he knew the smithsonian, he was committed to the smithsonian.ife was the smithsonian, so it was an easy choice. we're at the udvar-hazy museum, which is part of the smithsonian, and lonnie bunch is the 14th secretary of the smithsonian. you were the first african american to be selected as secretary and the first historian, is that right? lonnie bunch: that's right, and i'm very proud and glad to be with you today. david: and i should disclose that i was the chairman of the smithsonian at one point. i'm still on the board of the smithsonian, but i will ask tough questions anyway. lonnie: ha ha! i appreciate that. david: so now that you've been the secretary for a while, is the job as good as you thought it was going to be and you're happy to have it? lonnie: i think that no one knew what it was like to lead during a pandemic, but what has happened as a result of that, i've really learned the wonders of the smithsonian when it comes together. you know, the smithsonian is often a conglomerate of museums and research centers and that doesn't always

came to the smithsonian. and amidst meetings with lynne nichols nicholas, who had written a seminal study rape of europa about work to protect cultural heritage, world war two viewed our collections at the archives of american art, where we keep the monuments officers materials, photographs from their mission, notebooks from monuments, officers. and we signed an agreement reestablishing the of monuments officers. we then faced training in the midst of covid, but worked closely together with the military, with the situation in in afghanistan, trying to protect both artifacts and people. i remember those days. 24 seven scott, corey and i were on the phone emailing texting, trying to do right by the heritage of afghanistan. now, with ukraine, we've been getting supplies and materials into our colleagues who are post-civil war, who is trained. corey and the team was a smithsonian fellow during the time of the haiti project. he is now a leader. ukrainian cultural heritage protection efforts in light of the russian

institution. >> is he still at the smithsonian?oks: no. that is how i came to hear about him. his fame waned to end the smithsonian's mission change from being ahanged cabinet as a scientific research organization but they are interested in the skeleton. and so that was kind of ignominious and in the attic for a while, the natural history museum. but the newly founded international museum in kentucky and lexington wanted him because he is more than any other the reason that lexington kentucky is the source today so now he's there with a room dedicated to his significance into beautiful expedition. >> your story centers. is this a fictional part of the story or accurate as well? >> as soon as i started to research the historical lexington, i quickly realized the absolutelyiz fundamental and integral role of the skilled horseman. many of the jockeys and the trainers were just extraordinarily to their expertise and it was based on them but much of the labor many of them were enslaved so i realized i couldn't tell the story and erase t

institution. >> is he still at the smithsonian? ms. brooks: no. that is how i came to hear about him. his fame waned to end the smithsonian's mission change from a cabinet of curiosities to being a scientific research organization, and they were not interested in lexington the racehorse, but they were interested in the skeleton. he was in the hall of mammals as "horse", to "dog" and "pig." then he was in the attic for a while in the natural history museum. but the newly-founded international museum of the horse in kentucky, in lexington wanted him, because he is more than any other horse the reason that lexington, kentucky is the center of europe red breeding today. -- thoroughbred breeding today. is there with a hall dedicated to his insignificance. >> your story centers around the group. is this a fictional part of the story? ms. brooks: as soon as i started to resort -- to research this story of lexington i quickly realized the absolutely fundamental and integral role of skilled black horsemen. the grooms, many of the jockeys, t

and from that, we have moved to the smithsonian. how awesome is that. and he was to me, the originator of race reconciliation because it would always talk about, i can do everything. but i will align myself that's how i got to be here and patrick got to be here any always surrounded himself with people that could give him to the next and he understood that. ... ... it was very important that we be true to history. that's how they were identified and it was not an overnight project. the railroad sign has become one of the most momentous signs and the place that fell it is very sacred. you can feel the significance of that time so we put up our first sign and we put up all of our signs there. the night that obama was elected as president, the sign disappeared. polls and everything. the magazine and the news media covered that disappearance of that sign and 30 days later the board of supervisors met and at that meeting the room could not hold the people that were there and they ran the article and the words came off the page as if why did he think that the

