weekly schedule of upcoming programs like last years and history, the presidency and more. sign up for the american history tv newsletter today and be sure to watch american history tv every saturday or anytime online at c-span.org slash history. weekends on c-span two are an intellectual feast. every saturday, american documents america story. on sundays, book tv brings you the latest in nonfiction books and authors. funding for c-span two comes from these television companies and more including comcast. >> you think this is just a community center? it's more than that. >> comcast isartnering with community centers to create lifts zone so students from low income families can get the tools they need to be ready for anything. comcast, along with these television companies support c-span 2 as a public service. ic preservation is the

welcome to our annual symposium the presidency and historic preservation is the topic for this year. these are hosted by the white house external association. this year we have the honor of having our partners, the national trust, for historic preservation. my name is stewart mclaurin. i know most of you here in this room. i have the privilege and honor as serving as the president of the white house historical association. it's been quite a while since we've had the opportunity to convene here on our campus. everyone has been largely virtual in this location has been so the last two years. it is a real honor to be under this roof and in the fellowship of people caring about the same subject as you all do here today. i like to begin by recognizing two members of our board of directors who are here.

van cannibalism is going to be here today, and john barron. we have a large number of our national council on white house history who are here today. you will be meeting them during the interaction you have in these sessions as well as the lunch. they are a fantastic group of people. as well as our board members. and it is they who put wynden our sales and make our work possible. we are so grateful for the support that we have former national council, from our board, and from all of you. i'd like to also thanks to people who really were the backbone of all of. this doctor colleen shogan and dr. matthew costello, who from start to finish have made this possible and i'm great to have them as traffic colleagues. they are the leadership of our david reuben sign national center for white house history. it is the scholarly academic center of our work, our

education programs, our digital library. the historians of course, so much of the important work. it is outward facing and pushing wonderful content like this out. only to room full of people, but to people watching across the country. i'd also like to think and mentioned them earlier, the national trust for collaborating with us. the historic building that you entered through this morning is actually owned by the national trust. we are very honored and humbled and privileged to maintain this as a coastal heard with them of this amazing asset and property. we try to take very good care of it as if it's around. we don't treat it like an airbnb or anything like that. we take good care of it and respected for its history and for our wonderful partnership. paul edmonton and katherine france, you'll be hearing from them today are extraordinary leaders of that organization in

terrific colleagues of ours here at the white house historical association. well our organizations actually have quite a bit in common as you both know. it is our mission and our values but also in our origin 's. many of you will know of or least recall or by reputation remember david finley who was the first director of the national gallery of art here in washington. quite a force. he was also the chairman of the commission on fine arts. he served as the founding chair of the national trust for historic preservation well as the white house historical association it was mr. finley along with first lady jacqueline kennedy who were instrumental in saving historic lafayette park. if you do not know that story, we could have a symposium on that docket alone. i encourage you to delve into that story. it is an amazing feat and an

accomplishment that we should all be grateful for. had it not been for them, we would -- the cater house would not be there. this park would be fronted by what we call the executive office building on the park and it would be quite a different landscape here in the presidents park and we are grateful for them. we are all gathered here today to talk about the topic of historic preservation. this symposium today will explore the intertwining story of the presidency the white house itself and the historic preservation. as many of you know, one of the most famous acts of historic preservation actually took place on august 24 1814. as news of the american military defeat out and blatantly berg maryland, reached the white house, the first lady dolly madison heard that the gilbert stewart painting of george washington

be saved, upon reflection this was a very wise decision. they advanced on the city of washington and entered the white house and set fire to that historic building, as you all know. for decades after that incident, mrs. madison's acts of preservation became legendary. like anything else in history, it is not all that appears to the eye or ear. madison ordered that the portrait be saved. there was a group of people that were instrumental in making that happen. much like the group of people who are instrumental in making things happen and historic sites today. names like paul jennings, john pierce assad, thomas mcgrath, jacob barker and robert the poster worked to remove the painting from the wall, transport it out of harm's way and only much later, jennings

who is a formerly enslaved man detailed the event in his memoir. it was only then that these events were fully detailed and that these other figures, these other lesser-known names in american history, lesser-known than dolley madison received their due. of course, mrs. madison continue to call it the little narrative of picturesque. she starred as the leading actress, of course. she does deserve credit, it was these enslaved and free workers along with two strangers who contributed to the very first portrait that was acquired for the white house i believe this is still the only item and the white house collection when the adams moved in november of 1800, is that correct? melissa from the curators

ozyfest of the white house. that is quite amazing that you can still go into the white house today. hanging on the east wall is the gilbert stewart and george washington with that a maiden story behind it. that's the first work of art that the adam saw when they lived in the white house in november of 1800. well, from the association our efforts here to tell a more comprehensive and inclusive history began at the white house and extends outward and two presidents neighborhood. the house where we are today in february of this year, we learned several educational mince related to this property. architectural renderings of historic slave quarters. a new 360-degree virtual to her. projected silhouettes of three individual people with individual stories, charlotte to play, james williams, nancy

tsai facts. these individuals, these real life living human being peoples, stories of families and names and histories actually lived and worked here in the cater house they were enslaved by the occupants and we are not steven and susan, this came to our -- later in the history -- [inaudible] so, we are grateful to our friends at the national trust for supporting this project with a nice grant. i hope you all have the opportunity to visit the slave quarters they will be open at the end of the day. if you want to sneak away at some time left. it will be open, he will have staff there to see that. broadly, we've also invested

over six weir's research -- in the presidents part, lafayette park was the work zone for the enslaved workers, the free workers, the european artisans that came to actually build the house. thanks to the historians, story of those who are enslaved or hired as slaves by nine of our earliest american presidents. and actually worked in the white house with those nine presidents. nine presidents either own slaved and work for them in the white house, or they hired slaves from slave owners to work in the white house. that's an important and compelling story. we are also delving into the descendants. the descendants of those people. my dream is to find a young lady and st. louis who have no idea that her great great grandfather worked rate out

