over miss roberts that grows. roberts intends to resign. ♪ >> you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on cspan3. to join the conversation, like us on facebook. artifactsek, american takes you to museums and historic places to learn what artifacts reveal about american history. just down pennsylvania avenue from the white house is the white house visitor center which offers a look at how the executive mansion functions as an office and home. we toured the sitter with curator -- the center with the

curator who shows us the desk franklin roosevelt used, a typewriter used by woodrow wilson, and recreational items such as radios and bowling balls for the first families. stanwich. is john i would like to welcome you to the white house visitor center which is located just a short walk away from the white house itself. for anyone who goes on it to her, it will bring more meaning to their visit to the white house. for those who cannot go on a this house to her -- tour, is an experienced excel. you are in the white house visitor center which is thematically based around five different themes to understand the white house story. it is a home, home to the first family. it is an office for the president. it also is a stage.

as a nation, we celebrate great events there, state arrivals, events take place there likely white house easter egg roll. it is also a park. we are very proud of the national park service to consider it as such. also it is also a museum because , the white house collection is inside the white house and that helps to tell the story of the first families' connection with the structure and the story of the nation. located directly behind me is a scale model of the white house. it is really the centerpiece of the visitor center and it is an amazing tool to understand the white house, both from an architectural standpoint because you very rarely understand the whole totality of what the white house is. you can see the main part of the house and wings. you could do a 360 degree walk around and see the construction.

you can see one of the most important historic objects of the nation. and understand its story more. plus, with the advent of technology, we have touchscreens were you connection go inside the rooms and explore them through the various centuries that the white house has been here. >> hi, i am bill allman, curator of the white house and i am here in the white house visitor center. we'll take a look at some objects from the permanent collection as part of the new and improved white house visitor center that opened last fall. we are standing next to a mahogany desk. what makes it important is it

date to about the time when the white house opened. the government was still in philadelphia when construction began in 1792 with the goal of moving the federal government to the new capital city and its new quarters. construction went on until 1800, john adams moved to the city as the first president to occupy the new president's house. george washington had picked the site and the architect and supervised construction but passed away by the time the government came to philadelphia. the job he gave in picking the architect, to both designing and building the presidential house went to irish born architect james hogan who he had met in charleston south carolina. ,he thought he was a very practical builder and gave him the job of constructing the white house.

there were some building materials left over. according to family history, this small desk, which is not the most elaborately designed piece of furniture that we have in the white house collection, but it was reportedly built by the architect himself with mahogany left over from the construction of the floors and windows and doors. it is not made of material removed from the building. it is surplus materials of the same type being used in the construction of the house. it has not been in the collection but for the last 40 years, it was donated in the 1970's by a member of the family with the history of having been associated with the architect and his completion of the house. he was also part of the white house again in 1815, having stayed in washington. he was given the job of

reconstructing the white house after the war of 1812. he was still in washington in 1823 when he added to the white -- the south portico when he started adding it and in 1829 when he added the north portico. it was completed in 1830 before he passed away, so he left an enormous architectural footprint in the original building and addition of the two porches on the north and south side. the basic form is late 18th century federal style furniture with simple tapered legs. bottom, aoss the foldout writing board and little slides to support it. it also has a hidden section behind the top that can be locked. in many cases, a desk would have

been a little bit bigger and would have had bookshelves above it but this was a small yet piece.vely comfortable [ not a typical, just not just as elaborate as others would have been. we will leave the desk and take a look at some furniture that dates to a later time in white house history. in this case we are looking at a couple of objects that relate to the president's use of the house as his office. this is a side chair in a gothic style. it was made in 1845 probably. it was purchased in 1845. it was not specially made for the white house. it was a style made by many cabinetmakers and could be

purchased on the general market. what made these interesting is that there were 24 of these black walnut side chairs that were purchased by the white house for use around the president's office table, the cabinet table on the second floor of the house. there was no west wing until 1902. the president occupied the rooms on the second floor both for his family and offices. this chair was purchased under president polk. it would have been occupied by members of his cabinet during the mexican-american war. it would've been used throughout the 1850's and was still in the -- still in use in the 1860's. and is most interestingly seen in images of president lincoln in the cabinet room. the first reading of the emancipation proclamation took place with him seated in a chair of his own and the cabinet members seated in

