>> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979 c-span was great as a public service by a america's cable television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider your. .. >> i am thrilled to welcome her to

the museum this evening to talk about her most recent book, the winchester. we are having this taped bases penciled during the question and answer, if you could step to the microphone in the middle and speak loud and clear into it, that would be fantastic. based in new york city with her husband and three children she has worked for the bbc since 1993. currently, she is the bbc world news america anchor. her her first book, a very british family chronicled her english roots. we are excited for her to share with her tonight.st having read the book she has written arise about the winchesters and those associated with the company so well that i have learned and retain the most interesting thing about the family in new haven history. a few weeks ago, i met group of people around the site and camek

across the name of thomas e add a spirit if not for her but i would not have known what his symbol to stone meant for the. role in the winchester. the traveler, as his tombstone read is merely one piece of the winchester history. now it's time for his great, great great granddaughter to share more about the rise of the winchester. [applause]you fo >> amy, thank you so much and thank you to all of you for being here. i can't tell you how touched i am that you are here to listen to me talk about what was what i thought a pet project. thank you to c-span. when i was a congressional intern back in 1986, i watched c-span all the time. that's time. that's how i would learned about american politics.

in many ways, i think life has come full circle because although i was born a british citizen, i, i did just past my american citizenship test. [applause] although i don't yet have the date of my swearing-in, i still think i can welcome you as my fellow americans tonight. it's a thrill to see you all. amy thank you so much for that generous welcome and thank you also for reading the book. i can't tell you what a privilege it is for an author to have people actually read your book. i always read the book and they always look at me in surprise and say you actually read it. i'm someone who aspires to write books. thank you all for being here. i plan to talk about half an hour and then i would love to take your questions. i should apologize in advance a because i decided today to debut my multifocal contact lenses and

that may have been a bad idea for today. it's going to be the one and only outing and i will go back to the old ones. i digress. it's a thrill to see you all here on monday evening. and it's absolutely a stunning building. i bet you oliver winchester would've liked marble staircases it's just a fabulous example. let's tell you a little bit about how i came to write this book. however winchester is my great, great great grandfather. he is a man who founded a company here in new haven and the story of oliver's ride from rags to riches was a very american story. in fact i had a personal connection to it because i'm a reporter, it was really an irresistible combination.

coming here 1987 which is which is the first time i came here to new haven as kind of a family summer. the sky was so fantastic. a there were were at the family compound. we were shooting squirrels and all kinds of things that didn't really go on in britain. here we were, altogether different setting and oliver winchester was the man who was the centerpiece for the story. let me tell you what i found out he was born in 1980.

[inaudible]k on t [inaudible] has daddy struggled with children and stepchildren but somehow at the age of 14 he became an apprentice as a church builder oliver was very skilled at craftsman. he managed to build and his work was in great demand. he decided after a few years of doing this that this was not for him. my guess is although he was such

a skilled technician that he became very interested and he patented an invention for the collar which many of you will be wearing today. he went to baltimore and had a s shop and it did very well and it will was in new haven that it was the era of modernization of selling. he pounced upon this new technology and had a selling machine and have the new ladies turning out these shirts in such quantities that he became so rich that as is the case with successful investors today, he had shed loads of cash and hehe needed to find somewhere to put it. he came to new haven in 1848 and he was people in carrot

carriages and people who make clocks between the germans and the italians and he was very happy about his shirt factory. he's looking around, what do i do do with this money. in 1855, the company here no haven has an opportunity. this is where oliver's timing is so magnificent. he gets into the gum business just as it's being transformed. up until then, muskets are what people used to fire. he only had one shot and then you had to read load. the whole process was lengthy. around the same time, the rifle rifle is being developed in france with a rifle and how do you fire more than one round at a time. the idea of the repeating rifle

is being born and oliver with his good timing is there ready to exploit it.in however, the volcanic arms company was a disaster. [inaudible] reasonable ballistics were practically nonexistent's. i don't think oliver knew anything about ballistics. he knew about shirts. he put more money into the venture to become the president. he took over and it became the new haven arms company. he hired someone who did know about guns. he made something that will actually fire. the civil war is on the horizon