here in this park. we have done some specific things. many of you have walked by the park, thanks to our dear friends at the national park service, represented here today by johnston which, we have been able to put wayside markers at the north end of the parked to tell the story of mrs. kennedy saving the park and the historic preservation of the space and the history of protest in the park and the story of the enslaved people and others. thousands of people walk across this every day without a clue as to what happened beneath their feet in history and what is inspirational to me about this is these men these enslaved people who toiled and sweated and bled to bring the greatest symbol of american democracy today, the white house, they worked out here in this beautiful park. they never dreamed it was beyond their comprehension that 230 years later we would be

sitting in this room honoring their or and their legacy. and telling their story. that is our privilege as the white house historical association on behalf of the american people to tell the stories and to remember these people. it's not all the dolley madison's, it's not all the current former next president of the united states and first ladies. it's the people who work, the curators office, the park service the others who work in that house at all levels to save it, protect, it preserve, it to honor it, to tell the story of its rich in abundant history. . it's what we're here today for. [inaudible] i want to thank you for joining us. it is my privilege to introduce the man that i have referenced two or three times.

[inaudible] paul edmonton, paul? >> on behalf of the national trust services, i would also like to thank you all for being here and being here in person. it is wonderful to see so many people in the current environment we are in. to show up for this particular symposium. i want to thank stewart and that cater house for expressing our shared commitment to the stewardship of this particular place and its environment. they're wonderful surroundings we have that are steeped with history. and the interpretation of this place.

we will talk about that further and you'll hear much more about that. i also want to thank those of you in the audience who are working with these wonderful places. historic places all over the country. particularly those that relate to the presidency. they are key in our combined history. stewart talked about lafayette square. it's certainly would look a lot different today without the advocacy and the political skills of jackie kennedy. and as stewart noted, our founder, david finley, the quiet force behind historic preservation in so many different ways. together they worked as stewart indicated to defeat a plan that was actually approved by congress. he was first proposed in the eisenhower administration and approved by congress. it looked like it was going to

go through. they use their influence. jackie had tremendous influence. the plan would have replaced the low scale structures around the square today with really monumental office buildings. it is hard to imagine today. as stewart described, the history of this. place so many people involves. that experience would not be with us today. instead, the alternative design by john carl warnecke leaves us with the environment they have today. a powerful demonstration of the federal government respecting historic resources. not only for their own value, but as context for new construction. we see that all around us today. also as a prelude, i think the national preservation act, just

three years later, when president kennedy addressed the meeting of the national trust for historic preservation in 1963, he specifically praised the efforts of david finley. and the national trust work across the country. he said, quote, to maintain and keep alive a very lively soft so the path. the trust was chartered in 1949. since then, we have an honor to work with many presidents and many first ladies to preserve cultural resources across the country. we are going to hear a lot more about the first ladies in particular and preservation. i think it's really telling jim note that in 1966 when president johnson sent the act to congress he attached a handwritten note that simply said, lady bird wants it.

it's very fitting were gathered here today at the end of national historic preservation month. a celebration that we have annually. it began here with the dedication of preservation, national preservation week by president nixon in 1973. and it's not really well-known. president and mrs. nixon were really great champions of historic preservation. i would encourage you for an interesting take on the event here at the cater house proclaiming that first national historic preservation week -- my colleague catherine francis has written an article in the new issue of white house history. it is a journey published by the white house historical association. it details this particular event. catherine, by the way, her career at the national trust right here is the curator and deputy director of the cater house. she has it in her blood.

she carries out the full programs of the national trust. the national trust has been honored over the years to play a role in programs like save americas treasures. it's known to many of you. it's bee gannon with hillary clinton during her husband's administration and preserve america. it was begun by our trusty america laura bush during her husband's administration. it is fair to say that the first ladies that played an outsized role in the development of the reservation as a field, you're going to hear more about it later in the program. among the many places we collectively preserved and interpreted presidential sites across the country, they are particular important. -- i want to thank the friends for the white house struggle association for their leadership in convening this community. and also the presidential site summit law.

i also want to thank stewart for his leadership and the leadership of the association for working with us and preserving, as you, heard the full history of places like this. the history of slavery, the courageous resistance to it here at decatur house and in the neighborhood that surrounds this important place. in all this work, the panels that you will experience today, you're going to see the fundamental vision of david finley and mrs. kennedy reflected. the idea that preservation is not about -- it is about stewarding them in ways that allow us to change and allow them to change while still honoring their legacy. by doing that, we ensure that they remain relevant. they help us define our futures together. now, we are going to move right

into our first session. it is my pleasure to introduce brandon robinson. brandon is an independent historian and attorney and north carolina. he served as president of the conservation trust for north carolina and as president elect of the durham county bar association. please join me in welcoming brand into the stage for our first session. >> good morning, thank you, everybody. thank you all very much. before i began, i have to say how grateful i am to this association for the historic expansion of its reach. not just within washington, d.c., but within the united states and globally. i think if you think back to the last time we had one of these symposia right here in person followed by covid, even jacqueline kennedy would have been shocked at just how far her association has reach

people all over the world. regardless of whether they will have a chance to see the white house. thesince 2017, i've driven for hours my home in durham, learned, carolina to attend these events, book lectures, and many other events at the association. to tell you two things, first i have never been disappointed in my expectations of what this group, the association, can deliver whenever i dry back to north carolina on i-95 to, thinking about all the interactions that i've had with people who love history the way you do, and people who interact with the association and support it day in and day out. i always feel more optimistic about america and i feel driving up for north carolina. i'm grateful to all of you for being a part of that. i would now like to introduce our first panel. this will be the theme, preserving presidential sites. moderating this panel will be catherine malone france, the chief preservation officer of

the national trust for historic preservation. you know is not only a co-sponsor of today's event. also the landlord of the white house historical association. a frequent collaborator, as you might guess. to her current role at the national trust, miss malone-france was the organization's senior vice president for historic sites overseeing at least 28 locations nationwide. her leadership, the national, trust created a fund dedicated to the support of historic gardens and landscapes. she also helped steer successfully a 21 million dollar capital campaign. i am in the beginning of the capital campaign at my alma mater. congratulations on that. she earned a bachelors degree in history from lawford college and a masters degree from the college of environment and design at the university of georgia. as to our panelists for the session, it includes sarah bomb harper, the executive director