this type of chair. they are very accurately drawn in the painting and prints that documented that event. they stayed in use until 1869 when president grant moved the office from what is now the lincoln bedroom to the adjacent room that is now called the treaty room. it was used as the cabinet room until the turn of the 20th century. president grant bought a whole more elaborate furniture. enormous blackan marble french clock that sat on the mantle. it had not only the clock works but a barometer and calendar. also a thermometer so he could monitor the conditions indoors. it did not have an outdoor gauge. this sat on the mental until

fromis sat on the mantle 1859 to 1902 and would have been how the cabinet would have kept track of time. one of the things that happened in the 19th century was that the president came into office and had things he did not find stylish any longer the , government actually authorized public sales of white house things. things got away legally because they were authorized. it was some of these kinds of things that were the most historic that did not leave, there are only four of the chairs that we have had continuously since the 1840's. 20 of them did get away. they were used in other parts of the house, as was the clock. these are treasures now that have survived those auctions and remained in the white house's possession. they have been used at different

times. several of these chairs are currently used in the lincoln bedroom, showing what would have been in there when it was lincoln's office. they have come down here because they were not in regular use at the house and they told such interesting stories and went with images that show them in place that made the story even more powerful by being able to see one of these chairs in position, the clock on the mantle. we thought these told the greatest stories because they were beautiful and historic and they were backed up by graphics that helped place them in time. above the chair here is a wonderful drawing that was done in 1864 by a local government employee who was doing drawings for various publications. he was permitted to go into what was known as president lincoln's

cabinet room and office which is now the lincoln bedroom. you can see a man sitting in the middle of the room with the back of one of these chairs accurately depicted and other chairs around the table. the picture above it shows the other cabinet room, what is now the treaty room with the clock on the mantle behind two members of the president's staff. that is the furniture that dates to the grant administration. rather than the polk administration. next we will look at some objects that date to the early 20th century. you can see a typewriter used by president woodrow wilson. and the desk used by franklin roosevelt for his fireside chats. one of the objects we have on exhibit is a typewriter that belonged to president woodrow wilson and was used by him when he was personally drafting the

14 points which was a document at the end of world war i where he was trying to establish principles by which peace should be negotiated so that war would not happen again and that nations would be properly treated. it was not a successful fight that he tried to lead to get the united states to agree to the league of nations which was the outgrowth of his 14 points. the peace treaty was finally signed after he traveled to paris to help negotiate. this typewriter was simply a tool he used to put together his thoughts. i'm sure the final version was usually typed by a secretarial person. but the president would do all of his drafting. it is an interesting object to represent the technology and presidential activities without just being a piece of furniture. i am standing beside a desk that

is very simple, it is government issued. it worked just fine for insident roosevelt beginning when he inherited the economic 1933 depression that happened under herbert hoover. he decided he would make speeches the nation explaining the steps the government was going to take to try to relieve the economic angst of people across the country and the business community as well. these were radio addresses, there was no video components. it did not require anything more than a government desk. this particular one has large holes cut in the top, that is where microphones were mounted to the desk. they microphones were enormous at the time. you can see the photograph behind the desk showing the president making one of the speeches in the white house.

these addresses were called the fireside chats. it was often thought that he was by his fireside. in fact, the fireplace had been in 1902. it was more likely you at your home next to the radio which was usually to the fireplace in your home listening to the president give great remarks about how he was trying to lead the country to economic prosperity. he did this through the 1930's into the 1940's and the days of world war ii. the desk went into storage and it was geared toward radio purposes. by the 1950's, you started having television so its use was no longer as attractive. it has holes and patches. on the backside there are some drawers and one section that has

no drawers and no covers. it was behind the desk so if someone took a still picture of the president, it would not see that side. it pretty much ran its course in the 1930's and 40's. in the hands of franklin roosevelt. tohave an opportunity now link the desk to an actual radio used in the white house and what would've been the kind of radios people had around the country and what life in the white house was like beyond its formality. we have moved over from the white house as office to the white house as home. it has been that ever since it opened. it is one of its inherent jobs to provide the president and their family with a place to live what -- while the president is in

office. here we have a radio, a pretty standard 1941 tabletop radio made by the emerson company. it was one of a dozen or so that was purchased for the private quarters of the white house. they were not the first radios to exist in the white house, but it is the earliest one to have survived. radios would be replaced and once the new ones arrived, the old ones were generally discarded as being old. this one shows in a picture, we picked things that had great documentation. there is a photograph of one of the third floor bedrooms one of the radios located between two single beds where either guest could reach over and turn on the radio in an era before television. this was acquired in 1941, just