at this point. obviously we are in the north. oliver thinks we have the henry repeating rifle, this will be great for our boys on the union side. if only the army would buy it they would realize this would revolutionary revolutionize warfare. so he is often lincoln was very interested in the idea of the repeating rifle and lincoln tested both the henry and it's rival, the spencer.e a lincoln liked the spencer, dammit, he clearly didn't understand. as is so often the case with anything to do with military expenditure, the bureaucratsway. said the department was headed by some dinosaur, chief of ordinance who thought repeating

rifles were going to waste money. soldiers would use too much ammunition and he didn't think it was going to be effective, he just assumed it wasn't going to be effective. he thought it was stupid new technology so he deliberately went slowly on all the orders that lincoln wanted to place with the result that very few rifles were actually used in the war, but what become known as the dam yankee rifle was itid spread on the union side. to soldiers use their own money to buy the henry repeating rifle. in the book, one of my favorite pictures in the book is the illinois volunteer, all of whom have their rifles. even though the army and all its wisdom didn't think it was a good idea to buy a repeating rifle, individuals did. word spread. then oliver had great delight

later on in the century in snapping up the spencer repeating arms company which failed and oliver was thrilleder to buy it because his was successful. at the end of the civil war, but dam yankee rifle and we have a new era of american history. the country returns to its project of settling the west and what is going to be finer than settling the rut west dennis repeating rifle.co cowboys use it for killing buffaloes. it's used in the spotter of the native americans and the native americans use it. it's the rifle they want. they call it the spirit done. it has to them, a strange quality of continuing to fire. it's used by the stagecoach folks. one of my favorite pictures in the book is this african-american woman who worked for wells fargo and that she is with her rifle. anyone who's doing anything

dangerous want to the winchester rifle. as you all probably know, in concert with the pistol, that was a real favorite for the cowboys. you would have your colt pistol and your winchester rifle. he met dangerous, lawless period, this was a very dangerous combination in deed. there's a wonderful picture in the book of drama geronimo who is an american leader who has his winchester. this was highly sought after because it was such a lethal weapons. they were used by americans whenever they could get their hands on them.ttle b the battle of little big horn or custer stand, when custard was rounded and outgunned, 25% of the guns were repeating rifles and a lot of them were winchesters. r it was used on both sides though

clearly most often used against native americans.me oliver is completely thrilled because atlanta last the rifle that he said is the best is being recognized as the best in sales are picking up and he's no longer having to pour all his money into the company. it's actually making money. the one that really makes money is the winchester model 1873. there is actually one here in this museum. i was i was thrilled to take a picture with amy. that became known as the oneht that won the west.to the so the gun that won the west is popular not only in the west, the chileans wanted it, the french want it, they want to use it in mexico, he goes off to mexico with thousands of winchester rifles and gives them to the mexicans and the turks

wanted to. about this time, another very important character enters our life. oliver winchester and his wife jane suffered the tragedy that so many families suffered. three of their four children died before them. the one that didn't was jenny bennett. she made an extremely fortuitous marriage, very small girl, she married thomas bennett in 1872. he was himself a veteran of the civil war. he had fought in one mixed african-american regimen and in the book i quote some of hisingh lessons pretty was only 17 during the civil war. there were black officers commanding white men may talk about just how difficult this was, about how white men would not take in order from what he called a nigbor nigro officer. this is what the civil war is all about.

it's about ending slavery. perhaps he sought more clearly than the older generation as a young teenager. there he is writing about how we are still having the struggles even to this day with the black lives matter movement and there he is in florida. anyway, it turns out that the black marksmen are better than the white marksmen and their relationships improve after that. anyway, he joins winchester and goes to yale and he's an engineer, he's a big big guy, he wrestled in college, very shrewd, he married into the family and straightaway he realizes he's got potential. he puts him in charge of selling it around the world. you think back in 1870s, it wasn't like he could hop on a plane. the only way you could communicate was by telegram or letters.

