bought a station. they wanted it for political purposes. when they were renewed, there were told to be very careful about expressing their opinions. what's tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span's, q and a. >> the state of pennsylvania was founded by quicker william penn in 1682 as a sanctuary for religious freedom. many's quick -- quakers have lived and worshiped in philadelphia percent. next, american history tv's american artifacts, a visit to arch street meeting house constructed in 1804. tell in the story of philadelphia's society of friends -- and to learn about the history and practices of quakers. >> welcome, i am the director.

today i will talk about the building, arch street meeting house, a quaker place of worship, also a little bit about quakers. a lot of our visitors don't know much about the religion before they get here, which is an interesting issue. when you go to -- on the two were of the catholic church, one of those historic cathedrals, people usually have sort of background knowledge, we have found her visitors don't. if it would in our tours, we answer a lot of questions about whether or not quakers are puritans, we do -- basic education. this is a good place to have that basic education -- the arch street meeting house is the largest quaker meeting house in the united dates, maybe the world. we are looking into it. it was elton 1804. the land that the properties built on seeded in 1701 by william penn. the property outside his first fairground until don't you.

i'm sure we will get to that later. at the beginning of our tours that we normally do with visitors and school groups, we have look around the space. do a lot of comparing this site to other religious sites people are visiting, because it is sort of outside of the norm. we have people look around, then let us know what's different here versus other historic , a lot of times they notice there aren't stained-glass windows, or golden candles read even a place for a priest, or deacon to stand and give a sermon, or something like that. that's because quakers worship in a way that is different from most folks. it's a christian religion. sunday, the -- this is still an active congregation they meet your for worship. cap and what happened 200 years ago is pretty similar. that's out here in philadelphia. people gather, since islands for

an hour. historically, people gather in this space, that would be quakers that you've heard of from history, such as susan b anthony, william penn, lucretia mott -- they would mean buildings similar to this. they would sit in silence for one hour. if anybody in the group, congregation felt the desire to stand up and share a message, if they felt moved to speak, they can rise from in silence -- and share what they had to share. the question we get often, what was -- what with the quakers have said during worship? we like to throw it back to history. it's easier to say -- susan b anthony, when she had a message, it's probably related to women's rights and suffrage, because that she was fighting for the most, that was on her mind rapprochement -- she spoke out a lot. we have records of some of the sermons and talks she was giving during worship.

they relate to abolition, urging of the quakers to feel the same way she did about -- today, it can vary. about holiday, adults and children are treated with the polity as well. i've been to a few meetings were children will stand up and give messages. it can be really moving to hear what i have to say for their experiences. that there were tell that the average is here, they would've had children. can 1814 on a typical sunday, mr. would've been filled with 600 or so adults sitting down here, and they probably had two kids each. you can extrapolate that -- the entire upstairs was -- 1200 people here. to thed've been filled rafters with quakers. nowadays when we have sure --

worship, there's about 60-70 people. back in 1814 when the children did worship, they were seated upstairs. the boys would have been sat on that side of the room. on those benches. the girls would've been on the opposite side. they were separated by a big piece of wood. it's not the there any longer but it would and in the center and would have separated them. there were also adults up there, making sure they were behaving appropriately in the space. another thing that's really interesting. lakers say -- they say that they are the original recyclers. -- we have a lot of proponents of this building, including of the staircase, the girls who -- it's called the modesty panel. it is an extra piece of wood that would have shielded the view of their ankles as they walked up step to go to their area for worship.

one thing that i really like to tell visitors, but they don't get to see a lot, because they're not going to upstairs, there's graffiti. -- it's carved into the wood. it dates back -- i've seen -- their list what i've seen is 1818. pierce to be in times new roman font. times change, but not everything changes. a lot of people ask us about her benches in general. you can see, this room is filled with benches. they don't all look the same. some of them have the wide slats at the back. narrownes are a lot more , basically just this part, not this part. it was done a lot of work looking at the benches, and the

