executive mansion functions. center with the curator who shows is the desk franklin roosevelt used for his fireside chats. we see recreational items such as radios, bowling balls, for the first families. >> my name is john sandwich. book a mu to the white house visitor's center, which is just a short walk away from the white house it health. for anyone going on the white house tour, it will help you understand what you are saying and bring more context and meaning to the white house. for those who cannot go on a white house tour, this is really inexperienced experience in its own right, as well. you are here in the white house visitor center. based on fiveally different themes to tell the white house story.

it is obviously home to the first family. it is an office to the president. it is the stage on which we as a nation celebrate events. we celebrate state arrivals, events as well, the white house easter egg hunt. it is also a national park. we are proud to consider it as such. it is also a museum. the white house collection is inside the white house. that helps to tell the story of the first families connection to the structure and story of our nation. behind me is a scale model of the white house. it is really the centerpiece of the white house visitors center. it is an amazing tool to understand the white house. you rarely, rarely if ever can understand the whole to talent he of what the white house is.

what you see ishethe house, bu's as well. well. wings as see one of the most important things in our nation, the white house, and understand its history as well. we have touchscreens where you can go inside the rooms and see them and see the objects in them . you can explore them through the centuries the white house has been here. >> high, i am bill allman, curator of the white house. i'm in the visitor's center. we are going to look at some objects lent for the permanent collection of the white house for exhibition here as part of improvednd vastly visitors center opened last fall. you're standing next to a mahogany desk.

what makes important is that it dates to about the time that the white house opened in 1800. the government was still in when construction began on the white house in 1792 with the goal of moving the federal government to the new capital city and its new quarters. so, construction went on until 1800. john adams moved to the city. he was the first person to occupy the presidents house. george washington picked the architect. time the away by the government came to philadelphia. -- from philadelphia. job of designing the house -- he thought he was a very practical builder.

that.s the end of , there were some building materials left over. history, to family this small desk, which isn't the most elaborately designed piece collection, in the -- himself. the materials of the same type were being used in the structure of the house. been in the collection for the last 40 years. it was donated in the 1970's by a member of the family. it is associated with the completion of the house. oban was also part of the

house in 1815. he was given the job of reconstructing the burnt out white house after the war of 1812. he was still in washington in 1823 when he had the south portico added. portico, and north it was completed in 1830, and then he passed away. he is very important to the original house, it's rebuilding, and the addition of the s on the north and south side. the basic form is late 18th century federal style furniture with the taper glaze. there is a decorative element across the bottom. it is a foldout writing board. there are little slides to support it.

also has a hidden section behind the top there. it can be locked. this desk would have been a little bit bigger. this one was a small and desk.vely comfortable it is not as fancifully made as a high style in new york or philadelphia. this james hoban desk of 1800 to look at furniture from the later periods of white house history. in this case, we are looking at a couple of objects related to the president use of the house as and office. this is a side chair. it is in the gothic style. it was made in 1845, probably.

it wasn't specially made for the white house. this style of chair was made by furniture makers and can be purchased on the general market. there were 24 of these black walnut side chairs that were purchased by the white house to be used around the president's office table, the cabinet table on the second floor of the house. untilas the west wing 1902. the present occupied rooms on the second floor both for his family and his offices. this chair was purchased under james k. polk. it has been occupied by members of his cabinet during the mexican-american war and all the activities that went on then. it would have been used around 1850 in the 1860's. the 1860's. it would've been used in

lincoln's caplet best cabinet room during the emancipation proclamation. they are very accurately drawn in this painting and the prints from the painting the documents that particular event. in 1869, president grant moved to the office from where lincoln had it in the lincoln bedroom to an adjacent room called the treaty room. that was the cabinet room until century, atthe 20th newh point he bought a cabinet and new chairs. black marbleormous french maid clock that sat on the mantle. it has a barometer and a calendar and a thermometer.

you can monitor the conditions indoors, not outdoors. this sat on the mantle also from 1869 to 1902. it would be how the cabinet, when it was in, kept track of what was going on. one of the things that happened in the 19th century was that if the president came into office and saw things he did not find stylish, the government authorized public sales of white house things. 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. in fact, 20 of them to get away. they were used in other parts of the house. as was the clock. these are treasures now that have survived the auctions and

remained in the white house's possession. they have been used at different times. several chairs are used in the lincoln bedroom as part of the core of the room -- the decor of the room to show what it was like. they told such interesting stories, and the images that show them in place make the story even more powerful by being able to see some these chairs in position with the clock on the mantle. in the visitors center, we thought this told the greatest story. they are historic and backed up by graphics that place them in time. here, this is a wonderful drawing done in 1864 by a local government employee who was doing drawings for

various occasions. permitted to go into what was the president's cabinet room and office, which is now the lincoln bedroom on the second floor. you can see a man sitting in the center of the room with the back of one of the chairs accurately depicted. there are other chairs around the table. the trip of it shows the other cabinet room with the clock on the mantle behind to members of the president's staff. that dates to the grand administration -- grant administration. you can see a typewriter owned by president woodrow wilson. bys is the desk that is used franklin delano roosevelt for his fireside chats. one of the objects that we have on exhibit is the typewriter.

this was owned by president woodrow wilson and used by him when he was personally drafting the 14 points, the document at the end of world war i where he was trying to establish possibles by which peace should be negotiated so that war would not happen again and that nations would be properly treated. point,not a successful and when they tried to get the u.s. to agree to the league of nations, the peace treaty was finally signed after he traveled for it to be signed. the typewriter was a tool that he used in the precomputer age to put together his thoughts. the final version was of course typed by a secretarial person, but this was used for all the drafting. anis interesting to see

object that was used for actual presidential activities. this is a government issued desk, and it looks just fine for president franklin roosevelt, beginning in 1933, when, as he inherited the economic depression under herbert hoover, he decided he would make speeches to the nation explaining the steps the government was going to take to try to relieve the economic angst of people across the country. these were radio addresses. there were no video components. it did not require anything more than a simple government desk. this has holes cut in the top of the desk where microphones were mounted to the desk. the microphones were enormous at the time. face, but as your pretty close. you can see them on the photograph.