it took weeks. he went to sell the rifles to the french so he could sell them to mexico and he goes to london because he wants to see what the british are up to and is a trade engineer and he worked in the gun shop, he's a smart guy, but he's also a brilliant writer. thank you so much to the historical society for keeping his lessons. when he gets to london and he's trying to see people, says to the british how do they make any money. he didn't like the london fog and found it impossible to get around and when he does no one's there. one my favorite lessons is when he is in paris and he is selling

rifles to the french government. it's really a love story. the story of him and jenny bennett. it's a butiful story and 150 years later it jumps off the page. she's a fine young lady from new haven and she wants to dress nicely. they go around paris looking for a nice dress and he's really missing her because he hasn't seen her for three months. he writes dear jenny, i have your fine dress, i really i really wish i could see you either in or out of it. which, i thought was fantastic. you can just feel it, all these years later just the love and anguish, he's doing important work and he's being successful and bringing these rifles all around the world. one of the brilliant things heos does because he understands oliver is in 1883, the rifle turns up in his desk in new

haven which has come from utah he leaps on a train to utah which took three days back in 1883 and he gets there and again i liked this lesson so much, her declares the west to be overrated. it's nothing like it's cracked up to be and he hasn't even seen a single. [inaudible] he writes to jenny every single night that he's away and some of them are ten pages. he goes to utah and he meets his founding brothers, the mormon brothers in their gunshot with bennett being the shrewd northeastern or as he is. he said well lads, it's a nice gun.

about 8000 he said about 10000. they say yes and they make the model of the late 1880s. [inaudible] these are all made by browning. i think bennett pulled them into the ground because they. [inaudible] michael one of the things that they did so brilliantly is they built the patent around every single gun that was there so that no one could get anywhere close to it. they get pretty much screwed for 19 years. by 1902 they realize.

[inaudible] for this 1i want to royalties deal and he swears at him and tells him to get out. that's the end of the relationship. browning of course does indeed take his rightful overseas and takes it to the belgian and becomes worldly successful. i think thomas gray bennett did regret it, but that, he was not a man to who paid royalties to anyone.of when you think of the money they made on the browning gun, maybe that in retrospect is a little bit. [inaudible] but anyway, this is the legend of the winchester as it becomes embedded in popular culture. the wild west show immaturebu touring show and then teddy roosevelt, a marketing man's dream, teddy poses in 1876 when he tries to vent himself and he goes out west and he writes a

book all about game hunting with the winchester and how much he loves it. this is a love affair that continues for him until he is in the white house. much later when he's in ther white house in 1908, he plans a big game hunting trip to africa and he spent 18 months of his time corresponding at least twice a week with winchester bennett who is my great, great in new haven getting more and more information about his guns and his mission and the rhinos and the elephants. i want this gun for my son kermit and know you're not allowed to say you're making guns for me, but of course maybe if anyone asks he doesn't deny it.ing the being what he knew he was himself, it was also. [inaudible] his ammunition gets shipped tonight nairobi.

teddy roosevelt was also a wonderful advertisement for the winchester rifle. he died in 1880. he was feeling quite pleased that the company was in good shape.sh oliver himself was an extremely philanthropic person. he donated hundred thousand dollars to yell for its first observatory. he was interested in greenhouses and he was a happy entrance intr the regular gardening competitions that were held. he liked to grow vegetables. i like to think we carry on his legacy because we like gardening but we haven't won any competitions. perhaps we need to change this. he dies thinking he's in good shape and he sees his son-in-law

doing well and he assumed his son william what inherent the company but he tragically died of tuberculosis a year afterer oliver died. the wife of william is sarah winchester. she has the winchester mystery house which you may have heard about out in california. sarah becomes wildly rich because her father-in-law hasr died and her husband has died and then her mother-in-law dies soon after leaving her with millions and millions but she has suffered the tragedy of her husband dying and ten years before that their baby daughter had died. sarah didn't want to stay in new haven. she was the daughter of a very wealthy carriage manufacture. she grew up here and was beautiful and talented, she could speak french and play instruments and her beautiful life just disappeared in front of her. she went out west. this is where the legend of the mystery house and the legend is

that she was so tortured by the spirit of the dead native americans that the spirits told her as long she kept on building her house and she would be fine in the spirits would never get her which is a story by the way of which there is no evidence at all. it's still a great story and i get it. she was clearly reclusive. she's actually highly intelligent and she is grief stricken. she is obsessed, all the time a she's working writing about california and her funeral arrangements and she wants to know how it's her mother-in-law involved and where will she be in the cemetery when will she be reunited with william and how close will they be to oliver and jane. it's horrible to think that she was so unhappy in the present

