immigration issues. during the ceremony, they donated $500 of their winnings to a local charity. following this event, the bus drove to clinton township to celebrate the second prize winning video, the next big problem. over 250 classmates and elected officials, including the congressman, joint and the celebration for zachary. a special thanks to comcast for coordinating these visits. you can view the winning documentaries on c-span.org. artifactsek, american takes you to museums and historic places to learn what artifacts reveal about american history. next, we tour the innovation wing of the national museum of american history. john gray shows us his favorite object, including a bicycle that is embellished with gold from

tiffany and company. and in 1948 tucker automobile. we also hear from kathleen franz . smithsoniane to the national museum of american history. it is wonderful to welcome you to our new floor that is looking at innovation and invention in america. to start with that, we have extraordinary examples of early inventions and contemporary invasions. we even have apple 1, which is extraordinary. , the ways in which america has been so inventive and continues. invention is one of the most important parts of our country. let's walk through. as you come through, you start to see all these exhibitions that are focused on ways in which we have developed a new

way of thinking, of being in time. here we have the bayou of money, which we have an extraordinary collection of coins and paper, but all of them are oriented in a way to understand the role of money. we end up with the bitcoin pity you can see over time how we understand -- bitcoin. so you can see over time how we understand money, going forward. and we walked into part of the show where we have american enterprise, talking about the social history, which is really your history, of capitalism, business, the common good. before we get to that, here is one of my most favorite objects, the tucker car, in minutes condition. condition.nt it was a total innovation.

light, andnter from the way in which it was stout and operated, you can see the role of invention. you can also see within this, the story where everybody was very successful and created a market and something for work. so, it is an important item to understand in america, the ways in which we as people have dominated how we understand one another. called thet, what is red river, it is an extraordinary story of women out of canada, bringing and help into the area around st. paul, to trade. what they were doing were circumventing the hudson bay monopoly. so there was a lawsuit and ultimately the women prevailed. here we start out the show about american enterprise, talking

about women who came across the border, which was clearly undefined back then, in order to create their own livelihood. you can start to see the ways in which we can tell the stories of american business. and if you continue to walk through, you start with the section that is called the merchant era. you start to realize how global time existed from a immemorial, the start of the country with an enormous amount of trade going on. it started with native people, into the colonial era and pass that. on the side, we have our advertising wall, which shows from a time to today, when we developed the idea of how to promote products and really consumerism. and it start with some things

that are stereotypical, then you go to the widow -- go to the way that identities develop. and then we go to the corporate era, watching the development of unbelievable businesses, some of them based on consumerism. this is the wonderful peanut, this is on a fence post in iowa. you start to see how we promoted products. and then coming through here, we walked into the consumer era and here is where we identify our current lives, the way that the car was developed, the way that energy was exploited, and had a greater impact. and after that we go into the global era. as part of this, there are numerous areas in which you can learn more about the country and things that have really affected us. one of the most popular objects is right here.

we see the concept, the lower taxation that can increase everyone's income. what is fascinating about this, when it was drawn, it was with dick cheney and rumsfeld. this was a part of the history that showed politics, economics decisions today, this is represented right there. and behind that, the briefcase. so as you come to this extraordinary exhibition, you can learn more about not only the country, but you can let about was that -- about what effects you every day. we leave american enterprise and we go into an educational area that we call, object project. because these are objects that change the way that people live and behave. and there are numerous ones, from a refrigeration unit, that shapes the way we eat and how

women behave, because they could prepare food and put it in there. constructive way is to think about the bicycle, because it changed mobility for everybody, and for women, and it changed the way that they dressed and were able to navigate the different types of worlds. and one of the most beautiful tiffany, with silver and jewels, the way that they decorated the bicycle that andecame symbolic for women how they could identify their own independence. this was over a period of time. and here we have the lab did spark lab -- and here we have spark lab.

it takes children of all ages and teaches them and has them experiment, so they can understand. whether it is around sound, lighting, music, it is an enormous place of creativity for us. you have to think about what it means for you to be an inventor and who are these inventors? we have a studio, a workshop, of ralph berry who invented an interactive tv program. and look today how many interactive programs there are. you can learn about intellectual rights through patents and you can learn about how technology started in one place, and then grew, and grew. what i love most is this sweater . he was a real human being who escaped from germany, came and found himself to be one of the

greatest inventors all -- inventors of all kinds of things, in america. we are trying to explain how america, and the world, has seen innovation and invention and how it has been kept her from the and how itis country continues to be a major component of how we think, live, and act. now you really get the excited privilege of listening to curators about individual objects. it is the kind of experience you will have when you visit this wonderful wing of innovation. business kathleen i am the history curator at the smithsonian institution. and we are in the object project today, looking at some of the amazing objects that have come out of storage and that you can interact with. here with the tiffany bicycle, it is a super example of a

safety bicycle that was introduced in 1895 by tiffany and company, for the holiday market. distinguishedry and wealthy buyers. this was not a common bicycle. but the form that it is, two wheels of about the same size is something that was new on the market and it aimed at a more marked -- more middle-class consumer. stories bike is full of . i will share couple of them. biking was a craze in the 1880's. they come first, then automobiles. and they overlap a little bit, but bicycles really paved the way to better roads in the u.s. they form clubs and groups and they bike across the countryside

