>> i am a teacher, so i am watching the programs carefully. the corehappy with that has been have being so i would like to see it changed around. i will vote for bernie sanders or hillary clinton, i am happy with both of those choices. >> i have decided i imploding for ted cruz for the candidate see because he is a scholar, he is eloquent, and he is principled out of all the other candidates so far. ♪ >> each week american history tv's american artifacts visits museums and historic places. up next, a visit to the national museum of american jewish history in philadelphia to learn about their exhibition, tracing the history of the jewish people

in america from 1654 to the present day. this is part one of a two-part program. claire pingel: welcome to the national museum of jewish-american history. my name is claire pingel, i'm the associate curator at the exam and i'm happy to be a tour today. the museum was started in 1976 by one of the five original jewish congregations that date back to the colonial period. we shared a building with them for 35 years and open in this location of november of 2010. we are right in the middle of independence mall in philadelphia, halfway between independence hall or the nation got its start and the national constitution center which explores the founding documents of the nation. we like to think we are an

example of what happens when a people are allowed to live in liberty. our museum is organized so we have a big atrium in the middle of the building. on this side of the atrium we have some orientation spaces. on the other side is with the bulk of our exhibition is, where are the artifacts and stories unfold. in the orientation area of the museum we want to give visitors a little bit of breathing space and set them in the mood for what they are about to see in the other side of our atrium. in this area we talk a little bit about who jews are, where they came from. we've been pleased we've also had a lot of people coming in who are not jewish who might need a little bit more explanation as to who these people are they are about to learn about in the exhibition on the other side of the atrium. this first floor is titled

"foundations of freedom." it covers 1654 to 1880. the exhibition begins in 1654 the first 23 permanent jewish settlers in america, in north america. the settlers came from brazil which have just been taken over by the portuguese. bringing with them the inquisition. the jewish colonists in brazil had to leave. most colonists had already left from these 23 boarded a ship called the saint katrina and came to north america. this is the earliest known record of their arrival. it is a dutch record dated september 7, 1654. it refers to the 23 original jewish permanent settlers. there had been other jews here prior to the people that they were not people who stayed and build a community.

the settlers arrived in new amsterdam where they quickly became part of the local fabric of the community, setting of organizations like synagogues and other organizations that make them the community of people who stay in new york and new amsterdam. one was named asser levy. he became part of that original jewish community there. new amsterdam was not a very from the place for jews in 1654. the governor did not want the jews there. but they were allowed to stay.

asser levi became a champion for jews, fighting for the rights of the citizens of the colonies. historians believe he kept a kosher home. we have his receipt inventory. it could indicate he used one for meat and one for dairy. and this gallery we explore the five original colonies that existed in north america. new york, newport, charleston, savannah and philadelphia. the jews who lived here for people who stories refer to as court jews. -- historians now refer to as court jews. they were involved in commerce and trade all over the atlantic. we have some portraits of some of these people. most notable is the portrait of bernard gratz. he came from central europe and

he chose to depict himself posed with the five books of moses. this is unusual in colonial jewish portraiture. they usually do not include indications they were jewish in the portraits. this is a model of the synagogue in newport, rhode island. you will notice the balcony up above where the women would have sat. everything is to scale. this was made by a model maker in illinois who was not jewish but very interested the synagogue and went to the library of congress to study the floor plans for benjamin peter harrison's designs for the synagogue which is a very newport building. there are no outward signs that this is a jewish building. newport jews were just building a colonial building.