for all she could think about was how in the future, when she was dead she would be reunited with william and their baby daughter and their relatives. it's quite morbid when you read about it. she's also obsessed with all of the trinkets and gifts that they've given one another over the years and can her nieces and nephew have the silver from tiffany's. they were worrying about who was .2 b and whose will. the legacy is right here in new haven and it's not at all the mistry house out there. what sarah did with her millione , what she did because her husband died of tuberculosis, she wanted wanted there to be a cure for tuberculosis. when a hospital was set up here in new haven early in the 20th century, sarah happily gave

millions to it. not only that, because because she was so clever and forward thinking and obsessed with william and his early death she set up this really brilliant system whereby she put all her millions into a trust fund for her nieces and nephews. that was the other thing. there was a black chief in the family and oliver. [inaudible] she didn't think you should give them all the money, you should give them a trust fund for them to live on so that she did this for nieces and nephew and she stipulated in her will they would have a nice sum and when they died the principal wouldt l reverse and go to the tuberculosis hospital in new haven. it's truly incredible. this is her writing her will in 1916. she died in 1922. c in the course of writing this book, i e-mailed to the director of the winchester clinic and i asked her what difference that

legacy has made and she said it truly is astounding, her foresight has enabled people to be treated in this world-class facility in new haven and to me that is so moving and changes the message that's out there in california. she was clever and brilliant and why should she leave that money to her nieces and nephews. she's done something much more essential with it. to this day, they continue to generate money for what we can only say is truly a terrific cause. i actually feel incredibly proud of her and also sad for her life that was so blighted by grief. as a mother myself of three children, as a parent, that is d your worst nightmare and for us

it doesn't happen very often, but for the victorians that happen all the time. death was part of the very fabric of life itself. so, that's sarah. we we can think of her here. let us return to the theme of decline. they have built the sense andd more more people are buying rifles for shooting, people are asked inspired by teddy roosevelt and everybody wants to have a winchester. it's still a predominately role in society. but, just before the first world war because fears of war are on the horizon, there's a recession and for the first time in 30 years winchester orders ed who joins the company, he is married to the sister-in-law and he says

why don't we did on some government contracts. war is on the horizon. no good will come of that. you can't make money by dealing with the government. that turns out to be a very poetic statement. he has a son winchester bennett who he is grooming for success to take over the country. winchester bennett is born into the gilded age, he had lessons as a child he speaks french, hugely accomplish, talented, the, the richest kid in new haven, pretty much. but there's something about him which isn't quite right in his parents, who love to write to one another back and forth, they talk about winchester and its nervous anxiety. they talk about how he high strung.

they talk about how he's always anxious and they're always worried about him in his 20s and are thrilled when he marries susan and she's a descendent of the first chemistry professor at yale.. she's wonderful and training to be a nurse. [inaudible] they were brilliant academics. it was the equivalent of silicon valley millionaires. they make the best of it. in her lessons, she's always ill she's always ill and very grumpy. there's a beautiful portrait.

she, even she says he causes chaos. there is something change strange about bennett but we don't really know what it is. what we do know. [inaudible] before he died he checked into a psychiatric facility for treatment of addiction. in her diary she said it was a wonderful dr. who at last seems to understand him. so to me, for treatment of people with addiction, i wonder, he's always in pain, she's, she's always talk about his recent pain, was he addicted to painkillers or alcohol, the cousins who remember him say it was never much good. [inaudible] i don't know. it's a big mistry.

but there's something. so he's at the helm, he steps down before world war i. he spends all of these years and rights to jenny bennett around 1912, she's off going to paris herself and buying herself a nice dress. he writes, when you get back let's live instead of waiting around. when i stopped to consider the short time that's left with me, i'm impressed with the foolishness of our little lives. how should we mend them to things worth having. then he writes back and says absolutely, step down from that company you've dedicated your life too. he does and winchester takes the helm but this is all is wars looming and then war begins and the americans don't go into our straightaway, but the allies sa the british turnout and they say

we want you to make the rifle for us by tomorrow and we want it modified so fire continuously he says these are my orders and we will make it. they say will try to make it work. when you try remington. he said there already making them for me. they take this massive order to make the modified rifle and it's a disaster. it doesn't fire amanda up having to cancel quite a big portion of the contract. and meanwhile there making guns for the russians and making incredible amounts of in ammunitions. they used to make 400 every couple of days.273 mi