it led to the science at the smithsonian and learning about how bones are prepared.abs and the incredible treasure house that is the museum support center in suburban maryland. >> host: what's the benefit of writing historical fiction and what is the limitation? >> guest: i like to a think of myself as the gateway drug to real history. look, , to me it's about finding somethingnd that's true in the historical records where you learn something that is astonishing interesting and unlikely and plausible, as mark twain said to paraphrase him, fiction, if fiction is required to be possible, truth needn't be. say find the truth but if you make it up nobody would believe it. then you follow the line of fact as far as you can but what i'm interested in is a story we can't know everything because if you could, if jarratt have been able to tellbe his own story and if we knew all about him from own point ofut view, that woulde for a narrative historian, david mccullough david maraniss, but we don't know. so it's in those boys that i think you take your imagine empathy to work.

i heard from two amazing curators at the smithsonian. will they michael and nancy burkah and after about a year work? reckoning with remembrance opened in flag hall the grand mall se entrance of the national museum of american history one of the first questions a lot of people ask me abt this exhibit is why is it here? because if you know your smithsonian landscape, you know that right next door to the national museum of american history. is the national museum of african-american history and culture, so so why isn't this there? a couple reasons first they have a till exhibit and it's amazing right so they don't need another one. but more than that. the smithsonian knows the demographics of their visitors they know. that people go to the african-american museum to see a certain side of american history and those who don't want that side of american history come to the sort of they come to the american history museum which tends towards the patriotic and the sort of the rah-rah go america, right as you can see in the background of this pi

lynn is a curator at the smithsonian national postal museum. she specializes in the use of the u.s. history postal service. -- as well as my fellow soldiers, letters from world war i from which you can see at the smithsonian secretaries research prize in 28 1918. thomas pay own creates a lighter than air collection with balloons, lamps and air ships at the smithsonian national air and space museum's research focuses on -- in the civil war as well as the u.s. air ships and blimps in america. he's the co-author of milestones of flight, the epic of aviation the national air and space museum. >> in december 1863, lauren walters sat down to write a letter from her home in northwestern indiana. she opened up -- -- she wrote, quote, kind and affectionate companion i want to again try to draw with silent language upon. >> four months later, her sister dolly wrote him and used very similar versions shot david as well to meet up with the family connections. she wrote, in -- dear brother, after shameful silence i want to get dressed to with the silence of a pan. although rachel and phoebe say

lo and behold, not long after that i hed from two missing curators at the smithsonian, -- after out a year of work reckoning with remembrance opened and flag how, the grandma side entrance of the national museum of american history. one of the first questions a lot of people asked me about this exhibit, why is it here? if you know your smithsonian landscape you know that right next door to the national museum of american history is the national museum of african american history and culture why isn't this there? a couple reasons, first they have a till exhibit and it's amazing. they don't need another one. more than that they know the demographics of their visitors. they know that people go to the african american museum to see a certain side of american history. those that don't want that side come to the american history museum, which tends towards the patriotic. the go america cheerleading. as you can see in the background of this picture the 200 foot rendition of the betsy ross flag. i have got to say, i love that they put this on at the entrance to flag hall! when it was here, an

, a few years later they exhumed his body and prepared his skeleton and he was a feature of the smithsoniantion. that's how i heard about him. over the years, his fame waned in hissm mission changed from being curiosity to a scientific research organization and they were not interested in the racehorse but the skeleton so he was in the hall of mammals as horse next to a rabbit and dog so he was in the attic for a while in the natural history museum but the newly founded museum of the horse in kentucky in lexington wanted him because he's more than any other course the reason lexington is the center of breeding today so now he's there with a tall room dedicated to his significance and dutiful expedition. >> your story centers around the group, is a fictional part of the story or is not accurate as well?y >> as soon as i started to research the story i realized the fundamental role of black horsemen. many of the jockeys and trainers were extraordinary and the expertise in the industry was based on them but much of their labor was funded because many were slaves or formerly enslaved sold i rea

