people, northerners, who were opposed to slavery who saw this as an opportunity. as an opportuni opportunity, but i don't see it actually in the sources. and by the way, since you mentioned washington and george washington, it gives me an opportunity to say because i'm trying to make the case that one of the most important abolitionists in the united states at the time was george washington himself who had become an abolitionist before he became president of the united stat states. so think about that. okay. anything else? thank you very much. [ applause ] >> today, we explore in exhibit at congress marking the 100th anniversary of the panama canal opening. three to show how photographs, newspaper reports, and sheet

music document construction between 1904 a.m. to 1914. that is on american artifacts, that takes viewers into archives, museums, and historic sites around the country. >> each week, american history tv's american artifacts visits museums and historic places. next, we visit the national archives in college park, maryland, to learn about the kennedy assassination records collection. the warren report was released to the public 50 years ago on september 27, 1964. we will see video recorded by the national archives of many of the well-known artifacts of the investigation including lee harvey oswald's rifle, the so-called magic bullet, and the originals of the zapruder film. >> the president john f. kennedy assassination records collection was created because of the act of 1992. since the time of the assassination, there have been numerous official investigations

starting with the warren commission. and then some congressional investigations. the church committee looked into it. and the committee, house select committee on assassinations. in the early 1990's, there was a movie that came out by oliver stone. at the end of the movie, he made a point of saying that all the records have not been open and available. >> mr. chairman, members of the subcommittee, my name is oliver stone. i assure you it is with pleasure and with some pride i appear before the subcommittee today to urge the passage of house joint resolution 454 to provide for the expeditious disclosure of records relevant to the assassination of president john f. kennedy. >> the purpose of the act was to make sure all of the records considered assassination-related were collected and opened as -- to the greatest extent possible. you can search on an item level of records in the collection.

if you see something you would like to see, you can come here, ask to see it during our business hours. when we are available, the box will be pulled and made available in our research room at the national archives in college park. here we have three items you requested. unlike the physical artifacts, we were able to accommodate you and make it available to you because these are basically textual documents. they are not physical artifacts of the collection. this is a custom-made container made by our conservation staff. this is acid-free. this is mylar. it has a handy lift so you can get it out without having to pull on it. the lee harvey oswald address book. you can see there is a commission exhibit number on there, number 18. it has all of his handwritten items including the map, addresses, and telephone numbers, as you would expect.

because of the huge interest in this, we have numerous people that want to have access to these materials. there is always tension between conservation and access. that has been our biggest challenge. the way we have addressed that is by trying to provide as much access as we can with still pictures and film of the most popular artifacts in the collection so people can see them and have the research questions answered without actually looking at the physical artifacts. every time we have to make an actual item available, we are risking a bit of the conservation of the item. that is why for the press, we have provided video of the artifacts themselves which we did prior to the 50th anniversary. this is the famous rifle which

oswald used to assassinate the president. you can see the custom box created by the conservation staff. again it has its own commission , exhibit number, 139. we consider it part of the records of the warren commission. they were the organization who had custody last prior to transfer. >> from your perspective, all this effort put into preserving things, why is that important? >> that is our mission at the national archives. our job is to make sure the history of the u.s. government is preserved for all time. and, you know, there is only a small percentage of records, 2% or 3% considered important enough to come to the national archives. if it is important enough to come here, we need to preserve it for all time. we work with our conservators.

we have access policies to work with researchers. increasingly we are trying to , digitize our records to make them available on the web so anyone anywhere can have access to the records of the national archives. >> you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend, on c-span three. to join the conversation, like us on facebook. >> each week, "reel america" brings archival films that tell the story of the 20th century. this is a 1953 treasury department film which shows a new recruit learning to protect the president, added to the

duties of the secret service after the assassination of william mckinley in 1901. the secret service director retired after a security breach. in one, a man made it into the east room of the white house before being stopped. >> the chief wanted me to see our white house detail and to learn a little bit about our most important job of protecting the president. a white house police are part of the secret service, and it is their job to protect the executive mansion and grounds. i guess it will be a long time before folks forget how these men stopped an attempt to kill the president, and how one of them gave his life in the performance of his duty. i had always thought the secret service protected the president since the service was established back in 1965, the walter explained that this duty actually began with theodore roosevelt. after the assassination of president mckinley in 1901.

before that, there was no regular protection. over, of course, watching the president is the number one job of the secret service. walter introduced me to several of the men on our white house detail. while we waited for the president to come out, i got a lot of information about this phase of the work. for instance, walter told me how important the local police are, and how the secret service gets foreign help from them. suppose the president is to hotel.a banquet at a the entire security plan including routes of travel, duty, andsted preparation of order is discussed by the secret service with the chief of police and his staff. when the plans are completed, the building in which the banquet will be held is carefully inspected, from seller up. even the preparation of food is supervised. if the president goes by train, he occupies a specially-built armored railroad car.

in advance of his trip, the secret service has talked with railroad officials come up arranged for protection of the train along the way, and sent advance agents to see the schedule is followed as closely as possible. in crowds, most of the secret service man keep as inconspicuous as possible. many will mingle with the people or control the fringe of the crowd. others keep vigil in automobiles close to the crowd. and by means of two-way radio, they keep in touch with each other and with the white house detail. in this way, they know exactly where the president's motorcade moves, and exactly when it will approach the crowd. if you have attended gatherings where the president has appeared, you probably noticed that a few young men who stayed close to the president but who keep their eyes on the spectators and not the speaker. what do they look for? many things. suspicious packages.

movements which might mean danger. or sometimes just autograph hounds or gate rushers with purely personal objectives. these are the secret service agents who are prepared to give their own lives to protect the commander-in-chief. each of these men must be tactful, firm, agile, decisive, quick of thought and quick of act. canno secret service man tell when training and his judgment may save the life of the president of the united states. >> you can watch "railamerica close to every weekend on ."merican history tv you can review our archive of programs online. search for real america and browse the topics.