they're going into absolute overdrive. they make 273 million rounds of ammunition during world war brought one. the place is busy, they need more facilities so in order to take on all this work so theye make what turns out to be a fatal mistake which is that they expand their facilities andng build new buildings and take out huge loans to do it and they figure everything will work out. then the americans come into war and they want 10% profit built-in and the cost of raw materials go up and labor goes up and winchester ends the warif in a horrible financial position having borrowed millions of dollars. in the middle of the work bennett has a nervous episode and gets very sick and nearly

dies of pneumonia and steps down bennett has to return to the helm. at this point it's in the mid-70s but there's nothing else to be done. he's the only person who knows the company. there isn't anyone else. then after the war when there wondering what to do, a bright star said what about that chap. he ran something. [inaudible] so he's this down-home that he ran and for reasons still unexplained, bennett decided that louis liggett's vision was the right one and he said you've got all this excess, you need to make stuff, you need to go into retail, you need to make products which are as good as the gun. that's a man that makes sense

and he's running a successful chain so much to the work, he never liked louis and thought he was a madman, he started making cutlery, washing machines, knives, baseball bats.y've mad they made everything they can out of steel, basically.allets ed is put in charge of a big retail project. it's a frugal nearing and company. they never open their wallets unless they have to.th there so and that after the war. they don't know what to do, they start buying really expensive stores on fifth avenue in new york city and boston, here in newport where supposedly they're going to flock and by the winchester product. this is a great theory but it all proves wildly expensive. they put that money after bad. things go from bad to horrible and sure enough, then the depression terms up with

exquisite timing. thomas great bennett dies before the inevitable in 1931. it's bought by arrival, owned by the olin brothers in illinois, and so that is the end of family ownership. we go from rags to riches to going into bankruptcy. they let winchester hang there in receivership until they were just desperate to sell so they bought it for about $8 million which is basically nothing by the value of the day. the brothers turned it around and brought it back to something of a success. that might really the end of the family's involvement. to me it's a story of three men, it's it's a story of oliver winchester, bennett and

winchester bennett. li i also liked the story of the women behind them, jane bennett who is married to oliver, then jenny bennett who is married to thomas great bennett and it's all to me these magnificent larger-than-life characters, but the reason i wanted to write the book and the reason i enjoy it is it seems to me the history of the company and the family affairs at particular times. mirrors the history of america at a fascinating time in the civil war and the expansion westward in through world war and the depression "after words" it's so interesting. i feel so privileged that you all are interested enough to come here this evening. i would like to thank you for this opportunity and please, if you have any questions, there is a microphone here. just come up to the microphone q and i will be delighted to answer them as best i can. thank you.

[applause] >> thank you very much. who will be bold enough to be the first? who amongst you will walk up to the microphone? >> i can't have answered ever question in my talk. not possible. so at the back. >> sir do you mind coming to the microphone test market so cspan and the viewers can hear. thank you for your patience of walking up there. i appreciate it. p >> you know anything about the gardens in east haven? >> no. >> there was an extensive garden there. no, i don't pay due the second person to mention it to me. i don't. the only thing i know is that thomas great bennett like winchester was a gardener he collected orchids and he had all this fruit growing contests so

maybe it was for his private garden. his house is actually built on prospect street. his garden was designed by the designer of central park. >> this was an extensive garden. >> yes, i wonder if that was for the project. >> i don't know. i'm sorry. i feel inadequate. if i was guessing, i would say that is what he hoped would be his award-winning vegetables. >> the other thing i know about that bit, isn't that where ellie green used to be? >> deli green. >> i know where it is now, but i think that's where was. >> no. >> not during prohibition?

>> as he is to get all his fruit from nelly greens prohibition. that i know. >> thank you for that question. i appreciate it. is the winchester house still in existence on prospect street in new haven? >> the bennett house no. oliver winchester's house, he had a fantastic house that was built in french empire style, there's a picture in the book, then it looks to me like he pulled that down so he could build his other house. the twin house to oliver winchester's house which wasnchr built for his partner still exists. >> was there any relationship between the winchester and the

goats? a lot of people would say why did they never built and why did he not have a repeating rifle. it seemed like he had a gentleman's edge agreement to keep out of one another's way. they weren't exactly, in the early days they were all very competitive in the early days, but once the money was flowing in they seem to get along just fine. thank you. >> anybody else? >> thank you. >> i think, i'm pretty sure the winchester house is now the yale divinity school which is located right next to the mansion which is now the best house and a big international center.