of james monroe's highland in virginia. just beside thomas jefferson's monticello. he is a ph.d. trained anthropologist with a background also in the classics. has lately presided over the discovery and re-interpretation of the architectural and archaeological remains of our fifth president. she is a graduate of both u.n.c. chapel hill and my backyard in north carolina, as well as the university of arizona she was also a panelist recently in march for the presidential site summit in dallas. also with us today is don hannah, the director -- the director of the dwight the eisenhower presidential library museum in abilene, kansas. she has served in that capacity since 2016. has spent much of her professional career overseeing the building and design of museums [inaudible] with a particular focus on the

security and safety of museum holding miss hammond holds a masters degree and musicology and museum studies from the university of local houma as well as a bachelor of arts degree in anthropology from louisiana state university. last but not least, we have michael atwood mason. the ceo of president lincoln's cottage at old soldiers home. some of you were there last night for the reception. dr. mason holds a ph.d. in folklore and has spent 20 years prior at the museum of natural history, where his last position was director of exhibitions. dr. mason served our director of the smithsonian center for folk life and cultural heritage overseeing cultural and educational programs and leading the smithsonian festival and the smithsonian folk way recording. his work has gained accolade such as grammy awards as well as recognitions from the congress and at least two foreign governments.

welcome our moderator in our panel. [applause] thank you so much. thank you also to stewart mclaurin, to a colleen shogren, and to matt costello for the partnership in this symposium. we are grateful for that. i am honored to moderate today with three panelists who are such leaders to the presidential site. presidential sites are important signifier's of how we

are preserving -- [inaudible] presidential sites can also be especially under the leadership of people like these powerful demonstrations not only of how we preserve historic places, but why it is so vitally important to preserve historic places thoughtfully, conclusively, and expansively. at the national trust, we think of preservation as the ongoing and involving stewardship of building, landscapes, objects, stories. and the communiqués associated with historic places. there is a powerful -- [inaudible] interacting across time but rooted in a place.

there's absolutely no way that we could or should hold a place in stasis in a particular time period. the force of this work is too powerful for that kind of artificial limitation. this isn't the way that everyone thinks about preservation. it's not the way that people have always seen preservation. i think this kind of dynamic phrasing of preservation is so important and so true. at presidential site like -- the eisenhower presidential library and many others that are represented here today, preservation really is the work of active inquiry and of critical thinking. preservation is about discovery and it's about creativity. it's also about striking that balance between continuity and change.

preservation is not about the past. preservation is about the better future that we are building together. with that active definition of preservation, let's get started with our panel. these three brilliant people. as we talk this morning, i want to focus on that dynamic kind of preservation. i wonder if each of you could talk about how the preservation and interpretation of your site has changed in recent years. acknowledging that material presentation interpretive preservation are intertwines. i feel like we have to start with sarah, not just chronologically but because of the dramatic change in some ways at highland. >> thank, you it's a pleasure to be here. i am in good company.

i think we have sliced cued up. [inaudible] highland in l viinia, as you can see, [inaudible] [inaudib a rolling hill landscape. [inaudible] the feeling of being able to understand what it was like in the past. [inaudible] if you want to advance to the next slide. in fact, early as 18 -- [inaudible] [inaudible]

it's now attached to a farmhouse. it was from the 1870s. i arrived in 2012 and started asking questions how the stories we're told and what there were based on. if you would like to advance please. next slide? i can talk with or without it. there you go. we began the investigations both architectural and archaeological. to make a long and fabulous story short, no less fabulous i hope, we found interesting architectural details. really astonishingly, the foundations of a separate standing --

a separate building, it stood nearby. it was the actual remnants of monroe's main home from 1799. completely separate from that little building that had been long pegged as holding monroe's legacy. of course, the way that the little building played into monroe's public image should not be forgotten here. the little vernacular structure added to a really erroneous narrative of a man who has an sophisticated, uncalled, heard an worldly, unambitious. that could hardly be far from the truth. what we found was that the main house had been entirely destroyed by fire. here it was ng sarately with really robust archaeological remains. waiting investigated. xt sde, pl >> -- footprint but also good evidence of the fire that destroyed me. itas a catastrophic fire.

it was really significantly -- we think during monroe's lifetime. there were no written records of it. it was such that the whole house was destroyed late in the year of 1829. where was still alive at that point. it's startling that the very popular former presidents, former home, he had sailed it by then, it was destroyed. it was not in any newspapers we can still find. next line? we found enough of it law to justify it with the insurance maps. to beblto talk about its dimensions. potentially evenmight it may have looked like. it was a building that was not a mansion. it would not have been out of place on the street in williamsburg certainly appropriate for a 40-year-old

just about to become governor of virginia. really an appropriate home. really looking back into understanding monroe's legacy. we interpret it at the moment with the outline of its footprint on the ground. foowing along, you're saying what does it mean for the small misidentified house that had been there for thiswhole time. fortunately we were ableto look into various sources of evidence. next lied. also documentary. an image here of the written record from september 6th, 1818, monroe writing to george hey. the new exhibits that we have really exploring that letter. the building was a house. it was built by monroe. based on this very letter, we

are able to say that it was built by enslaved man, peter mallory and george williams. we are able to follow that story through the documents. the new exhibition is the new exhibitien last of timber with news stories on that two original rims of the guesthouse. period rooms. this one that you see, it's playing as thotraveler has just arrived. showing the guest activities and talking about political, professionals who have been the guest of that guesthouse at that time. andadjacent room, where showing and preparation. it ibeing readied for the arrival of the president and his guests, so that we are putting front and center the work that occurred there at that moment, and also the work that occurred there throughout, on the landscape, during the time even that the men rose were not there.