he was one of the finest architects of the colonies at the time. it's a palladian building. the next gallery of the exhibition explores the american jewish experience in the revolutionary war. some of our visitors are sometimes surprised that not all jews were yankees, but it would've been very difficult for people to choose to follow the revolution. this was a very new idea to rebel against the crown. we do talk about jews that work torries and those that were patriots. one of the most famous is haym solomon who helped finance the finance by selling bonds for the revolutionary army to help raise

money. we have a few artifacts from his life, including his marriage certificate, an advertisement for his business, and a ledger sheet in james madison's and where he is recording expenses and the receipt of funds from various peoples who were helping to raise money for the revolution including haym solomon. solomon was a member of the synagogue is started this museum. one of the big stars of our exhibition is right here. this is correspondence between george washington and the jewish congregation of newport, rhode island. these are on loan to us for the morgenstern foundation. we are very excited to have these on loan. in august of 1790, washington travel to newport, rhode island to thank the community for ratifying the constitution. the last state to ratify the constitution.

when he arrived various groups addressed him as he sat, including the jewish community of newport. this is the address that was read out loud to washington that day. august 17. very quickly afterwards, probably within a few days, washington would write back to the congregation a very eloquent letter confirming his belief that the new nation -- and his commitment to religious tolerance in the new nation. really one of the founding documents for american jewish

history. is a very important thing for us to have on display here. newport was not the only community to address washington and to receive a well considered letter confirming washington's belief in religious liberty. we have a couple more letters across the way. these are from the jewish communities of philadelphia, new york, charleston and richmond the road together as the body. the community of savannah also wrote to washington, as did many other religious groups. we have a list of the different groups that wrote to him. despite the confirmation of the commitment by the federal government to religious liberty, jews still had overcome obstacles. to complete liberty many states had religious tests jews that blocked the from holding office at the state level. generally that would be -- you would have to take an oath on a christian bible in order to hold office.

a jew cannot do that. those laws were struck down one by one. the latest was in 1877. it's a very long time. in this gallery look at the mid-19th century from about 1820 two right around the civil war, the 1860's. in this gallery and over here in this gallery you'll notice we paid a lot of attention to our youngest visitors while we were organizing this exhibition. we do not want kids to be bored when they walk into the history museum. this is not a dry history. it's exciting and interesting and we thought hard about ways to keep children engaged. you will find stations with textbooks where parents or grandparents can sit down with children and read to them. and different activities that can engage children a little bit better. lower down on the wall i think you will see they are really meant for children. howard l visitors get in the act also and i see them trying on costumes in our pioneer gallery. the pioneer gallery is one of my favorite spots in the museum. it is organized around the story of fanny brook, a young woman in central europe who married a man

who had already been to america and came back to europe. he was planning to come back to america and joining wagon train. she set off on this adventure with him and came to america and traveled all over the country with him and a wagon. she left detailed memoirs for her daughter and for her children which allowed us to re-create the wagon she traveled on on her journey. and he gave us a lot of information about the types of supplies they brought with them on their journey. they were basically 16-year-old kids off in america by themselves so it's an amazing story they have. children can really get in the act.

try on costumes. think about what they would pack if they were going on a journey like this. they can pretend to cook dinner around the campfire and visit a trading post. in this gallery we explore the expanding nation, expanding in terms of population. the types of people coming here are expanding in variety. and the nation itself is geographically expanding. the boundaries moved west and jews are traveling along with those boundaries, going out with for the gold rush in different opportunities and to be out in the open. and for adventure as well. for exploration. we talked about the civil war. the american jewish experience of the civil war. jews found themselves on both sides of the conflict.

they divided mainly along geographic lines. if you live in the north, you are likely to support the union. if you lived in the south, you are likely to support succession. jews were on both sides of the debate over slavery. it's a vivid artifact. this is -- a lithograph of reverend dr. max lilienthal, a rabbi in cincinnati. the original is in the magnus collection in california. he apologized for not speaking

out against slavery, saying that right must be right whatever the consequent is. one of his former supporters, and man named jacob cohen defaced his portrait and send it back and processed. his family eventually donated it to the museum. jews found themselves on both sides of the conflict. they were about 10,002 fought in the civil war. 7000 for the union and about 3000 for the confederacy. that disparity in numbers might have to do with where jews lived. there were more in the north. in 1862, late in the year, one of the most well-known incidents of the civil war for jewish historians is grant's order number 11. general grant was in charge of keeping track of the cotton industry during the war. the cotton industry needed to continue because the north needed cotton. the south needed funds. grant was charged with making sure everything was happening aboveboard and there was no black market, which there was. in 1862 in december, i believe it was during hanukkah, grant issued orders that because jews as a class were trading in