and they realize that the roads in the 1880's leaves something to be desired. so they form good road clubs. that eventually developed into highway systems and paved roads, said that comes out of bicycling. and in these banks are in innovation from the earlier version, which was the high wheel bicycle where the writer with setn top -- rider on top of one big wheel. those were ridden by men, mostly for sport and mostly to test themselves. theses come along -- hwwhen come along, it opens up biking to both men and women. that is another important story that we tell, this was a moment in the 1880's and 1890's, where middle-class women are starting to embrace the idea of suffrage and moving outside the boundaries of the home and

taking on new roles in public. and the bicycle allows for that and it becomes a symbol of women's independence. to get on the bike you had to wear short skirts and to different shoes. so it did help to change women's fashion. and it became a symbol for women's suffrage. and people in that movement point to the bicycle as one of the things that gives women a new kind of mobility and independence. lastly, if we look closely at the object itself, why is it so fancy? tiffany is trying to cater to a market of wealthy people. the 1890's is a moment in history when a lot of wealth is concentrated into the hands of few americans and they have a lot to spend. the vanderbilts, the cottages,

those folks. -- the carnegies, those folks. and they are showing off the wealth. this was bought for a wealthy woman in montgomery, alabama. it has a lot of decoration. you can tell it this is not an average bike. we are in the corporate era of american enterprise and thinking about inventors and innovation, and i am here with thomas edison and what the curators call, the creepy baby doll. these are two inventions. one is the light bob, which -- bulb, which really made his career. the thing we know most about edison. it was invented in 1879 and really changed the landscape of american cities and life. this was a real failure, this doll.

one thing about edison among known as the wizard -- edison, known as the wizard because of his many successes, he also had tremendous failures along the way. and one of them was this doll, which was remarkable for its time because it was a talking doll. when it was invented in 1890's, it is one of the first applications of recorded sound in children's toys. you can see here, this is basically a very small several otherh people's inventions, and it is shrunk down to fit inside. a child with cricket -- crank it from the back and it would saying one nursery rhyme -- sing one nursery rhyme. these dolls would have had hair.

ours is stripped down. the problem with this, there were several, but one of them was it was incredibly expensive. than thewhich was more average family or average consumer could spend. it was a very high-priced item. but the worst thing was it just did not work. fell off, or the sound did not work. and if the sound did work, it was a very shrill, screaming nursery rhyme. not anything very pleasant that would lead to sleep at night. the recording was made by women who worked in the factory, in new jersey. and it is not like what we would have to day. they would saying the nursery -- sing the nursery rhyme at a very high volume to record it.

it was a screaming baby doll. ♪ [baby doll singing] [indiscernible] unfortunately, he only sold a very small number of these and ended up with only -- with almost 200,000 in a warehouse, in new jersey. he called in his little monsters, because they were one of his greatest failures and sort of plagued his dreams. but he bounced back. that is why we have this story, to show you success and failure, because most entrepreneurs or inventors experience failure, it is just how they overcome it. with the nice parallel inventor of tupperware that you will hear about later in the collection. he had a lot of failures and one

big success, which was tupperware. we are standing in front of the 1960 refrigerator, a beautiful aqua blue. it contains some tupperware and i will tell you about that story on the namesake. classic,er is a independent american inventor. he grew up thinking that he would become famous through inventions. and that they would make him a millionaire. he was born in new hampshire and then he moved to western massachusetts, which was really a hub for inventors. his parents were small farmers and they lived a sort of hard life. the is his diary, from 1930's, he graduates from high school in 1925.

imaginationy active and mind. he could not afford to go to college, but he thinks about becoming an inventor and he keeps a notebook, several of them, and we have them in the museum. so this is an invention diary where he is recording ideas. this is earl tupper, massachusetts. and i think this is fascinating. the first page starts with, my purpose in life. he outlines his goals for his career as an inventor and then goes on and on. this is from the 1930's, as i said. and it really is -- he is inventing and trying to start inventing and probably the worst moment in american history, 1933, when 25% of americans are out of work.

so there are dozens of inventions in here. he tries all sorts of things, from personal care products like pocket combs, to core sets, to a rumble seat protector. so he is doing add-ons to cars, something that would keep you dry when you are in your car. and that is one thing that he tries to patent, he protects the idea, and he tries to market it. and he runs into the same problems that most independent inventors face, the capital to produce the invention and manufacture it. and also the money and knowledge to market it, to bring it to the markets of people would buy it. and you see him struggle with those things throughout the diary. --let me come up with this so let me put this underneath. and i will bring out some of the

other objects we have in a very large collection. later, his patents, much for the sealable bowls. 1957, so now we have moved forward in time. is a product shots that would have been done by the company, of their early products, when the tupperware was all white. it was not in color yet. and then this is a pretty unusual and rare photograph of ,he inventor, earl tupper talking to probably an engineer about the production and the many different forms it would come in. they did not just make these what, these were probably we were most familiar with, but he really expands into a line of