of, course enslaved men and women and children where they are during and for longer than the monroe family. our new interpretation has given us this opportunity, we have one more slide, to really show more about a complete story. if you could advance the slide, please. ho to interpret threly rich history weenter into the presidential story, what i consider story about u.s. history about this property. that history is inherently inclusive, we talked about the various work and also the community, the non work aspects of what this might have meant. so, we've transformed, with the announcement in 2016 and moving into these new exhibitions, they really explore a new

understanding of the site. and i think a new era for highland. >> i always love hearing you tell that story, such a dramatic example of the evolution of a historic site, but one rooted in material culture and evidence. thank you so much. michael, president lincoln's cottage has always been on the leading edge of historic sites, and continues to be under your leadership. how is president lincoln's cottage continuing to evolve and change? >> thank, you thank you for the invitation to join you all. it's my first time at this guest gathering, i'm happy to be here. next slide, please. next one, two. for those who don't, know president lincoln's cottage is about four miles from, here almotf in washington, d.c. on the grounds of the med rces retirement home. the picture s some sense of its historic feel. it still looks very much like

this today. we've been working very hard on involving the preservation of the building itself, the national trust web the restoration of the building, which was completed about 17 years ago. and so, now, we are invoking two separate things. we're having to replace many of the things that were restored 17 years ago, so it is completely restored orlando, which some of you got to stand on last night. but we're also exploring other aspects of the history of the building. so, when the original restoration took place, there was a decision to keep things relatively plain. so, we are going back and exploring different aspects and making them more historically accurate. for example, wood supports in the trust. we are able to completely renovate the, renew e vestibule on the, entrance the other side of the house from picture. but that project really allowed

us to createce that think it would have been like whsident lincoln was there. including faux graining, which i have to say, as somebody who comes from a different world, the idea that you would pay extra to have faux graining rather than actual would seems very strange to my aesthetic. but that kind of work goes forward. we are also wrestling with some very basic preservation issues, there is water intrusion in our basement, adjacent to that vestibule. which is making lead paint flake. so, where addressing those kinds of things. there's an unfortunate money saving strategy with crushed gravel. and if you who are at the house last night would have noticed that there are debates everywhere. because, if you walk on this crushed gravel when it's wet,

it sticks to your shoes, and that creates divots everywhere in the cottage. in a way that is just excruciating for those of us who are caring for it. so, we are working to preserve the place in a very ongoing way. of course, that's the mission. can i have the next slide, please? we are also engaged in transformational programming. as we try, our work here has really focused, our interpretive work, has focused on two different aspects. one, building empathy and engaging the spirit of the lincoln's. who thought of this as a family home. for those of you who don't know the cottage, lincoln spent about a quarter of his presidency there with his family. so, that work of playing games, telling jokes, reading literature, all of those kinds of everyday things are part of what we do.

and we're always aware of the fact that lincoln was making incredibly important decisions there. about the war and, ultimately, that the emancipation proclamation. so, those two themes run throughout our programming. like many of us, the pandemic affected our interpretive tools pretty dramatically. and we developed lincoln letters as one example of how we could do outreach to take this idea of the kind of everyday life that the lincoln's enjoyed at the college out to people. we had almost 1000 people around the world asking for the subscription game, which is super exciting. could i have the next slide, please? as we continue this work, we are also engaged with our linkedin ideas foru of going deep on one of the issues.

thisear, we focused on grief as part of our grief and childless exbi programming connected to that grief and child loss exhibit that we have. one of our speakers was one of the artists who created this memorial for all of the people who died of covid. that humanistic approach to the life of these amazing people remains key to the way that we are interpreting the site. can i have the next slide? our digital engagement continues to ld, with a robust mailing and social media channels. we've got this amazing, tiny team of people created q&a, a podcast where we answer actual questions. and that's a brilliant idea, brilliant. amazing people on the team. we take questions that we

actually get from visitors and we go down the rabbit hole, and we explore, in every possible way. it just finished our fourth season, i encourage all of you to listen to it. it will take you to places that you would never imagine. and it really embodies our desire to encourage people to stay curious. so, that's where we are at this moment. it gives you a sense of the evolution that we are going to. >> thank you so much, michael. don, take us to a 20th century president and talk a little, bit if you will, about how the eisenhower library has changed in recent years and during the pandemic. >> sure, thank you, thank you for having me here. i appreciate the time. but eisenhower presidential museum and library in apple tv, kansas, we recognized -- could you advanced the slide, please? oh, you missed one.

>> sorry, i missed one. >> no, please. [laughs] >> there is a significant part of this work around the unfinished business of the american republic that we're justice.on, around social our gnature tour is very focused on imating the space with stories of the lincoln life and williams visitors biologically through lincoln's thinking, struggling with the decision to write the emancipation proclamation. the lincoln ideas for a mom then addresses issues of social justice, including this year. program brings together young people t address modern human trafficking, modern slavery.

to which young people are particularly vulnerable. so, where encouraging people to live at the brave ideas that lincoln embodied when he was at the cottage. thank you, very grateful. >> that was important, thank you. >> now, let's see if ike comes up next. there he is! that's my guy. so, at the eisenhower presidential library, we recognized that it was time to redo our exhibits. our exhibits had previously done in a holistic fashion about 40 years ago. and in the 40 years, it was done room by room or case by case, gallery by gallery. which of course leads to a disjointed story for our guests. so, we recognize the need to do a holistic appro and then, next slide,e, we also recognize that we needed to tell the story, reinterpret the story visitors who do not have a

personal connection. to world war ii or to the eisenhower administration or to the 1950s. those were the two concepts that we worked around as we move forward with a holistic approach to redoing our exhibit. i have some before and after ots, just to give you a little idea. next slide, please. this was our lobby, you can see it's a little crowded and a little dark. next slide. and here is our renovated new, modern deck. you can tell that the museum was originally establisd a military museum, because of that shaped path in the thoracic. this was begun before the gentleman became the president of the united states. so, they are building this military museum and then they had to hurry up and add onto it for a presidential section. that sort of led to a little difference in the exhibits as well. and next slide, please.