construction. we have learned that most of the tope built with jos slat. bottom panels added for comfort later. when the building was built in 1804, they had to sell off other like your meeting houses in order to afford to create such a large holding that they did. they took the benches from the other make your meeting houses and sent them here. these predictions -- construction of the building. the least when we have is thought to have been from 1685. edison a space for bikers currently worship. they can go and sit on the if they feel the desire. see on theseso benches, there are these cushion. this is the original cushions that were here in 1804. they have recovered. this pattern is not the original material on the outside. they keep zipper in something

new over it. we have the last of urgent -- this pieces of the one before that. it's really interesting and exciting for visitors -- visitors to hear, the original horse hairs inside. when you touch them, we ask the children, guess what's in there. it feels like and sounds like a when the squish it. should hear the gases. they are magnificent and creative. it's usually a doctor says, horse hair. to pointhing we like out when talking about the architecture of the space him as i mentioned earlier, during quaker worship,we silence. ramsey street anyone seen in the entire space stands to give a message. what became -- obvious that hearing was an issue. if you are in a large meeting outside this one, a lot of the other meeting houses are much smaller since moving of his video.

but here it's so big that they want everyone to hear everyone's message. respect their secure but that person a purist saying, the need .o dig your out how to do that this is before microphones existed. they -- their -- they have these letters between them off the meeting called the monthly meeting of francis filled up to them and benjamin latrobe, an architect a lot of people know of. they were discussing this issue come out how to we make this -- improve the acoustics of the space? he came up with what is at the it's -- ihis room, have read dissertations that scholars have written about this. some of the sites have as well and has been called, the sounding board, or, a sounding panel. that is supposed to -- the curved nature of the piece is supposed to make it so that the

voices start of -- it just -- shifts the voices out throughout makesire building and it easier to hear. it also -- i've heard other describe it that it gathers forces as well. it works in two ways but am not -- we need to do a lot more research on this. so this room, which we know as the west room, was used as the joint place where men and women had worship during is also a -- another space identically is largely used to be outfitted with benches, but they were taken out in the 1930's, when men and women started to together for all the options of this building they look -- no longer needed to separate spaces. that now is using a multiple purpose space, where we have some of our events, currently under construction. i look to take you over and seals now. now we are headed into the east room. this space as i mentioned

earlier, is nearly identical to the room that we were justin, which we called the west room. you can say these benches have been the front are the same, but the benches throughout the rest of the space have been removed. as a multi-purpose space. this is currently set up for events that we had this past weekend. that's what the mayor's office. on this table are headstones that were once outside in the burial ground. as we'll see later, it's about two acres -- it's the first program in philadelphia which is there are visible headstones on the property. a lot of times people ask through here thinking it's a beautiful park. there's 20,000 bodies buried underneath their feet. they are ground -- aerial grounds before the 1850's didn't use headstones. vain. seen as

there was an actual -- quicker ruling that was set up. you might see a few headstones at baker step -- covering them over with their. we've come across a few of these doing routine maintenance outside. some of the surfacing brought them in -- here's a few of them. one thing i find to be incredibly interesting, we have been to the said -- cemeteries such asbecause thrilling that was -- headstones

-- does not the weather for very long for was other covered over or put inside of the building. another interesting artifact that we have on the site is would been misled. it's a funerary sled. it would have been used on the property to bring the bodies to their final resting place we had some experts look at it. they have said that it's like it 1700s-earlylate 1800s. these exhibits we're standing in front of now were created for the american bicentennial in 1976. there were a lot of people coming to philadelphia, the acres wanted to invite them into the meeting has to tell the more about the founding of the city and other things about quaker history. is your total story of william

penn. look like this because they're being -- the exhibits are not finished. it's an interesting story to tell. -- theret irony here when they really start to think about quakerism. and golearned about it to meeting for worship that she is friends that are quakers. he knows it is in conflict with his father who is seated at the end of this, who was an admiral in the navy. himk as a pacifist, so by becoming a quaker, he was going against his family and his father. it was an difficult choice for him to make. here, william penn is explained to his father that he has found his new religion, and that he -- she can no longer carry the sort -- the next i run is an image of fully implement jail.

