families needing them back home. what lee imposed was a strict set of orders that deserters would sometimes be punishments, several occurrences of this happening. orale was so low, about this time, les miserables came out in time.form at that and there's several onfederate troops in the richmond shop and saw it on the helf and said -- >> every weekend marking the civil nniversary of the war talking about the war that shaped our country. >> each week american artifacts

takes you to museums and historic places. in honor of the 100th anniversary of the panama canal opening, curators presented items from their collection for a special exhibit. work on the canal began in 1904. workers came to panama to build it. the canal was not only an engineering feat but a subject of fascination for americans. who follow the progress of this construction with keen interest. sheet music was produced about the canal, newspapers published regular updates. and photographers took hundreds of pictures of the construction and the people who lived and worked in the canal zone. >> my name is juan manuel perez, and i'm a reference specialist in the hispanic division. exhibit tries to be a window into the past and to give the people who see it a way to understand the magnitude of the enterprise.

it took from 1904 to 1914 for the canal to be finished. there were perhaps over 45,000 workers working at different times. in total, there were about workers from perhaps 40 different countries. it is said that you could go into a top of the hill and see all the nations of the world represented. the u.s. was always interested in trying to find a short route to the west. and that became more apparent in, during the spanish-american war. one ship was asked to go to fight in cuba. and so, it left san francisco and -- on the west coast, and it

took two months to reach cuba. by the time it reached cuba, the war was basically over. that gave new impetus for the idea of finding a way, a short way to unite both coasts. because it became apparent, and particularly now for the u.s., who had a two ocean navy. it needed to have a route to cross from one ocean to the other. and so, in 1903, when panama was fighting for its independence, the u.s. supported the rebels. and it bought the construction rights from the french canal company for $1 million. it began the construction in 1904. but at the beginning, they just

took baby steps, because, even though the french had already started, everything was a shambles because the first french company went bankrupt. and it took a while to get it started, because there was no organization. and also, they had to deal with disease. malaria and yellow fever, which were the two main causes of the

french failure. it is said that may be up to 20,000 or more people died of disease. and the first american engineer, chief engineer that was appointed did not last very long. but then, john frank stephenson was appointed chief engineer in 1905, and he was chief engineer for two years, until 1907. he created the basic infrastructure and the bureaucracy for the really, the work to start. but digging was slow, because he was much more interested in creating the infrastructure. and also, dealing with the disease, both malaria and yellow fever. so he worked very closely with

dr. golgas. a public works program was started. garbage was collected on a regular basis. sewage, running water, and other measures to eradicate mosquitoes like spraying oil on the standing water. so the mosquito larvae would be decreased. also, he started building housing for the workers. so the first two years was basically public works and health. i have to say that basically yellow fever and malaria were eradicated and it made those efforts -- those efforts made panama city the healthiest city in latin america you could say. the largest group of workers

came from the west indies, about perhaps 25,000 to 35,000. the second largest group was comprised of spanish workers. and they were almost 12,000. well, the workers, when they got to panama, they, it was not exactly how they were told. first, they were housed. they lived more or less ok, but the flyer that was distributed in galicia, the picture that was shown was the picture of a hotel for american workers. so there was a division -- american workers were on one side and everybody else was on the other. the spanish workers were housed in a barrack-style building with

cots. those were the lucky ones. there were others -- they had to sleep in railroad cars. others, they had to sleep in tents. the west indians, they suffer the most because they were basically left to fend off by themselves. and oh, they also kept nationalities apart. spanish on one side, italians on one side. there were 1200 italians, greeks. they try to keep nationalities apart so as to avoid conflict.

you cannot get an impression of what life was like for foreign workers from the canal records. the canal record was a weekly newspaper published by the canal commission. but that was basically a. newspaper for american workers so, you would get, you would be able to get an idea of what life was like for american workers. for other workers, it is very difficult, as there was a big division between the american workers and the ordinary workers. and that was also reflected in the base camp. american had a gold --

americans were paid in gold. and there were silver for everyone else. they were paid 10 cents an hour. conditions were very harsh, and there was a high turnover. so the numbers of workers fluctuated from 35,000 to 40,000 to maybe 50,000 from year-to-year. it very because there was a lot of turnover. they did try to bring families, because, as i said, there was a lot of turnover. and they thought that that, if they brought families, that would provide more stability in the working force, in the labor force. but not many families came. i know that some came from spain.

i know there were women in the canal zone, but they were not directly involved in the actual digging. basically, if you read the canal record, the official newspaper, you will be able to see how much was accomplished each week. there was news about social events and so on and so forth. but also, sort of like reports from each of the three divisions. how many workers, what they did for such and such a period. you not only get how many pounds of this and that, or whatever, but you also get so-and-so has visited the canal. ymca's holding a dance on such and such a date.

the band is having a concert on sunday afternoon. you get a mix. it's more entertaining. of course you get the annual report. that will give you a more concrete and specific idea as to what was done for each year. in 1964, the canal society had a contest in which it asked people who worked during the construction years to send their personal stories. we have close to 130 letters. and it is, i mean, these letters are unique because you get the feeling of what it was like to be working in those conditions. the harsh working conditions, the climate, which was harsh, of

course. the illnesses, the disease. and it will give you an opportunity to feel like what they felt. the historical society, i guess, recognized that they needed to have first-hand accounts before the people who work in the canal were -- they were already -- 1965. so, it was a great idea and they did a great service to history by asking the old timers to write about their experiences. they would even say how they were recruited. how was the trip from the islands to panama? is -- you get many different things in those letters. those letters are unique.