they donated it to the smithsonian in the first few items that came to the smithsonian in 1964, donated by thur w, the grandson of david and rachel walter's, and his da, june walters. leonard donated the bulk of the collection of the letters in 1991. the picture here is of willard and amelia. walter's this willard being the son of david and rachel walters. so it's through their family line that we have these letters to share with you and share with american public in this donation. it becomes clear why the walter's family valued these letters. there's 180 letters and papers, mostly of the use of envelopes that show the way that the mail travel, the stf that mail. when the address had to change, to find somebody who had relocated and the postmarks of the work that st office was doing to to process those mail. ave aboutf those envelopes and about 80 or so letters and a few items of ephemera that the family enclosed while trying to communicate with each other, including the item in the middle here, which is a special order that was issued in 1863, and that david had chosen to enclose in th

they donated it to the smithsonian in the first few items that came to the smithsonian in 1964, donated by arthur walters, the grandson of david and chel walter's, and his daughter, june walters. leonard donat the bulk of the collection of the letters in 1991. the picture here is of willard and amelia. walter's this willard being the son of david and rachel walters. so it's through their family line that we have these letters to share with you and share with american public in this donation. it becomes clear why the walter's family valued these letters. there's 180 letters and papers, mostly of the use of envelopes that show the way tt the mail travel, the cost of that mail. when the address had to chan, to find somebody who had relocated and t postmarks of the work that the post office was doing to to proce those mail. we have about 100 of those envelopes and about 80 or so letters and a few items of ephemera that the family enclosed while trying to communicate with each other, including the item in the middle here, which is a special order that was issued in 1863, and that david had c

let's go. >> this week, the national gallery of art, along with the smithsonian national museum of africansation with kaywin feldman, the director of the national gallery of art in washington, d.c.. >> kaywin feldman, thank you so much for joining us. talk to us a little bit about the historical significance of that return of these benin bronzes back to nigeria, after they were stolen over a century ago by british forces. >> yes, in 1897, there was something that is known today as a punitive expedition of 1897, one of the british, who were seeking greater trade arrangement with the oba, the king of benin, went in and just destroyed the city, set it on fire. it was complete and utter human and physical destruction. and they had this great tradition benin of making objects that we've heard today, as the benin bronzes. they actually were made out of other kinds of materials, like brass. so, it is sort of a euphemism, been bronzes. and we estimate that the british stole somewhere between 3000 and 10,000 of these objects. and they brought them back to britain. and then, they make their way afte

on bowed by this violence, the smithsonian and the minneapolis museum are transforming the signs once again by contextualizing designs, they're using them to tell a new story about racism that stretches from 1955 to the present day in these exhibits. the sign making citizens of mississippi join as the heroes of till's story. when we remember that he opened her son's casket, letting the world see what racism had done to her bike riding boy, it is not difficult to understand the sign building and the sign replacing of tallahatchie county as a fulfillment of her dream. so what's the lesson here? as i tell my students at the university of kansas, memorials are the new lunch counters. in the 1960s, lunch counters were iconic sites of racial agitation, for a moment they were prized number one in the fight for civil rights. it was at a lunch counter that bernard and others had detergent poured down their backs. it was at a lunch counter that john lewis, james devil were nearly suffocated. it was at a lunch counter where john was attacked with brass knuckles. were others were attacked with co

nancy davis, the curator emirita's at the smithsonian national museum of american history. as a curator, she worked on exhibition focusing on material culture, asian influence on american culture, migration and immigration, and business history. her scholarly work focuses on women's history, asian influence on american culture, and american trade she has a ph.d. in american studies from george washington university in washington, d.c.. and taught at the graduate level at numerous colleges and universities. her book, that chinese lady, -- in early america, came out from oxford university press in july two and thousand i-10. she is currently working on a another book based on the english woman harriet -- 1834 to 1836 america. our moderator is my colleague, and mellon foundation perpetual award in history and public history at new york historical she is currently a doctoral candidates in the american studies program at harvard university. when asked about asian american visual culture, -- u.s. multi ethnic literature, and immigration policy. and his research was supported by t