in this very smal case is our d day planning table. and e iginal exhibits from 40ears ago, e space allott f the d-day planning table was quite small and it only allowed for the two end pieces put there. slide, we have our current exhibit space. where we insistedupon a bigger e for the d-day planning table. now have all of the leaves that we have and ten of the 12 chairs. to be able to exhibit this in it's full range has allowed us to really talk about the gentleman who sat around that table, the agendas that they brought and the skills that they brought to planning the d-day invasion. and the next slide, please. is is the presintial gallery. yocan see, there is a lot of work on the wall.

it will sort of maze like in its build. quite frankly, you got lost in, it i got lost in all the time. it was a square but i got lost in it. exhibit space. is our modern you can, see we've opened it up. a mid century modern feel to it, that was the style of the original bu, mid century mode and in this case, we are able to interpret the story using some more up to date scholarship on the administration in this capacity. and the next slide. we also really intended to use ike and mamie's own words within the exbispace. we felt like we had enough audio and written words of theirs to use their words to tell thr ories. they could do a much better job of it than we coul so, this was the quote that we

decided to use on the wall. when you leave ickes military career and enter into his presidential career. so, i think that's all i have to say. >> all, right you touched a little on this, don, when you talked about focusing on a new audience, right? but i would love to hear from each of you, how you've continued to make these changes. what have been the responses of your audiences? your existing audiences and your new audiences? michael, i know you're doing a lot of work thinking about the new audiences as well and how change in the site connects to them. can we start with you? >> we can. if the slides are cued. i want to be very clear that our audiences respond with him

and or miss a ray of feelings really. if you have visitors who are incredibly anxious about having to be confronted with stories about the enslaved people, who worked, and that 40 people who worked with president lincoln at the site. there are people who come to the site and do not want to have to wrestle publicly with these things. and, so a conversation on a tour makes them really bristle, in some cases. discomforted, some people enter a kind of lry, of soul searching. and many o we invite to go on our landape tour which allows them walk the nds and reflects in a different way. there are almost no objects in our museum, that is an important thing for those who haven't been there.

that surprises people and it enrage is a very small number of people. i mean really, really enrage is a small number of people. and then, many people find the story is just absolutely delightful. we pull people into their imaginations, the space allows them to project, that's fairly unadorned space, allows people to project their own ideas and imagination. it becomes a kind of theater of the mind, which works really well. and that leads to a certain kind of delight and excitement. i will say, just as an example, we recently hired a new director of advancement, who some of you met last night. the unsuccessful runner-up candidate came for her second interview, and she had never been to the cottage before. she said, the tour was just so emotional.

that kind of response is quite common. so, we're getting this really wonderful range. i tend to hear from the people who are horrified, and the people who are excited. the folks in the middle i get to hear less from. could i have the next slide, please? one of the things we have been doing in the last nine months at the cottage has been really trying to develop deep working relationships with the local community. again, for those of you who don't know, president like it's kind of stats on the grounds of the armed forces retirement home. there is a six foot fence. and on top of that six foot fence, there is a three foot fence that was put up later. i'm happy to, say there is no barbed wire anymore on that fence. but as you drive into the gate, there is a sign that says, no trespassing, u.s. property. so, there's a lot of mixed messages. the armed forces retirement home is conceptually very open

to the neighborhood, and practically not very open to the neighborhood. , so we've done enormous amounts of outreach over the years. and i've really been focusing on this in the last nine months. as part of national poetry month, we held a poetry slam in the local high school, roosevelt high school. this surprises me, but the largest club at roosevelt high school is the poetry club. it's not as popular as sports but after that, after sports clubs, it's the most popular. we had 150 people on an evening for a poetry slam. if we could run the, video it'll give you a sense. >> this is always a community effort, pulling this piece together, students have been working real hard. >> the college is this amazing national monument. and it belongs to everybody. they are so excited to fill that space with poetry, we're so happy that you're here.

this is your cottage too. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

>> we have a much longer version of this that actually has the voices of the poets. i didn't want to take up too much of your time. before us to have these folks from the neighborhood there, their families. and in the middle, there is an intermission and a dj put on the wobble and you saw people dancing the wobble. the kind of delight in the space, this basic connecting with our local community, we really are at the basic level of connecting them, physically, to the space. so, this is important work that we're doing. >> michael, thank you, what a joyful, beautiful event. and connection, as you said, of people in place. dawn, how about you? tell us about how these wonderful changes have been

perceived by your audiences. >> we have, as we were developing the exhibit content, we recognize that we really needed to meet the needs of three of our audiences. one was for our educators who come and bring their classes. but we surveyed educators locally, they said that they had two main problems in the classroom, dealing with world war ii. one was explaining the length and breadth of the war. too was explaining global, what does global war mean? that doesn't make any sense to a seventh grader in abilene, kansas. so, we developed a lot of programs and exhibits, pieces, components. this was our main film that we really intended to meet the needs of theteachers in those o ys. you can seethat this is a film, i projected from the ceiling. ers a little time marker at the bottomof the circle that starts in 1938.

and there is a globe, it has embedded the video and audio. it expands and contracts with the battle, and it's really a good way of explaining those two things. the feedback that we've gotten from this has been very positive. as a matter of fact, i watched a class stand around it one day and, those of you who remember world war ii history, the soviet was on the access side at the beginning of the war. and then something happened, and they flipped. in the film, the soviet union starts red, flips to blue. the classrooms are standing around, this one young man says, i wonder what happened in russia! and i said, that is why we do what we do! hopefully he had a conversation with this teacher, or hopefully figured it out later on in the exhibit, but that was the

reason that we do these things. for that moment of curiosity. another one of our audiences would be military personnel. we have a lot of military service members, there's a few military establishments nearby. so, we have a lot of military service members who come to see eisenhower's museum. and what we did for them was we really integrated the eisenhower military story, his progression through the military, his military career. and we get a lot of feedback from them. we tend to get from our military guests would be stories of their own service. which means, to me, that this is a safe place for them to share their military experience. and then the next slide. to meet the needs of some of our younger audiences, those who don't remember the 50s, right? we tried diligently to explai sort of the overwhelming fear of the 50s, of soviet expansion

and nuclear war. and those are things that are younger audiences don't necessarily understand. so, the cold war was a way for us to explain this to some of our younger audiences. another place, next slide, would be in the civil rights and a school desegregation project that eisenhower worked on. i see a school group standing around tp, discussing school desegregation this young woman said, this is story, this is where i am. this is where represented in this museum. and quite frankly, it's a very emotional moment for us, that she had that personal connection. and those were the reasons that we tried to reestablish and re-integrate the exhibit space. >> wow, dawn, creating those personal connections.