but people are shocked when they hear the early makers -- in the mother quakers -- and the being jailed for their beliefs. here he is in prison. consider other folks -- women. one of the stories that we hope to tell with this diorama, be honest william penn having been --risoned -- other stories else paul come in suffrages. she was arrested for picketing outside the white house. she really wanted the white -- right to vote. she was standing outside with big signs. she got hauled to jail. she did a hunger strike. this is also -- experiences in prison also got makers involved in prison reform movements. eastern state penitentiary in pennsylvania was founded with help from quakers who had been assertive experiences firsthand. penndiorama is of william making a treaty with native

american. back to the quaker idea of equality, william penn and other the.s native americans as other europeans in the united states may not have taken the same approach. this ironic here is to tell that fair dealing with native americans, and how that was different in pennsylvania versus other places. this diorama tells the story of philadelphia, which william penn originally laid out. they are named -- after trees. quakers would have referred -- preferred to not name streets after themselves, that's not -- not vain, but close to vain. you'll seephia, there's warmer, chestnut, the main roads are named after trees

and those people. instead -- you are now walking around -- such as callow healthstream, named after his first wife -- pemberton street. once it's getting involved in quaker history, points of them on the map. >> exhibits we have right now, start over here. that's what this quilt. the quote was created by a group of women -- it is called the houses industry. philadelphiaive in after they took up quaker arms -- after the ella favor epidemic. they noticed that there were a lot of women left widowed who had children to take care of -- it needed to find a way to help those women by providing clothing and services. to give women the opportunity to work for wages. this industry was active in just

the will that we have is an emblem of quaker activism, even though it's just a quilt. square is- individual signed by a woman who was working with the house of industry. they were giving us signature quilt -- two that had matron. that was when she was retiring. >> in his next case, we are highlighting the work of a click -- quaker artist. his name is edward hit. withe might be familiar the peaceable -- kingdom artwork. one of the things people know about quakers, they were simple and plain. you can definitely see that an architecture we saw earlier. edward hicks, when he learned that his action in life is painting and art, it was in direct conflict with his religion. at one point, he was a quaker minister.

people thought he was to this itk, seen to be adornment, wasn't just used full -- useful. that's what quakers were in the habit of having. people suggested that he become a farmer instead. these were people who, his mentors and elders -- in his worship community. he knew he still wanted to be a painter. he tried it failed. it's interesting. here's some examples. he was painting signs. see that he was self-trained. they are not extra-flamboyance, anything like that. they are simple and light in their own way. the reason we tell the story, a he is a quaker, be we have these -- their children's blocks hand-painted by edward hicks. this was probably the beginning of the 1830's -- for those made.

i've heard that there is only one other set that exist. it's really rare and great that we have those. as one of image here is of outside of the meeting house. this is on the bricks that pays -- paves the way out there. this is the door right next to us here. you'll see there is a group of men here at standing outside of the meeting house. nothing alike to point out to visitors is the differences in their hats. must've been a pivotal moment in -- men weresomeone hats, they call them older hats, then the were also these flat top hat. it's interesting to see the dynamic, to think about why he chose the round, he chose the flat. with the more research come i'm sure fashion historians know, we've heard because of the hat styles, it probably was from the early 19 teams that this image was taken. here, we have some

silhouettes. think a lot of people are familiar with the art of silhouettes. most children go to some sort of , recent historic site front get your silhouette made. quakers really embraced this art form, versus portraiture. portraiture would have been seen as fancier. it takes time when you have to sit through a portrait -- you are seated for a long amount of time which shows that you have free time, which shows how rich you might be. it was an emblem of wealth. had a commitment to simplicity and plainness, doing things that were useful. so silhouettes were a more simple way of having a likeness of yourself created. is it just a few examples that we chose to tell that story. appears the christian mott, a lot of people know -- she was an ardent abolitionist.

some of the others are just interesting, but they chose to depict themselves holding plants, or missing, for instance. center,g girl in the it's probably hard to make out here but she actually has a crutch. you can see this a little piece of hanging up from beneath her foot. that's a crutch. it's really interesting, it's so to lookut to start deeper, you do see all these details of who these people really were. his next case is about the construction of this house. what i didn't mention, the meeting house was filled by iker named owen little junior. he comes for my family really active in quaker start. did was to go to architecture school. i was not a thing, there were not architects. here for to himself as a builder.