well, here again, another interesting object that is in the smithsonian's collection of.it does tell us a little bit american women's leisure time, some american women had time to do fancy work. and this particular object was used for that purpose. a goatees lady's book at the time in the thirties provided a lot of interesting instruction about accomplishing these this fancy work. and it's fascinating you go through goatees ladies book, you see them talking about chinese exercises and making work boxes in the chinese style and applying chinese pattern papers to the surface, these work boxes. so the whole aspect of china and activities that associate with china are very important this point and certainly play into the way in which people are perceiving afar my but i'm sure that our film i found these fancy work exercise is pretty curious and outside of here for its in china she wouldn't have any idea how to present these objects to the public so she probably would have needed some help from someone to figure out how could use it and present it since was not something that

visiting this smithsonian museums and particularly the smithsonian art museums has been one of my favorite pastimes here in washington. so it's a special honor to have my portrait displayed in these halls and thanks for working to unveil these portraits early while president bush is still in office upstairs. i saw that dolly madison's portrait is praised for offering a glimpse of the aging mrs. madison. that's exactly the type of complement. i was hoping to avoid. when your image is captured for posterity, my motto is the sooner the better. with so many familiar faces here today. it gives me the opportunity to thank all of you for your support and friendship over the past eight years. president bush and i have had such a special privilege of being able to represent the people of the united states. will return to texas with cherished memories of our friends our staff and our time at the white house. thank you for joining us at this moment of reflection and celebration. may god bless you all. thank you for joining us on american history tv for laura bush and her own words next week michelle

at the reparations ceremony, posted by the smithsonian's matchable museum of natural art.n what is known as the punitive expedition. it's estimated that thousands were stolen from nigeria during the deadly raid. the branches are centuries old and represents the best examples of art in history. many of these people have been displayed in western museum since that raid. but in a historic, and long overdue moment, the estonian institution along with the national gallery of art, and the road island school museum. returned the bronzes in their possession back to the people of nigeria this week. where they rightly belong. it's important to put this moment in a larger context. the ceremony took place the same week as indigenous peoples day. formerly known as christopher columbus day. in recent years, finally we began to have a conversation and on his point about the line that christopher columbus discovered america. and the deep damage that he and other european explorers part upon indigenous communities. straggly, the struggle for indigenous peoples is ongoing. just last weekend

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 -- [ina

and the smithsonian folkways recordings. his work has gained accolades such as grammy award, as well as recognitions from the congress and at least two foreign governments. at this time, please welcome our moderator and our panel. thank you very much. well, it is. thanks. very. my last look like an autograph. thank you so much, brandon. and thank you also to stuart mclaurin to colin show again and to matt costello for the partnership in this symposium and in so many other ways. we're so grateful for that. you know, i am really honored to moderate this panel today with three panelists to are such leaders in the work to steward presidential sites. no presidential sites are important signifiers of how we are preserving and interpreting historic places. more broadly, presidential sites can also be, and especially under the leadership of people like these powerful demonstrated ones, not only of how we preserve historic places, but why it is so vitally important to preserve historic places thoughtfully in inclusively and expansive

projects including the national park service, the frederick douglass national historic site and the smithsonian institution national museum of african american history and culture. before she took those brilliant talents to memphis, she has been a contributor. the african american intellectual history society's blog and was featured in free and an underground special for the wgn america drama underground. one of our favorites, personal favorites. and dr. trent has also travel internationally presenting lectures at the european solidarity center in poland and has been a part of the memphis in poland festival. dr. trent has served on several triple-a film boards and i'm sorry, conference planning committees that remember many, many, many meetings with her. and now she has ascended to the. 22 confer program chair. so we have her to thank for this awesome experience that we're to enjoy this week. so please welcome dr. trent. and nex. i have the pleasure of introduce saying what i'll just say is one of the best ever. do it when it comes to the the business of preservation in our keynote conversation

