earlier action. it's really designed to try to bring foreign powers into alliance so that they are not in a position where they are backing rebellious subjects of a fellow monarch. maybe britain and france are ancient enemies. the subjects of another prince could get problematic. in this case, if you recognize the independence of the united states, you are allowing yourself a new nation. so, it was very much a diplomatic document. the second part of your question about lafayette, i am looking at a picture of lafayette. we are in the gallery that focuses on the valley forge winter. we explore lafayette and the philadelphia campaign of 1777 is when he becomes so closely attached to george washington and bonds of affection that will be so important through the rest of the war are forged. several places in this gallery, we do explore lafayettes involvement. >> let me point out to viewers and listeners, if you want more scheduling information on this follow us on twitter, like us on facebook and check out scheduling information at c-span.org. we go to judy, lake forest, good evening. >> caller: good evening. thank you for c-span, we depend on c-span for great programs like this. and i was interested in hearing about william burke because i have a william burke ancestor. that's not my question. we noticed your lapel pin and we wanted to know if that's related in some way to the american revolution or the american revolutionary war and do you have archives available to researchers? >> sure. thank you for your question. my lapel pin, you will see throughout the museum, that six-pointed star and this design of 13 six-pointed stars is der rived from a flag that is in our collection. it's known as the commander in chief standard. this was a -- it's a small, blue flag with 13 six-pointed silk stars that are sewn to it. it descended in the family of general washington's sister, betty washington lewis through her sons, one of whom, george lewis was an officer in general washington's life guard. this was a company of soldiers who provided security detail for general washington and also maintained his field equipment, his field headquarters including washington's tent on display here in the museum. this flag, according to family tradition was displayed to mark washington's presence in the field, to mark his headquarters. it is in very delicate condition, being silk, it's very light sensitive, displayed for many, many years. the ultra violent light is understood. it's only able to be displayed on just special occasions here at the museum, but we certainly use the design. we actually have a replica of that flag that is on display. it's very special because it was commissioned for a flight in the space shuttle that john glen aco accompanied. it has been to space and back so it's on display at the museum all the time. >> as we look at the exterior in philadelphia, anything significant about the design, the architecture of the museum? >> sure. the design, we -- our board of directors, when they were considering selecting an architect and the architectural approach we would take, we were very mindful we were coming into a block and into a neighborhood that is filled with three centuries of landmark architecture. the 18th, 19th, 20th century all within feet or yards of where the museum would be cited. it's a real challenge of trying to sit lightly and respectfully on that site. we are located directly across the street from the first bank of the united states. this is the bank, of course, founded by alexander hamilton, the site of hamilton's office. the secretary is traced in brick across from the museum, next to the wonderful samuel blodgett completed in the united states in 1797. on the other side, the 20th century united states customs house, a row of wonderful landmark commercial building from the mid-19th century. we wanted to design a build thag felt comfortable and wouldn't be mistaken for a faux colonial building. also, has setbacks to try to reduce its volume, so it's activates the area around it that doesn't overwhelm. so, so far, i mean, there are advocates of modern architecture who feel it's more appropriate to do something that is recognizably of the moment. but, our desire was to go for more of a timeless design. so far, the reception has been overwhelmingly positive. >> renee from greensburg, georgia. good evening. >> caller: good evening. this is rather an obscure member of the finers. my husband was a direct descendent of john morton of pennsylvania. he is the signature underneath benjamin franklin. he was one of the first signers to die. his family was of swedish decent. they came from sweden and there is a john morton museum down near the, i'm living in georgia and haven't been living up north for 20 years, so it's near where the ball fields were down near the airport. >> yes. >> caller: down near the -- there's a bridge down there. the john morton museum is there and also there is a swedish -- a, um, a, an old building, a, um, log home in ridley park, i think. which is the original birthplace of john morton, owned by the swedish historical society. i'm wondering if most of the signers you hear are a half dozen people and you don't hear much about john morton. i'm wondering if you have information about john morton or if he is included in with the signer that is you feature in your museum. i'm delighted to see this museum. my husband, who has since passed away, just loved history and was a wonderful custodian of john morton's information. we always felt that since he died so young, but he wasn't young, but so soon after he signed he was kind of passed over. and, so, can you tell me if you have information about him in your museum? >> renee, thank you for the call. >> yes, thank you. now, i know all those sights that you are speaking of and, of course, the early swedish settlement, this was part of new sweden. many people don't realize there was a swedish colony here in the new world and, of course, after this delaware valley area became part of new netherland before it became part of the british empire. there's such great layers of history and complexity. there's, of course, you know, the american revolution is cited half way between columbus and the present day. people are often surprised to think about that. there's a tremendously long time line of history in north america after contact between american indians and british, other european colonizers. morton is a great example of those signers that we tend to think of if we think of their ethnicity, it's vaguely english. we do not go into a lot of deep bigraphical detail about specific signers, although, when we are rotating printings of the declaration, we are expecting maybe next year to have a copy of the printing of the declaration by mary goddard, a woman printer, the first to include the names of the signers. of course morton would be represented there. >> you must get a lot of people that come by the museum saying i'm a descendent of so and so. it has to bring all of this to life on so many fronts. >> absolutely. gene logical connection is a way, there's a lot of ways to connect to history. we can't just wonder what happened in that field over there or the woods or hearing stories or having a human emp thetic connection or curiousty about others. you know, family stories are another incredibly powerful connection. in my own family, i have some ancestors who arrived through ellis island, others that do go back to this era. as a child, my grandfather used to talk about an ancestor who was a lailist who enlisted in philadelphia and served in the british army. everybody say, well, is that true, grandpa? actually, getting older and doing research, it turns out he was a loyalist from across the river from turns out he was in fact a loyalist just where across from where i'm sitting in