>> so, i got here late so you may have already answered this, but why didn't winchester leave the baltimore area to come up to new haven? >> so he had a store in new haven, but baltimore back then was much much smaller than new haven. i think. new haven, at that point has the railroad. it seemed to have more opportunity. he had done very wellin baltimore with his shirts and he sold his business for a decent sum. my assumption is he saw a bigger market for his goods, more places to be able to ship his shirts? >> i used to run the chamber of commerce and other things in town, from research that i did, i found that he did it because it was free labor and this was before the civil war and he

didn't think the workforce there, because of slavery and just across the border, it's very comfortable. there was a lot of irish labor, irish and german.. >> now all irish. the germans came later. the irish had built a canal which later became his railroad which is why he had a freight yard. , it was a better workforce and the ability to scale up the workforce very quickly. actually he did know the civil war was coming. >> thank you. you taught me something i didn't know. that's really wonderful. >> thank you very much. madam. >> i have no questions, i just wanted to say my brother worked 24 years, they had rollerskates and made batteries and i put in

33 years. that's what winchester became. oh my gosh. were you there, you're a bit of our history right here i think that was a time of very poor relations. >> were you a child a grandchild he died of tuberculosis and she was married to sarah who becomes incredibly healthy because he died young. he died a year after oliver. >> because of his death of tuberculosis, the winchester, oliver started the winchester hospital. >> that was actually sarah that at that.

it was sarah that gave the money. t >> that building was a hospital for tuberculosis in west haven. it's now the site of the va hospital and the winchester funds. [inaudible] >> right, before it became. >> yes, the gentleman here was just saying it was an orphanage, the building that became the winchester clinic. >> there's a clinic at the hospital. >> that's the latest iteration. [inaudible]

[inaudible] i had the privilege of being there in 1957. it's a wonderful fun because it takes care of all expensive if people don't have their own money. that's all sarah and her forward thinking. thank you sarah.to >> thank you, sir for that piece of history about the children in 1957. >> my dad worked at winchester all his life to and my mother's family, they're from massachusetts, and her father worked at the cartridge factory out there and winchester is paid for them to come down. they built the furniture's and they had housing, they set them all up and you hear about these robber barons, but he treated his employees really well. that had to be like in the late 20s or early 30s.that

>> it was going bad at that point. >> i'm glad to hear that. thank you so much for sharingat that. anybody else? >> my dad worked here for 40ha years and at the peak of his employment he worked from the 40s until the 80s. there was a magazine and winchester. >> winchester life. >> i have about ten copies and a picture of president eisenhower on here and they were veryry clt clever as a public relations department. when i was born, my name was in the magazine. when my dad sold, they had actually a bowling alley atal winchester and i got to see the guns they had their that later went out west and also, 35 years

ago my wife and i purchased the building on everett street that supposedly the daughter of winchester built the building. >> it is still incredibly, the beams in the basement i like 2 feet by foot and a half. it was built very strongly. my dad worked in the carpentry department so when i purchased it, he had already worked there for 40 years. i brought him over to the house and he couldn't believe that i bought a bought a house that the winchesters had built in 1909 and that he had worked for them for 40 years but he got a big kick out of that. >> it's fascinating how that was used quite cleverly. this was an era of women. there was a little bit of an attempt to suppress that, you

ladies looking so pretty, here are some more recipes for you to cook. >> there are also big in sports. winchester had a baseball team and my father was the starting catcher. when there were 20,000 employees, employees, it was an honor to be on the baseball team. >> i have a photo of him, and their coach was the famous cl football player and there's albie booth, there's a picture at the time. >> what time is this? >> this is the mid- 40s. >> yes. also, they played yale. i had heard about this, i thought it was an exhibition game. believe it or not, friends of mine, i had to meet them at a football.check on he says to me bill, i'm in a check on that.