which i think you're all doing. such an important part of preservation! such an important outcome. so sierra, again, back to your dramatic change and how it was perceived. i think we have, if you can go to the next slide. >> one of the biggest, most impactful responses to our discovery in the news that went live was that we got approached by a member of that community who said my last name is monroe, and i think i have a connection. i ancestors were enslaved there. so, that conversation began. through time, va a mutual friend, i was introduced to another member of that extended family. and we slowly grew into a collaborative relationship. ed now, we have a council of descendant advisers who work with us on questions of research and interpretation and

direction, of where we want to go. and that first spark came out of the news of our change. so, in our research efforts and in the themes and the tones, the word choices of how we interpret this history, the counsel worked through. and in the moment, moment is probably the wrong word, the extended time of racial reckoning that we are in, having a group of descendants, ancestors who are either enslavement highland or worked there after the civil war, to really confer. and to create the way forward. what is the right path? what is a right way? of course, there are many right ways to interpret these difficult histories. but we have allies who are working hard with us and having a hard conversation. so, we see an image of our

research meeting. also a public event where a panel of descendants met with city school staff, teachers and other personnel over the course of a few days. i think it was our last pre-covid, in-person event, march of 2020. charlottesville cities quote was coming to play how we would have these conversations about slavery and its legacies today. that's the really important point of bringing it forward. on to the next slide, please. in our development of exhibitions, if we could advanced the slide please, we also have input on how we interpret. i chose this one not because of the moment we hung the parish on the zoo bear wallpaper, i had to take a minute. but also because on this

particular panel, we had it push from the council saying we'd like you to do a little more on liberia and what it means, what it means for the long history of, in essence, segregation or inequality in our country. so, that is just one example of the input and how we implemented it and what we are presenting today. you can go forward one slide, please. we also are doing public archaeology. the public as a whole has been receptive of our change, which is big. we had de niro chronology to say this standing guesthouses from 1818, not 1709. it's pretty solid of a theorem we've presented here. we haven't had a lot of pushback on that front, but the bigger and more abstract question is, where changing

american history. we're changing presidential history. and off of sound and my, bias as an archaeologist, archaeology is a great entry point. anybody in the room, i might hear someone who says when i was, nine i wanted to be an archaeologist. yeah, me too! but many of you grew out of it. the public comes and archaeology's, in a sense, it's a friendly way to say look, we're asking you, questions were getting new stories. and look over my shoulder while we excavate here. look at this find, look at this area outside the kitchen, where an enslaved woman named hanna lived. she probably worked in that space as a cook and lived there with her three younger children, her three youngest sons came with her in 1799. we are able to have those conversations, just because we

are all digging right, here we can say we're digging because we want to talk to you about this. and archaeology and its public nature, public archaeology, is, we find, a really effective way to bring people along. we're asking new questions and we're getting new stories. so, one side, please. there is always interest in what we've got. i'm just showing a picture of one of our very good friends and supporters and board members, it was always interested but even less interested folks come along and say, you know, what if you got? show me what you're looking at on the screen. so, it's a very concrete and fixed point of engagement in these news stories. and we found that's effective. next slide, please. we're also a part of the college of williams and mary in williamsburg. the set of discoveries and the re-interpretations, supported by the mountain foundation, is

a great way for students of all backgrounds to come in and say, these places are alive. and they're live with new questions, they're live with new stories. i'm actually showing both uva students were local, william and mary students, and community members. and the community engage course from 100 miles away, from kansas. where they're looking at all the ways that our site is rich in research and reach in new stories. and played then receipts for future investigations and future change, really. so, don't expect what we are doing now to be the same next year when we are talking about it. >> i, mean it's such a powerful illustration. the historic site as a primary source, you keep reading, it you keep reading it, you keep studying and discovering new things. that's such a powerful idea. so, that's a lovely segue into

a last question from me and then i'll open it up to the audience, looking around for timekeepers. but i guess if we could and with just a quick thought from each of you on what is next. how does your site continued to evolve, dawn? >> for, we have, next slide, please, we have ickes boyhood home on our property. this was where ike grew up. he was born in texas, not taking anything away from denison, we know he was born in texas. but the family did move back to canvas when he was a small boy and he grew up in this house. this is where the house was, he didn't move, our campus grew up around it. next slide, please. this was when i came home, and this is his family on the porch. it's reminiscent of another photo of the family did when they were all children. it just shows the importance of the eisenhower family as a family unit and their home. next slide, please.

this is one of my favorite photographs, because the little girl in the french wayne game is a friend of mine. she lived in abilene, grew up in abilene, she loves this photograph because ike gave her bubblegum. eisenhower home was open to the public in 1947, after that mother passed away. it has been open to the public for a long time and, for those of you who own stick built structures, you know sometimes they need some love. so, it's time to give the eisenhower family home some love. next slide, please. so, our next project is the renovation. see the lovely contractors around the building? it is currently closed to the public, we are currently undergoing some renovation projects. we are working on the entire envelope of the home. next slide, please there we go, taking that paint off, it looks like a sight.

we are taking off all the paint, lead paint abatement. we are restoring the wood that is rotten and needs to be replaced. we are replacing all the roofs, we are really glazing the windows and we are addressing drainage to make sure that it's draining properly, away from the structure. i'm really honored that the national archives and records administration has recognized that this is an important project and has allocated funds for it. while the building is closed, we do have a film on our website. next slide, please. this film is really lovely, and i recommend that you take a look at it if you have a chance. it talks about the family living in this very small home, and what the family unit did to prepare ike for his future. it's really quite lovely. and next slide, i didn't know

if i had one more. this is actually our campus, we have 22 acres. the boyhood home is to the bottom, left under those trees, you can't see it. the building on the left is that museum and the building on the right is our presidential library. and then over here, on the right, that you can't see also, is his burial place. we have the place of meditation here as well. so, to me, this isn't a cancellation of his life, where he grew up. it actually work to have this museum established. he chose to have his presidential documents in a repository here and he decided that he and his family should be entered on our site. so, we are honored to preserve what he wanted for this property. >> thank you, dawn. michael, what's next at the plc? >> next slide, please. >> oops, sorry, i did it backwards.