before the start of world war ii. the white house has also had other means of recreation. president coolidge was shown in a photograph as vice president using indian clubs, a form of exercise. these were weighted clubs you would raise and do calisthenics with. this particular picture was not at the white house but was a great image of one of these in use. we have a pair of these and they were stamped with the word u.s. to represent they were government property. they have survived in our limited collection of historic as thisonal artifacts bowling ball which is marked white house, it would have been used by a woman or child by the size, a little lighter weight than the standard issue for a man. in 1947, president harry truman added the first white house bowling alley in the basement of the west wing. it was later moved to these

the old executive office building. in 1970, president richard nixon was a big bowler so he wanted a bowling alley as part of the residential complex. not over in the adjacent office building. a new single lane white house bowling alley was created under the north lawn. when you are standing at pennsylvania avenue and seeing into the white house, there are things located under the north lawn. there are service areas and electrical facilities, and the white house bowling alley. the children at the white house often found ways for recreation, including gym equipment, swing sets, pets. they could go out and play on the grounds with them. in the late 1960's, before leaving, first lady johnson created what is called the children's garden. it is a small, school included -- secluded spot on the south

lawn. it is very close to the white house tennis court. they had rustic furniture made in children's size. it has a fish pond as well. the main feature was that she had her grandchildren create their handprints and they were cast to look like stone and used as pavers on the ground. the walkway on the grounds has such handprints for all of the grandchildren of the johnsons to president, grandchildren alive at the time they were president. if it was a grandchild it was born after their term in office, their hands were not included. the prints are seen here in the white house visitor center, including a hands-on spot for children to place their hands in

the prints in a modern creation. probably everybody has heard about the blue room of the white house. the white house has three parlors named for colors, traditional colors that have been used for carpeting and textiles. it was not always the blue room, though. this chair was acquired by president james monroe in 1817 purchased from paris. it was part of the refurbishing of the white house after the rebuilding of the interior after the fire of 1814 when the british set fire to the building. during the war of 1812. there were 53 pieces in this gilded suite, very high style. congress thought the president was being rather wasteful, especially buying in france and not in america.

he had to justify that the furniture was of such good quality it would last for 20 years when in fact it lasted until 1860, so they got 43 years of use. then unfortunately, like many other things, it was sold at auction. mrs. kennedy was given this chair. this chair was the first one returned to the white house in 1961 by people who live in washington who attended the sales or had ancestors who attended the sales. this chair became the model for some reproductions that were placed in the blue room to try to re-create the monroe era. when these arrived at the white house in 1870, they were upholstered in crimson, that is how the room looked from 1817 to 1837. the first 20 years after the fire, things were red. since 1837, it has been blue and that is why the name is now blue room. a very high style french chair. this had the most original

material still part of its gilding and surface features. it has been restored to look like it probably would have looked in the monroe administration. with beautiful furnished smooth surfaces to simulate metal. the poster was put on to re-create the original appearance. this became the specimen share while we have others upholstered in blue. since the arrival of this chair in 1961, the white house house has now upped its total to 10 original pieces from the suite made by a top-notch french cabinetmaker. it represents some of the ur of the interior meant to be impressive to visitors to the white house who came to

the white house for political persuasion and activities that would encourage people to support the president's agenda. this was part of that use, for 43 years before the civil war, and again for the last 53 years since mrs. kennedy acquired this in 1961. i hope everyone will have an opportunity while in the area to come and visit the white house visitor center. it is open from 7:30 to 4:00. 362 days a year. it is free of charge. people of all ages can learn something and appreciate the white house and its story. >> you can watch this and other american artifacts programs anytime by visiting our website at c-span.org/history.

>> you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend, on cspan3. to mark the 63rd anniversary of "roll call," c-span is featuring reporters who talk about how it covered major news events of the past 60 years. >> leo ryan was a congressman from san mateo in california. a number of his constituents were tied up with the people's temple led by jim jones. he had established jonestown in guyana. there's going to be a new, revolutionary way of living. a lot of people who had gone to visit have not come back. they were living there. families expressed concern to leo ryan. was prepared to go down there and find out. he wanted to and have permission to do so.