she is at the smithsonian in 1995 donating her inaugural ground to their collection. we are also grateful that this museum and the curators within it care so much about displaying the entire history of our country and giving some context historically socially and politically to the women whose gowns are often one of the most sought after visits in washington as tourists and americans and people really from all over the world stand in line. we now will be able to share with these visitors. not only the beauty of the gowns, but also something more about the women who wore them. i must say, this is a bittersweet moment to give this dress up. it is not something that i came to lightly and as you'll notice we're into the third year of my husband's term before this has occurred. i hope all of you will have a chance not only to admire the gowns, but also to look carefully at the rest of the exhibition with historic photographs and illustrations campaign memory. abelia furniture silver and china from martha, washington to barbara bush and now to me we can gain a new appreciat

this one in the smithsonian collection is again it has images of china on it, and chinese figure on it. and so, you know, if you are going to want something that was a little more expensive, you would have to pay 17 cents. if you want just a plain one without the excessive decoration, you could buy one for three and a half cents in america. so, they were certainly available to almost any american woman, middle class women who was interested in doing fancy work. here on the left, you can see that they -- the women, in the fashion, magazine they point to an illustration of fancywork that they are going to do. so i think it is really interesting that they also in the diary talk about what women in china do, and he says chinese women sit or lie day and night, and perhaps people from one side to the other. most important indulgence in eating, drinking, and sleeping, their only occupation a little vocational embroidery. they're only pride in the ornament-ing of their purses. when i read that, i thought yes, the idleness meant presenting to the public eight hours a day in the salon, not reall

of the land owner but they have not i'm not talking about national treasures are to buy back the smithsonianr he's yosemite or yellowstone but there are huge amounts of land and then from selling it so the one way they raise revenueue for the first 100 years do you know what the major revenue reason was the landgrab because they sold the internet as the revenue collected. that's imperfect tradition with the company don't want —- with the country. with energy resources we are richly endowed country with energy and minerals and we estimate there is $50 trillion uof assets when we reach the land and have people pay a fee to pay the resources i think that would be a great thing to do. host: back to your recommendations. >> this is what the late great walter williams i know you had him on your show a famous economist and those who became an icon coming up with the idea so let's just say nobody who makes over $1 million or company get any federal money so think of how much money they could save. right now there is a bill before congress that will probably pass they call it the china bill that will

to the next smithsonian's national museum

she unveils her official portrait at the smithsonian's national portrait gallery. this was only weeks before the bushes left washington to return home to texas. >> so, if the first lady would please join me in the unveiling of her portrait for the national portrait gallery. [applause] >> you're ready? [applause] >> visiting the smithsonian's museum, and particular this must billions art museums has been one of my favorite pastimes here in washington. so, it's on a special honor to have my portrait displayed in these halls., and thanks for working to unveil these portraits early while president bush is still in office. upstairs, i saw that dolley madison's portrait is praised for offering a glimpse of the aging mrs. madison. that's exactly the type of compliment i was hoping to avoid. when your images captured from prosperity, my motto is, the sooner the better. with so many familiar faces here today, it gives me the opportunity to thank all of you for your support, and friendship over the past eight years. president bush and i have had such a special privilege of b

quite know and that is john has chimed in and said the cable used by grant isn't definitely at the smithsonian national museum of american history it was a gift of libby custer and also let's associate chris i forgot the libby custer connection. >> didn't share it should give it took custer to give to libby? isn't that weird? >> custard was not in the room. right. or back in the parler. we've heard stories that sheraton did not want to sell his furniture and he threw it $20 on the ground that either keep the money or don't and taking your furniture. that is just one of the many stories i heard. let's keep going though with the shout outs. one is thanks for this program i enjoyed the book. what is up next in terms of book projects? we will get to that. after that that is from hampton's and lots of great stuff. [laughter] wrote that so we have here now i'll check it again before we sign off. i want to get back on the road because those confederates were having a good time in interesting times up there on the road. this is something that's really interesting in your perspective of the book. okay