>> ike was proud of abilene. >> well said. >> thanks. >> oh, i think that's sarah. >> so, what's next is reinterpreting the rest of our site. partly due to covid, we did the interiors of the guesthouse now. now they are self guided, people can go through without being in a small space with someone speaking full-time. also our exteriors. next slide, please. the basement bases. we will be able to reinterpret all of these in the same breath, just about. because this is really central to it woven together site narrative that comes from one, vision one set of new information, one set of collaboration. we have that incredible

opportunity, not patching on new interpretation but really putting it through. this is long overdue for our site and it's really exciting. and next slide, please. of course, more research, there's plenty to do. we will not get, board will not run out of questions to ask. so, archaeology is one part of it. our documentary work is going on. and so, that is all moving forward. and next, lied please. one of the most important things that i'm working on right now is our conservation effort. through a series of conservation grants and programs, we have increased fencing, we have our farm tenant who has cattle there. our streams are protected. we've just created and a variant buffer program, replanting ed removing invasive species and putting in native plants and shrubs. why is that important here?

why are we talking about this? really, the legacies of the historic property of the plantation system, we think of as the architecture, we think of as social, we think of as political. but they're also land. it's been 200 plus years of farming and the impacts those have had. so, our conservation efforts, in terms of the land itself and then education and hopefully inspiration the house conservation is a really important part of what we are doing moving forward. >> well, the landscapes are always a powerful reminder that we can't hold places in stasis. it's absolutely impossible to freeze them. if you've ever we did a garden. >> that's it, that's it. so, michael, let's next at the cottage? >> next slide, please, thanks. so, as we are thinking of the future of the physical aspects

of preservation, we are engaging the landscape more. that was partly in response to covid and wanting people out on -- out of the cottage, out on the landscape around the space. we know abraham lincoln visited the landscapes there that day before he was assassinated. so, it's not irrelevant to the story of that lincoln's. those landscape tours have been incredibly popular, even if they are somewhat limited, the home alone we let our visitors go so far. we are working hard to continue cyclical maintenance on the building, and our visitor center as well. and we are honoring the restoration of the grant building, which is an enormous, somewhat daunting task. it is 350 square feet, south korea, feet that is completely

muscle. that is adjacent to our visitors center. we have a couple of board members who think they absolutely must be a wait for us to take this on. if any of you would like to make a 60 million-dollar gift, you can see me at lunch. we are setting a technical assistance panel program with the urban land institute to get really, really professional advice about what it would cost, feasibility implications and those kinds of things. and the board will make a decision after we have that information. so, that's exciting, regardless of which way we end up going. next slide, please. as we think about programming and interpretation, we are really, i have a deep love of poetry, president lincoln had a deep level poetry, so we really try to engage, that as you can tell from our poetry slam. we also hosted a poetry and dialogue program this year with

two dc humanities fellows. talking about the unfinished work of the american republic from their perspective. that was a very powerful program, i understand, i actually had covid that day. we are also beginning to interpret the preservation process. our interpretation of the sites have not historically done that in an ongoing way. so, will be developing those programs in the coming months and marketing them to people like you. who liked preservation as separate from presidents. so, we know that people enjoy that, we have a great series of stories to tell and people do respond to that. we're also, again, with help from the trust and an anonymous donor, undertaking community cultural aspects mapping in the neighborhood, just outside of the cottages.

i think i know the word in spanish, campus is a good word in english. just out by this very diverse, wonderful community. and we will be doing 200 and rv 's over the course of several weeks, which allows us to train local students in heritage work. it allows us to get to know our neighbors in a different way, we get to leave behind a brochure about who we are and what we do in every one of those houses. and we'll learn a huge amount of who the creative people in those neighborhoods are, what is going on. and we can reach out to them and begin co-curating programming that is serving the needs of the people who live within walking distance of the cottage. some of you will ask yourselves, why are you just with tellers? as one of my board members did. our intention is to do the whole area within a mile of the

cottage, but we need to do it in phases. next slide, please. our digital engagement, i just had this conversation, i think with, you last night, is really interesting. the previous director, erin mast, who is an amazing museum professional and built an incredible staff and an incredible interpretive program egg, embraced digital minimalism, very exclusively. and the board has said very clearly that they want us to raise our profile, and social media seems like a straightforward way of doing that. it is a place where conversation happens now, where people are talking to each other about real issues. and so, we're beginning a process of exploring how to do that in a way that is consummate with the spirit of

our other interpretive practices, which are based on storytelling, based on dialogue and based on real, human exchange. and that is, if you spend any time on places like tiktok, i have a 13-year-old social activist in my house who's on tiktok. it makes twitter look kind and gentle, i mean really. these teenagers are just vicious with each other in this space. that is not the space that we want to step into. so, figuring that out is important, an important next up for us. and then, figuring out how to partner with educational platforms. whether that's the learning lab at the smithsonian, whether that's some other platform, we've talked about a bunch of things, but we like to make sure that the story of the cottage in the story of president lincoln's time at the

cottage is shared out. and then, one more slide i believe, i meant to change that picture, sorry. we are looking back at what happened at the site during the time of george washington rega, who commissioned the house. he commissioned the house in 1840, was built in 1842. the 1850 census shows that there were three enslaved people living and working in the house. there is a map that shows and overseers house, and later map that shows four square buildings in a straight line directly adjacent to it. finding that will be a little challenging, it will be right in the middle of the armed forces retirement homes golf course. so, whether they will let us take it up is a big question, but we really want to