cotton on the black market they all needed to be expelled from several states. kentucky, tennessee, other states. about 300 families were displaced because of these orders. the jews and others were incensed at this, lumping all jews into one group of people who are engaging criminal activity. they protested directly to lincoln. this is a letter from the b'nai -- to abraham lincoln in early january of 1863.

as soon as lincoln heard about this he wrote to grant and told him he needed to rescind these orders. grant later protested he had not read the orders, it had been written by a subordinate. a lot of people thought this might come back to haunt him when he ran for office a few years later. the thought was maybe jews would not vote for grant. we know that jews did forgive him for this. in this case here we look at several aspects of the jewish experience in the civil war. the home front, fighting in the war, as well as serving in government. fatima leavy collis was a particularly interesting person. she was from a prominent family in trials and. she married a man from pennsylvania it was a general in the union army. she went to war with him, as many women went to the front

with their husbands. she later wrote her memoirs which we have on display, including some nice photographs about the war and her experience. in this memoirs she wrote she never fully realized the fratricidal nature of the conflict. until she lost her beloved brother david. she was nursing her northern husband to life the next. we think about brother against brother during the civil war. this really embodies that concept. one development we saw during the civil war was the first jewish chaplain came into being at that time. up until the civil war a chaplain in the army had to be a regularly ordained minister of some christian denomination. during the civil war jews fought to have that law changed so it was just a regularly ordained minister. of a congregation this is the first charter for a jewish chaplain in the union army signed the abraham lincoln down at the bottom right just above the flags.

this is on loan from a congregation in philadelphia, the first official jewish chaplain was rabbi jacob frankle. we also explore the story of judah benjamin, a very high-ranking government official in the confederacy. in his gallery we look at the development of reform judaism, which was not an american movement. originally it was a european movement imported over here to america. reformed judaism has three main aspects. one is that prayers in english are introduced, or prayers of the language wherever the country is happening in. people were finding that not everybody could understand the hebrew prayers anymore and it was important for people to be able to understand what they were saying during services. as well, next feeding was being introduced. unlike the synagogue model

earlier, women were seated in the balcony with children and men on the level where the reader is positioned.

at this time family seating was being introduced. in this image of temple emmanuelle and new york, you can see there are women down there with her husband and families. instead of women being in the balcony we have an orchestra in the balcony. another new innovation of reformed judaism was introduced music, choirs and instruments during services. reform judaism was not without controversy. there were a lot of people who do not think reform was good. some people thought that it was a delusion of jewish tradition that things should stay the same and traditions should be followed from generation to generation closely. they were people that went so far as to say that reform judaism, the way of making judaism like protestant christianity. in 1883 the first rabbi was ordained at union college in cincinnati. before the 1880's all rabbis have been ordained in europe. there were no american ordained rabbis. there were a couple in 1875, but generally they came from europe and they came over here and worked. at this historic milestone, the college graduated its first class. people from all over the country

were invited to a banquet in honor of this occasion, including a lot of rabbis for different areas. they sat down to a meal that included food that was not kosher, including oysters. this is a menu from that event. this is an oyster fork from the caterer that is on loan to us. this was a big controversy. not all the rabbis who came were reform minded. a lot of people kept kosher and were faced with all these nonkosher foods at this meal. it was a big controversy that became known as the trafa banquet. food.being nonkosher at the end of the century, about the 1870's to 1880's in this gallery, a lot of the central european jews who emigrated from europe in the mid-19th century have made their way in america and settled in and they have professions and jobs. they start to become interested in giving back to the community, that to the wider american community and the jewish community. one of the ways they start doing that is they start to get organized and hold balls in supported different charitable causes.