he is sitting behind his desk making one of his speeches from the white house. these addresses were called fireside chats. it was probably more likely that the meaning was you were at home for your family radio resided, next to the fireplace in your living room, listening to the give remarks about how he was trying to lead the country to economic prosperity. he did this throughout the 90 30's and 1940's -- 1930's and 1940's in the days of world war ii. desk went into storage. it was geared towards radio purposes here to buy the 1950's, there was television. attractive.nger

it has holes and patches. there are doors, and there is one section with no doors and no covers. it was behind the desk. still picturek a of the president making his fireside chats, you would not see that side of the desk. it ran its course in the 1930's and 40's in the hands of franklin roosevelt. now, we go to an actual radio that was used in the white house. these are the kinds of reduced people had around the country. we will see what life was like for the first family bond -- beyond its formality. we have moved over from the white house as an office of the white house as a home. it has been that ever since it opened. job, to provide the president's family with a place to live while the

president is in office. here, we have a radio. this is pretty standard. it is a 1941 tabletop radio. so at one of a dozen or the white house. these are not the first radios at the white house, but is the earliest -- it is the earliest in our collection. they are not treated as historical objects as much as our furniture. this is the same as one might do with computers or iphones. there is a photograph of one of , not necessarily this exact one, located between two single beds were guests could reach her turn on the radio in an era

before television. befor. a 1941 -- in 1941 the white house had other means of recreation. these are indian clubs, a form of exercise. you could move them into calisthenics. this particular picture was not at the white house, but it is an image of them in use. we have a pair of these clubs. they are stamped to represent that they are government property. are part of a limited collection of historical recreational artifacts. as is this bowling ball. ."is is marked "white house this will be for a woman or child, it is lighter weight than

one used by a man for bowling. it was in the basement of the west wing when it was later moved to the office building next to the white house. in 1970, president richard nixon was a big bowler. he said he would like to have a bowling alley as part of the residential complex, not in the adjacent office building. new wing of the white house, a bowling alley was made under the north lawn. when you stand on pennsylvania avenue looking into the white house and the fountain and the portico, there are things located under the north lawn. service areas. electrical facilities. the white house bowling alley. children at the white house often found ways to have recreation, including swing sets, pets, they could run out and play on the grounds. in the late 1960's, before leaving the white house, lady

the johnson created children's garden, a small, secluded spot on the lawn joining the white house tennis courts. the garden honored all of the grandchildren of the president, starting with the johnsons. . it had wonderful rustic furniture made in a children's size. the main feature that she created was that she had her ,randchildren create handprints cast to look like stone. the walkway leading into their now has handprints for all of the grandchildren, from the johnsons to the president. if it was a child became and after their term of office, they were not included. are here in the

visitor center, including a place for children to place their hands into those prints. probably everybody has heard of the blue room in the white house. there are three parlors on the state floor name for colors. traditional colors were used for a pulp series, and textiles of upholstery's, and textiles for windows. acquired byas president james monroe in paris. of the refurbishing of the white house after the rebuilding of the white house interior after the fire during the war of 1812. there were 53 pieces. it was very high style.

congress thought the president ,as being rather wasteful especially by buying in france and not america. he justify that the furniture was of such good quality that would last for 20 years. it lasted until 1860. 43 years of use. unfortunately, like some other things, it was later auctioned. this was the first one returned to the white house in 1961 by people who lived here in washington who had attended the white house. model for became the a reproduction placed in the blue room to re-create the monroe area. -- era. they were upholstered in crimson. the first 20 years after the fire, the false trees were read --

upholstries were red. they were changed to blue, hence the blue room. been restored to look like it would have been during the monroe administration. the beautifully furnished smooth surfaces to simulate metal. it is wood. they re-created the original appearance. this is the specimen chair that we could use in the visitors have othere we chairs in the sweet upholstered in blue in the blue room. the arrival of this chair in has uppedwhite house its total to 10 original pieces from the suite. they represent some of the grandeur of the white house interior.

the rooms were meant to be impressive to public and foreign diplomats. they were critical for persuasion activities as part of the president's agenda. these were used for 43 years before the civil war and for the since it was acquired in 1961. i hope everyone will have an in thenity when they are washington dc area to come visit the white house visitors center. it is open from 7:30 to 4:00. it is free of charge. people of all ages can enjoy it. there is always something here that they can learn and understand and appreciate in the white house's story. >> you can watch this and other

american artifacts programs visiting our website at c-span.org/history. >> of the camp sumter military prison at andersonville georgia was built in the early -- in early 1864 to hold pows during the civil war. by the time it close, or over 45,000 soldiers were prison -- imprisoned there. from the will be live andersonville national historic site for a ceremony remembering the soldiers who died in captivity. keynote speakers include andeant major daily, history professor leslie gordon. we will be taking questions on facebook. ,hat is today, starting at noon eastern time. each week, american artifacts takes viewers into the archives,

museums, and historic sites around the country. visit the national museum of health and medicine, just outside of washington dc, to see an artifact from a field hospital used during the war in iraq. >> we start our tour today with this object. what washe floor of batrauma baya-2 -- from a 2. during the height of the iraq war, this hospital served as the evacuation point where soldiers were treated for being flown to germany and eventually the united states for the next level of care. 2 is known as the place were treated. this piece of floor helps tell the story.