understand what was happening in that time. again, in terms of reaction, we have some people who are incredibly excited about this. it is some of our board members have died they think this will bring a whole new audiences to the cottage. and i keep having others who say, you know, lincoln has to remain the focus. so, finding that balance, i think is going to be interesting. as we move forward, we are scaling up and opposing slavery and we're exploring the possibility of exploring an activist boot camp. that would really bring folks in, engage them in activism, give them the tools to take their own brave ideas out into the public square. we are hoping to do that with the coalition of sites of concept. so, that would be an international effort. again, those are emergent prospects that we haven't fully thought through, but that is

sort of where we are headed as our strategic branding process. >> that is also exciting. from all of you, three places to watch. left practices for all kinds of historic places. to see the ways that yours are all evolving and changing. great, we have time for some questions from the audience. so, hopefully we have some good ones. i think we need a mic. thank you. >> sure, no problem. more of a comment. i've been to all three of your places and, most recently, highland. the people you have hired to tell the stories are all spectacular, the warmth that you feel in the building is, you could ruin it, you can ruin a story with someone, a staff member who was standoffish or rude. but all three places are

amazing, all three of you are here and i can tell you that it was just a warm, wonderful welcome that i felt at each place. >> thank, you thank you so much. >> i'll share that with the team. >> absolutely. >> i think we have a question here. >> michael -- my name is mary and i was at the grief seminary at the cottage, i thought it was such a lovely, insightful way to bring with the lincoln's went through as a family in that home to a modern-day space. just wonderful speakers, and i appreciated the discussion. >> thank you so much. questions, i think we've got one. oh, we'll come back. >> i can hold it if you want. okay, four dawn, my question is how having living family members of president eisenhower, living descendants who remember him, how it affects what you do?

>> that's a great question. it's also in our community as well, as i mentioned, that woman who remembers that particular moment. although she didn't understand who she got all of that from. so, i'm going to talk about the local community first. because it's really wonderful to have them come to us and tell stories about remembering when the funeral train was in town or they remember when that president came for whatever event. so, i would like to collect those stories, because i think that really amazing. the family have different stories to tell, right? the president eisenhower has four grandchildren, they are all differently active within but the eisenhower presidential library and eisenhower fanned asian, which is our support arm. it is wonderful to have them as resources. i've had two of them already

give educational programs this year, and a third will wrap up our year. so, frankly, to be able to call them and ask for information, to have them share stories and insights on different aspects of the presidential administration, has been really amazing. i am honored that they have been a part of what we do. >> thank you. i think we have one over here. >> my question is sort of a follow-up to that, actually. most of the sites, the presidents were either deceased or soon to be deceased. and so, while there is living family for eisenhower, and as loving family but much, much more distant. but we have a lot of living presidents now. what is the challenge going forward in trying to establish these kinds of sites of

preservation when you have, maybe, a conflict between what the family would like, what the president would like to be remembered for, and what history and what we want to start questioning about presidents? and their sights. how do you do that, from your point of view? >> anyone want to take the first shot at that? >> no! [laughs] >> it seems to me that the eisenhower monument actually is a sort of study and had this can be complicated. not that it's a historic site, but a memorial. where there is deep conflict for years. and a certain esthetic revulsion by many of the neighbors. i used to work two blocks away,

and everybody that i know who works downtown thinks it's not a very attractive way to honor anybody. so, of course it went through all that required reviews and was approved by the finance commission and all that. but it's a very complicated thing, there is no question about that. i think in my own sense it's that all of these things require enormous amounts of very close, kind of micro political engagement. this person and that, person this faction, that faction. pleasing that organization, that's the only thing you get these things done. and in some ways, a place like highland or president lincoln's cottage, it's easy, right? it's easy and that it was a home. it's directly connected and it takes effort, you have to build the excitement, raise that

money. but it feels a little easier to me than with living folks. >> but in truth, no matter where we wear it, they're all of the different stakeholders that we have to build consensus with. no matter what project we're doing, no matter where we are, there are different stakeholders within our projects. so, it's the same but it's family. we all do it, it's just -- >> more people in the present, probably. >> i always have faith in the place, right? the power of that place, the power of a place to tell us the truth about ourselves. but also the power of that place to be a location for coming together and talking about what is in the best interests of that place, how to carry its legacies forward. but at the end of the day, i

always count on the place. just two minutes, so time for one last question. i think we have one right here, don't know who can get to her first. >> i just wanted to hear about the grant build a. i had never heard about it, i'm wondering what it is, what function is served, tell me a little more. >> historically, the grant building was built in 1905 or 1906. sorry, i can't remember. but it's a building that was built as a mess hall, residents and community center for 3000 veterans who lived at the home at that time. if we were able to renovate it, eventually, if we are able to renovate it would be the second largest open interior space in

washington, d.c.. the downstairs mess hall, this is a technical term, it's ginormous. it's an astounding building there are gang bathrooms, 25 square foot square rooms where people were living. as for flores, there is an infill in the atrium. it would be a wild adventure, really interesting. but it was historically built as a residence mess hall, in fact, when you walk into the main area that is a place where the governor of the home would come and announce the dinner from the balcony, that looks over the amassed troops. i would announce that dinner

was ready to start. it's a very dramatic place. >> well, and the grant building as maybe a good place to end. on the idea of untapped potential to. i plenty of that around and three people leading the effort to realize that potential and historic places. so, thank you all for your incredible work and stewardship. thank you all for being here today. [applause] >> if you're enjoying american history tv, sign up for a newsletter using the qr code on the screen to get the upcoming schedule for programs like lectures in history, the presidency and more. sign up for the american history tv newsletter today and be sure to watch american history tv every saturday or anytime online at c-span.org slash history. >> weekends on c-span two are

an intellectual feast. every saturday, american history tv documents america story. and onsundays, book tv brings you the latest in nonfiction books and authors. funding for c-span two comes from these television companies and more. including calk's. >> homework can be hard. but squatting in a diner for internet is even harder. that's why we're providing students access to affordable internet, so omar can just be a homework. cox connect to compete. >> cox, along with these television companies, support c-span 2 as a public service. the next speaker is no stranger to the civil war community. he was born in lexington kentucky and is a 1971 graduate of center college. where he was later named a distinguished graduate. in