this is around the time the some of the first jewish federation charities get founded. a popular time to hold these balls was during the holiday that is very focused on charity. we have a few artifacts related to what became then is purim balls. the charities that include anything from hospitals to orphanages, to people coming over in greater numbers from eastern europe. ♪ claire: the end of the floor here, each floor in our building ends with a timeline. we wanted people to know what happened in relation to other things.

is american history, american jewish history, and world history. some of these events are covered on the floor that we just completed. some are not but there are things that are well-known to people like the building of the taj mahal. when we are organizing i was surprised to learn that the taj mahal was completed only 11 years before the first 23 jewish refugees came here to our shores. it's a nice way to end the floor and orient people to review what we have just seen and see how it fits in with the other things we know about. my title is chief registrar and associate curator at the museum. my main focus is often are artifacts collection. i oversee its preservation and make sure it is all getting processed rightly and it's

acceptable to researchers. i also work on exhibitions, helping to write text and do research. artifacts help us tell history in a way we can i get out of books. when you are standing in front of an artifact there is a very different experience from when you're reading a book. you are communing with a thing. is a direct witness of the history you are learning about. it is a really special experience. >> this was the first of a two-part look at the national museum of american jewish history. you can watch this and all other american history tv programs at c-span.org/history. >> i am a history buff. i do enjoy seeing the fabric of our country and how they work and how they are made. >> the presidency, american

artifacts. these are fantastic shows. >> i had no idea they did this. it is something i really enjoy. >> american history tv, it gives you the perspective. >> i am a c-span fan. ♪ >> part of the 5 million toys collected in united states for european children is assumed by earl cox junior, national commander of the american legion. this goes to unfortunate youngsters in france. is the second year the american legion has played godfather to the children of europe in this manner. among the grateful recipients of

these generous gifts of your friends, the invalid and the blind. for these and for others throughout the continent they get this year totals 5 million welcomed toys geared to the hearts of our young cousins whose future is in savvy conditioned by the ravages of past wars and a gloomy economy of the present. the date was a great success. american children will be happy to know they have shared their bounty with those whose needs is greater. the arrival in the little town of roslyn, washington of undersecretary of mining in far-off afghanistan puts it out of the international map and gives everybody a chance to shine. the local minors give their distinguished visitor of war welcome and invite him down to see how we do it in america. he takes them out and wins the praises of all with his capacity for hard work. with what he learns he hopes they go home to afghanistan and double coal production in one year. more power to him.

these waves at the lake hurst, new jersey air station packed their parachutes with extra special care. they are going to use them. is the graduation date, the date everything else is dropped. booted, helmeted, and ready for the crucial test, they wait for the time of the hit the landing zone. out you go, girls. geronimo welcomes you to the fold. they all graduated with flying colors without a quorum in the planeload. despite a stiff breeze, the navy's ladies make it to terra firma without a mishap. every year is leap year for these classy lassies. ♪

>> every election year we are in formed how important c-span is for politics. great way for us to stay informed. >> my colleagues are going to say, i saw you on c-span. >> there is so much more that c-span does to make sure people outside the beltway know what is going on inside of it. year, student cam was one of our biggest yet as students competed for more than $100,000 in prizes. they answered the questions, what issues do they most want the candidates to discuss. economy, inequality, education, and immigration where the top issues. be sure to turn in this wednesday morning at 8:00 a.m.

on washington journal when they will announce the winners. watch live on c-span and c-span.org. announcer: each week until the 2016 election, road to the white --se rewind bring shoe brings you coverage. next, senator john kerry during the 2004 campaign. he won nine primaries on super tuesday, forcing rival senator john edwards to drop out. john kerry it lost to incumbent president george w. bush in a tight election. this is about 21 minutes. [applause] ♪ [cheers and applause]