are really unique because you get the happy moments, if there were any, and you get the sad moments, which there were many. and you get an idea of how they work. what was their daily life was. there was one day, one person was writing that they were working, it was mild temperature, it was a sunny day. and all of a sudden, it started to rain. a torrential rain. he said that water got up to their waist, but they had to continue working. they went back to where they were supposed to go to sleep, and they were all drenched in water. so this is a very unique

collection. we may have one of the richest collections about the panama canal anywhere in the world. which was enhanced when the u.s. transferred all the materials from the canal zone after the 1977 treaty. all of the books and manuscripts and photographs that were part of the canal zone. they were transferred to the library. so that enhanced the already rich collection about panama that we have here. and so, the display will show maps, every map of panama. the photographs will show you workers in their daily activities. we have some unique photographs.

most of them, but not all of them, most of them were taken by the official photographer who took about maybe 10,000. and they will show you buildings, workers eating or setting up sticks of dynamite or working in the railroads. so, it's a way of imagining what it was like to work in the, i will say, the greatest engineering feat of the 20th century. one day i was going through the photographs that we got here, and i was able to identify three very unique photographs. and those photographs, they were

gallego workers. they were from a part of spain that i come from. that got my attention. through those photographs, i wrote a book about galician workers. there were almost 12,000. and i would say that maybe 12,000 spaniards. i would say maybe 75% were from galicia. in the u.s., i would say the panama canal was a fixation in the u.s., because when the panama canal was started, the american frontier was already conquered. so, panama became the new frontier. the building of the panama became the new frontier. so in the u.s., there was a lot of fascination with the building

of the canal, and how the work was progressing. so there was a tremendous pride, but this is part of the american consciousness. >> on the table we have a sample of our sheet music relating to the panama canal. what it represents is an american popular phenomena that when something that happened that captured the public imagination, either because it was wonderful or amazing or even horrifying, there were songs written about it.

this is a period when sheet music was the principal means of distribution of popular music, as the recording industry was in its infancy. and this is how popular music was to distribute it. the items that you see on this table all but one are not by people who are famous at all. there is one piece down here "the pathfinder of panama," by john philip sousa. but the rest of the composers are not well-known. but it was what happened in the early part of the 20th century. people would write songs. and they could get them published because it was supposed that this is a hot topic. people will buy this sheet

music. the items here represent a broad cross-section of sophistication of cover art. some have fairly nice art. others of the pieces are fairly simple with the titles elaborately laid out. we have one here called "sailing through the panama canal," which depicts a clipper ship which was a century off from the time of the opening. the john philip sousa has the best cover art. it has a ship that looks like it might have gone through the canal. the music is not great, but we do not have it because it is great music. we have it because of what it tells us about popular culture at this time, and the music publishing industry in the united states. on this side of the table, we have five items that were published in d.c.

these four published by the marx goldsmith company. they have all the similar appearance. they have no images on their front. but they have a fairly creative type font for laying out the titles. then " honeymooning on the panama canal," published by the kirkish dovedale company. the big music publisher of washington, d.c. we see the capital on it. a lot of this is about advertising. the period of popularity of sheet music surrounding any kind of topic like this is short. these pieces of sheet music that you see were copyrighted during the latter part of 1913 and through 1914 and into 1915. but in general, that seems to be about the period. that's what we see with popular sheet music of all forms in this period. the piece is that were sold in many, many copies were sold

quickly. then they kind of lapsed out of popularity. >> i'm georgia higley, and head of the newspaper section. today from our division we have 20 items. 18 of them are newspapers, and two, books, dealing with aspects of the panama canal and the development over the history of our earliest item. is from 1869 all the way to the transfer of the panama canal from the u.s. to panama in 1999. one of the things that is striking to me about looking at the newspaper coverage of the panama canal is number one, it is a very elongated history. and it is very convoluted. and it is not just a diplomatic complexity, because it does involve numerous nations, but also within the united states itself, the whole legislative out all over where the best route was took a while to be

determined. whether it is going to be mexico or nicaragua. was it going to be panama? those trains are shown in the newspapers we have on display. i would say that a couple of items that are my particular favorites are one is the front-page image of teddy roosevelt, because he is the first u.s. president to go on an official trip outside the united states. he chose to go to panama, of course. and he kind of becomes famous for his travels to panama. and then another interesting story that to me is kind of compelling is that fact that woodrow wilson from the white house sets off the last blast at the panama canal. you have, the panama canal itself is a celebration of american ingenuity and triumph of technology. and the icing on the cake that you have our sitting president

pressing the button hundreds of miles away from the actual site. and successfully sets off the blast. some of the consequences i think of the panama canal is reflected in one item that we selected, because the same article that is talking about woodrow wilson sending off the blast, the actual headline is talking about an engineer that has worked on the panama canal and he is dying as a consequence of some of the work he had done. so, you get the pathos of what the hardships were down there. and this was an engineer. so he was out of fairly high level as far as compared with some of the manual laborers. >> it's like opening a window into the past. and you have to use your imagination to imagine, but you

will be able to get what it was like to work and to live during those 10 years that it took to build the canal. >> you can watch this and other programs anytime by visiting our website at c-span.org/history. here on c-span 3, we complement showing you the most relevant hearings and public affairs events. on c-span 3, it's american tv.ory the civil war's 150th anniversary,