he called me me back about a week later. he said not only did they play them, it was on the regular schedule. >> but who one, do you know? yell beat them 5 - 2, but they played them for several years. it was an honor to be on the baseball team at winchester. >> sports is mentioned in here. they have will women's bowling team, but was like a community within a community with 1000 employees. >> amazing. thank thank you so much. that's incredible. thank you for everyone who worked at the factory and has links to it for coming because i love that it's in living memory. even now, as you know, the winchester factory has been turned into a luxury loft as is the way, but it's really fantastic to see all the

relatives of the people who built the company here. i appreciate it. does anyone have another question? >> anyone else? >> yes, sir. we have for a couple more. >> what remains of the physical records? archi >> all of the memorabilia. >> the archives, the winchester company ended up being purchased by the corporation and they donated the archives to the buffalo bills center of the west so it's all out there. everything went there. it's sad that i left new haven, but i guess they felt this was a center devoted to the west and that is where they wanted it to go. everything is there. >> time for one more question? >> last question. >> i know someone has a question or an observation. while you're thinking about you last question, there was one more thing i wanted to say that i forgot which was that in the

time. after the civil war when slavery had ended, as you know that was a difficult time. for african-americans and there was a little schoolteacher called ida wells, a black schoolteacher and she actually advocated the use of the winchester rifle in black households as a mean of self-defense. she saw this in the newspaper from florida to kentucky that they were using it to defend themselves against the lynch mob she said the lesson that every african-american should have wealth is that it's a place of honor and every black home. the more they yielding cringe and bag, the more he is insulted , outraged and lynched. to me it just shows that the rifle was something that everybody saw a utility whether it was the native americans are

used against them but it also has a footnote in african-american history as well which to me is extraordinary that ahead should have such a span. >> we have more questions? >> don't disappoint us. they've come all this way from c-span. but i'm not quite sure where they've come from. >> maybe i missed it. but the partner, the house is owned by yale and it still on prospect street. >> yes, he was the shirt making partner.me john davis went with oliver. >> he had nothing to do with gun factory. >> he was an investor, but he left actually. he wasn't the big investor.

that was oliver because he didn't want to lose money in tho way oliver was prepared to lose money. davis was the shirt making guy. he made his money with oliver that way. they built these twin mansions next to one another. >> thank you. >> i would like to say thank you all for coming. [applause] thank you for all your reminiscing.s downst i will be signing books downstairs if anyone would like me to sign one. have a great night.

>> book tv is on twitter and facebook. we went to hear from you. post a comment on our facebook page or tweet us. imagine an alternative history of the 1976 presidential election. america is celebrating its bicentennial with fireworks and two men a republican and a democrat are campaigning to be president. what if one of them had given a speech that predicted the future. my fellow americans, this difficult decade will soon come to an end. the national hangover from vietnam and watergate will slowly fade. there will be no more minds, no

more stagflation. in fact, the berlin wall will crumble in our lifetime. the cold war will end. the nuclear threat will reseed and there will be no more foreign military threats to our soil. the last of the former legal barriers to full economic participation of women and color will fall. china, korea, brazil, india and, india and south africa will join the global economic community and lift hundreds of millions of people out of life-threatening poverty. americans will invent or reinvent industries that will create more wealth in the next 30 years and has been created in the entire history of humankind. technology will dramatically improve the lives of all americans and most people around the globe, and america will continue to be the world's wealthiest's wealthiest nation with its most productive workers. that would've been incredible if it was come true. imagine if this speech continued

my fellow americans, of all the new wealth our country produces, 95% will go to the top 1% of income earners. a few hundred wealthy families will amass more wealth while the bottom 50% of us to combine. the bottom 80 or 90% won't see a dime of increased pay and the a dime of increased pay and the bottom 50% will have to take a pay cut. we are going to export manufacturing, in port, divest, detect, deregulate, globalize, we're going to break the unions, bankrupt our pension system, shred the funding for urban and rural, make that precollege a thing in the past. were going to turn our backs on the middle class, replace jim crow laws with new economic apartheid. women doubling the workforce participation between 1977 and 2012 will 2012 will be $0 take-home pay for the bottom 90% and the families that can reasonably afford a comfortable comfortable middle-class life on a single person's paycheck today will need two or three incomes

to live the same life a generation from now. obviously, giving such a speech would have doomed anyone's presidential candidacy. his party probably would've been out of power for years. no one in america would've voted for such a vision, and yet just like the optimistic first part, the second part a fictional presidential speech would also turn out to be true. it became true enough not because of a historical accident because our economic system is intentionally rigged in favor of large corporations over everyone else. trickle down economics was woven into our consciousness as if it were written into the founding documents of our country. 20000 years of struggle and progress had been reversed over the course of the past 40 years. as a foreign power had announced that was its plan for america, we would have gone to war. >> you can watch this and other programs online booktv.org.