southern new jersey before changing his name and moving to western pennsylvania and becoming a citizen of the american republic. and so that is a very powerful way for people to connect and engage and feel significance of this era. and a couple of callers, where realize i have not answered the question about an our archive. so we do have a small archive of period documents, not incredibly expensive. we had some very significant items, but not very deep. although, philadelphia, again, has an absolute plethora of research opportunities just within walking distance of where i'm sitting right now. the american philosophical society, the historical society of pennsylvania. i mean there are actually more documents, i believe, in philadelphia than any other place in the world other than the national archives for researching the history of this revolutionary era. so people interested in pursuing family history, philadelphia is a great place to come and do that work. >> i want to go back to the statue of king george iii. you mentioned it was in lower manhattan. the fence is still there, but let's learn more about how that statue came down and what happened to the bronze medal. >> when you get to this point in the galleries, you then encounter the statue of keng george iii. we bring you back to that moment where it started, when the declaration of independence was being read. we have a sailor up there who's offering you a rope he's throwing down to invite you to consider where would you stand in this point of the story you heard what the loyaltiest critique was, seen fervent revolutionaries. so we want you to also feel like you had a choice the outcome was still quite uncertain. we actually have an display, these lumps here in the case loaned to us from the new york historical society, are fragments from the original statue that stood there. it was composed of the guilt lead. there's about 4,000 pounds of lead in large sheets. that was broken apart into pieces and melted down into 42,000 musket balls, which were turned into ammunition for the continental army. those musket balls were referred to in one newspaper as melted magisty. they were to be issued out and fired back at the ministeral troops as they called them. so there's only a fragment that actually survived. there's a collector in philadelphia who already during the revolutionary war was starting to collect objects and documents and knew this was going to be such an importantsterry to document. actually wrote a letter to some citizens in connecticut where these fragments had been hauled to be turned into the melted magisty, asking them to send a fragment to him. it doesn't appear they did. there was a british raid in the region, and people were concerned about getting thought. so they were thrown into a swamp and eventually forgotten, but they were recovered eventually in the 19th century as they area was plowed. people sort of located them through careful arological study. so we know maybe half a dozen pieces that had survived. the head of the king was actually knocked off the body. they fired a musket at it through the eye, fired a musket ball into it. they hauled it off to fort called fort washington. if you're ever driving across the fort washington bridge in new york, you're going right over the remnants of fort washington. this the way traders at the tower of london were treated. they would be decapitated and their heads would be placed on a pike. well, this is the treatment the revolutionaries gave to thir king. the head was actually taken by londoners and smuggled back to england to show we really need your help. these people are crazy. and it was seen by lady touwnse in her home. if anybody knows about that, we would love to hear about it. it's a tremendous story. >> and that answers 1 of our questions on our facebook page, how you chronicle the loyaltiests during the revolutionary war. let's go to john who's joining us on the phone from west palm beach. go ahead, please. >> yes, good evening. i was born and raised in da danbury, connecticut. i was just up there. i was just curious if there's any exhibit that mentions the burning of danbury, in particular the young girl that road -- paul revere used to call her -- >> thanks for call and the question. especially after paul revere awas captured briefly, correct scott stevenson? >> right, exactly. there's two places where those actions along the-conduct coasts or mid-war are covered. one just before the gallery we're in here has about an eight minute over view about the war of independence. and that's sort of an animated map projected on the wall that tries to actually try to answer a couple of questions that wave had that are very specific questions we have about particular battles. i should also try to emphasize while a good portion covers the revolutionary war era, we did not setout to do a sort of inencyclopediaia like treatment of every battle, every action. i can't imagine how much space we would have needed. so there are definitely folks that come that have a particular action that are really anxious to learn about it here and they're really disappointed. so the way we try to cover it partly through this animation that covers the entire war from 1993 to 1783 and highlight where the action took place, the strategic places, how the fighting moved through the north and south. and some of those actions mid-war would be covered there. actually the battle around fort grizwauld in connecticut is covered. the figure i mentioned earlier, london pleasant who enlists in benedict arnold's legion actually ends up fighting in connecticut. >> in our remaining minute we had a couple of callers, one eight, one nine-year-old. and i want to ask you are we doing enough to educate our younger generation about this part of american history? >> well, our inner 10-year-old is just behoe the surface. so i would say this museum is very much a way to engage and excite young children, people of all ages, of course, but particularly to try to catch kids who are 8, 9, 10 years old to see themselves reflected in the stories. so we have a young girl who crossed the delaware are george washington and others. i would say do we as a society do enough, absolutely not. but the museum of american revolution is doing everything we can to create the next generation of history lovers and great citizens through our exhibits. and we have only scratched the surface, scot stevenson. we want to thank you and michael quin. clearly we need to come back and tour more of your exhibits and artifacts as we better understand the american revolution. thank you very much for being with us here on c-span's 3 american history tv. >> thank you. see you in philadelphia. >> and to give you a sense of what else is in the museum, here's more of our tour. and a leminder that this program can be seen anytime on c-span 3.org. be sure to follow us on twitter and like us on facebook. more from the museum in philadelphia. >> so believe it or not, viewers, we're halfway through the story. we've now answered the second of four questions. we've gotten through 1778. we've now been through the darkest hour. we then ask the question of how revolutionary was the war, and the starts to them looks at as the story moves on as the war starts to turn to the south in later years, we start to look at loyaltiests and neutrals and enslaved african-americans. we'll look at the fighting that takes place in the west as native people toward the end of the revolution begin to deliver a series of devastating blows against the american forces, realizing they are fighting desperately to hold onto land to their independence. and then of course the revolution is not just a war. the american revolution is a broader transformation of american society. and so we then

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