specialized containers. some of which are actually behind me. a salad dressing container. my favorite, the millionaire drink shaker, so you can make cocktails and put them in the fridge without spilling. plastics are really a 20th century material, they are new. so he has an early encounter with the big plastics, dupont, and they make plastics and gunpowder during this. period. in they have a subsidiary massachusetts, and he works there. after world war ii, he gets a plastic and hele actually invents, from that, and even more flexible and translucent plastic. this is all post-world war ii,

just as the consumer market is really taking off. he enters that market with a new product and with a new material. american consumers, housewives and the women who did most of the buying for the home, they were very skeptical about plastic containers. they were much more inclined to use glass, it was easier to clean and they thought about stinky, as brittle or because the plastic itself had in odor. or that it was not easy to clean. and glass is all of those things. faced an, he invention challenge and a market challenge, how to get women to buy the plastic containers over the glass containers. he had a great product but not a great way to sell it. a lot of independent inventors

and these companies struggle with how to market goods, especially if they are new on the market. tries ahe does is he number of selling venues. he places his product in department stores and it falls flat. people are not buying car because there is no one to tell it, because there is no did tell you what the product is. and then there is a direct to consumer sales with somebody knocking on the door and who is demonstrating them for you. these are salespeople that were really moving tupperware. one of them was brownie weiss, a woman who was a gifted salesperson and a big personality. she came out of world war ii where she worked in an airplane factory and then took up home sales as a way to support herself. is about her -- hears

about her and eventually makes her in charge of sales, vice president of the company. and she moves the sales wane -- wing to florida. she does many things that are innovative. she sells with two other women and she incorporates this stay-at-home, domestic woman who is a mother and a wife, or just a wife. as a way to make extra money on the side for things they might want to buy. and that gives women a tremendous incentive to sell. and she cap -- taps into that -- into she greets that. and she creates incentives, like , and reallyd cars get the sales force into the culture of tupperware. themed,e parties were

some of them waiting on the moon parties, cavemen. -aparties. she makes them fun. and we have a couple other things that were given to the women. here is a demonstration. this all hinged on the demonstration. women come and who are the main shoppers for the home, were not necessarily sold on plastic containers, but if they got why they could keep food fresher longer in a sealed container and why plastic had benefits, then they would buy. there is another piece of literature in the collection. it is a great color palette. and here are the fabless products -- fabulous products. and here is the millionaire drink shaker in the refrigerator. you can own them in different

colors, which was also a sales technique. this is why this story is in the consumer era section. abouts an area that is 1945-19 70's, and it is a moment when americans really have more money. there is a middle-class again. from the late 1920's-19 30's, the depression and through world war ii, americans do not have a lot of money to spend on purchases. depression people are out of work mother is rationing. -- work, and there is rationing. but finally come after world war ii, americans have a little more money in their pockets and they are spending it on houses, on appliances, and on things to fill the appliances and live the good life. which they associated with consumption.

seen only a small part of the innovation wing today, but it is a permanent exhibition and there are more stories and more american history if you, to visit. thank you very much. >> you can watch this and other american artifacts programs by visiting our website, www.c-span.org/history. rich-span.org is a video complement to your viewing. most of our programs, like the house, senate, and congressional hearings stream on the site. if you are away from television, you can watch on your desktop, laptop, even your smartphone or tablet. and there are archives online, so if you miss an episode of washington journal, book tv, or any program, you can find it online and watch at your convenience.

in fact, the video library contains more than 200,000 hours of programs and the powerful search engine helps you find programs going back many years. to watch on television, c-span publishes for all three networks and its radio station. just click on the schedule. this is a public service of your cable and satellite provider, so check it out. it is on the web at www.c-span.org. >> monday on the communicators, while visiting a technology fair we spoke with fred upton from michigan, chair of the energy committee. we also interviewed innovators from ford, executive gary the blunt, about new technology, spectrum issues and the upcoming auction. >> look at where we are today in terms of communication, job creation.

we are working on a major bill, on legislation that we have already passed, but we will see it with more spectrum, which will enable these devices to be built and used. we are on the run. >> putting in legislation and encouraging states to look at, how do you build the road of the future? dealing with companies that are in fear, what do you need for your technology to be working better? >> from the very first generation that we launched a decade ago, our focus has been on making your device as useful as possible in the car, in a way that will let you keep hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. this is has -- this has always been about technology. >> there is great demand for more spectrum, so we are working with colleagues to come up with a sharing solution. we are working with colleagues at the department of

transportation and the federal communications commission. >> watch the communicators on monday night on c-span2. state john kerry served in the vietnam war as a commander and received a silver star, a bronze star and three purple hearts. he later became a vocal proponent of the war and testified in 1971 before congress. next, secretary kerry sharing his views on the war as part of the presidential library presentations in austin, texas. then he will sit down with a conversation with ken burns, his eight hour documentary on the war debuts next year. this is one hour, 10 minutes. gregory --elcome dr. , president of the university of texas at austin.