public service by america's cable television companies. and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. c-span's american history tv is at the william trent house, the oldest house and the state at nearly 300 years old and is the city's namesake. 1719 william trent house museum is located in downtown trenton and is the oldest historic house in new jersey. ailliam trent was us scottish born marshall. his business made him very wealthy and he purchases first home in philadelphia and his second summer home right here where we are standing. so, his merchant business dealt with shipping and both importing rum,rting goods such as molasses and wine interview was

involved in the slave trade. were inthe west indies and in africa. he did choose this location for the nearness to the delaware river and the shipping routes, as well as being local to england -- to inland routes. once they could no longer pass on the delbene, they went to in land routes. he brought goods to philadelphia. there are not a lot of things in the air. when mr. trent came here he became the major employer. worries andlls and farmlands and orchards and things like that. and he employed a lot of local people. major amend or owner and a major employer and at one point he incorporated the the so he liaiadaid out city. it was trent's town.

it became trenton. he was the namesake of the city. he moved here with their second wife and their one child. this house was built in the early american georgian at the architectural style. there are a lot of things that represent that era. he started construction in 1715. completed in 1719. he lived here until 1721 as his summer residence and from 1721 to 1723 as his all year round residents. we are standing in the grand entrance way. this room would have been used as a multipurpose room. you would have been greeted by the butler, who would've been liberated as a symbol of mr. tran's wealth. inwould have had his slaves colonial dress appropriate to their statue. this area shows pretty much is exhibited as a waiting area . mr. trent was a chief justice.

we did have some chairs set up that would have been similar to what you would have seen. i'm going to bring you into one of the first rooms we have here to show visitors. this is the front parlor. this room would been used for several purposes as well. based on lighting and heating conditions. the way it's set up currently, it has nothing but antiques. this room is full of william and mary furniture. if you take a look at some of the tops of chair, they have crowns. these are not mr. trent's personal items but these are antiques of the time. if they were imported to these any later, these crowns would've non hacked off with affiliation with the british crown. you see a lot of intricate scrollwork. the william and mary period was influenced through dutch, flemish and different influences. mr. trent was a wealthy merchant

and he did entertain a lot of important clients for both his business throughout the court, as well as general entertaining and dining. he was well-to-do in the community and he would've wanted to show that off. any and everybody who would've been have the same class would have really spent some time here. and they would have engaged in dining like this. downstairs here would have been a public place, open to any type of public. wanted touylld have show up. and there would have been brass handles on the doors. he has an item called the -- if you take a look down on the floor boards there is pretty much everything is of the same size, except for this board here. the board underneath it. this is something called the kings board. this was a highly taxed item and pretty much used for the king exclusively. shipping, army projects,

anything he would have used. trent lately mr. has it on his front parlor floor is saying he does not care that -- it's the equivalent of having a very nice car in your driveway.mr mr. trent was showing off. he was a wealthy merchant. and what that meant for this timeframe is he brought in a lot of luxury goods for himself and his family members. he also would've had -- in his probate inventory taken two years after his death -- he did own 11 slaves. so, we've come downstairs into the in-house kitchen at the william trent house museum. an in-house kitchen would not have been the most common thing during this timeframe. the reason being was this was quite a fire hazard. but mr. trent got what he wanted. hence, the in-house kitchen. what you see here is our kitchen hearth. there are a few different things

in here that are really very interesting. we have something called a clockwork spitjack. and this is something that would have power to rotisserie. prior to this invention, this would've been something that would have been done by either slave labor or canine labor. they would've consulate had to turn up spit. the way this invention works is that there are two weights that will hold the spit down. then they rewind everything and the spit would turn on its own. and also over here you will, if you take a look, with something called a beehive oven. this would have been used for baking purposes and would've had to keep it shut. this was a very multipurpose area. if you compare it to a modern kitchen, this is your stovetop and of and everything all in one. tren'ts bedroom and the upstairs portions of the

house. what you see here is something called a camp or a campaign bed. this would have been used by the military and would have been used as a portable way to find some rest and/or shelter. however, this version is overly large. and decorated with printed cotton sheets. these would've been quite a luxury item at the time. anything that would've been printed in cotton would've had to been imported at a highly taxable rate. this room is also separate from mrs. trent's begich are at the time as they would've slept separately-- the convention at the time. they would have a servant for them or one for each of them. he did not spend a lot of time here, unfortunate. he is one of the residences at the least amount of time here. even though everything is named for him. tenure-1724 was his and this did not include some of

it being part-time. he passed away on christmas day in 1724 in the house. his death was unexpected. he died of what they are deeming an apoplectic fit. a stroke or heart attack. was likely during this time for men who were not expecting to pass. he did not have a will. they did a probate inventory two days after he died. -- two years after he died. we do not find any personal items because of family members would have taken things they deemed important and things like that. so, after he died, there were about 20 different residents of the house. we've had some pretty highly prominent roles in history. we have been a governor's mansion, a mayor's residence. we were on both sides of the revolutionary war. we've also had several private residents, the last of which was edward stilts. he gifted the house to the city in 1929. the house closed for a short

notnt of time as 211929 was the best of it opened up in the 1930's with help from the wpa. and we have been open as a public museum since around the 1930's are so. i like to impart to them how important this house is for the development and the continuous history that comes along with the area of trenton. this house has seen a lot of history, both when it was built by william trent and since taking care of the property. again, we have started from colonial times, revolutionary war times, to the present time. in this century is very important. we can't forget such as slavery and the pretty much how the -- reallyent of colonialism brought about changes to this area and what we see today. our cities tour staff

recently traveled to trenton, new jersey, to learn about its rich history. learn more about trenton and other stops on our tour at g/cities tour. you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. announcer: "american history tv" was at the organization of american historians annual meeting where he spoke with barbara shubinski about how the rockefellers philanthropic mission started and how it has changed over the years. interview is about 15 minutes. host: what led you to study american philanthropy. barbara: i did my phd at the university of iowa. alongside graduate school, i had a number of jobs in what we call the third sector or nonprofit organizations. i'm familiar with being a grant seeker and being aware there is a whole philanthropic structure thater