but we have here are some of his tools that he left inside the building. they have his initials on them. this is a battle, the cisco the. they were both found i believe this is what it's called above the porticos we have outside. the symmetry here shows you to it was the top rectangular box. they were doing some restoration work in the 1960's they fell out onto the restoration workers. we have heard since that early builders when leadtools is their calling card saying, i was here, this is my work. we have them on display. we chose not to put them back up into the woodwork. also the original males and hinges. with so have the plans of the building here. this is just a reproduction of look a but it -- these lot different than the blueprints you see nowadays. how he related

outcome and the different spaces that heof the grass built into the design of this space. debt here are some comically different go to places. this is the front door key originally. things out is famous for, his writing -- writing a book of young carpenter's assistant. but only did he care about doing the construction itself, but there was a lack of real educational tools for other people to learn how to do this sort of work, beyond just apprenticeship. he wrote one of the first guide books and reference books to cheat -- teach people how to do construction work. an exampleere is taken directly from his book. it looks exactly like the pillars we have here. >> when people enter this property, there's a brick walls -- once they come in through the brick wall, they are surprised

at how large this building really is. it's hard to capture with general it, it's so long, barely fits even into the frame. if you notice on the facade, it's really plain adheres well. stop fancy. as have as many stories as a lot of the other churches and filled of it this time. you are also noticing probably that there's no steeple, something that you commonly see another churches in the area and beyond. or should community the mixer and sundays known as a monthly meeting. their monthly meetings all over this area of philadelphia, and all over the country, the world. these are basically the congregations. the congregations from this area get together. they have been doing this since religious societies -- were founded. for meeting is everybody

together in one place. this is called annual session. this building is built large enough to hold all those people at once in one place. one of the legends that exist here, the story about this brick wall. built as ainally burial ground. wall wast goes, the originally about 4-5 feet high. you can sort of see the difference in the color of the bricks here. when the yellow fever epidemic swept through philadelphia in 1793 -- around those years, the story is that 10% of the population of philadelphia died during that time. the city was overwhelmed, but these bodies of six people -- the story is, a night some folks would throw them over the wall to the arch street burial ground property. quakers would take care of them.

we've also heard that there are mass graves in the property, where the lefevre victims would have been buried. shortly after the lefevre epidemic ended, quakers raised the wall to 8-98. i have heard a number of different reasons for why that might have been raised, but you've got to assume it has something to do with their experience during the yellow fever epidemic. sometimes you may hear quakers referred to as friends, usually with a capital f. that's because the formal name is the religious society of fronts. the religious society of friends was formed in england and the sick teen fifth is by a number of people, but permanently -- george fox which is name. his latest back in england were -- they didn't agree with the english church, and all the stuff we talked about today, simplicity and plainness, the church that was incomplete in total opposition and of that.

things were fancy, wasn't all about worship, the quakers wanted to pair that down and away do things that they felt were useful, things that were connecting them to god. they wanted to remove all the artifice, maybe, the middlemen. they thought that they could communicate directly with god. they saw everything else is being superfluous. a lot of the early quaker leaders were actually jailed for their beliefs. they were in street corners preaching. for instance directly saw inside. they can be from prison for speaking out the way that they were about the quaker beliefs. the persecution they faced in england was one of the main reasons i started to come to america. they originally lived in new jersey, pennsylvania. it's another reason why william penn was so motivated to come and start the colony of pennsylvania, to get away from

the persecution going on in europe at the time. it is an emblem -- arch street meetinghouse is an emblem of early social activism. quakers are well known for being people who have led and inspired others to get involved in social justice work. , mentioned suffrage, abolition environmental movements, prison reform, mental health services, quakers have always been active in this kind of work. arch street meetinghouse is a place to learn about that history. it happened on the benches in their. it's a really great place for us to tell that story to visitors. it's more than just quakers history, it is all of our history. >> history professor greg brezinski discusses the competition between the united

states and china to influence newly independent african and asian countries during the cold war. he is the author of, winning the third world, american rivalry during cold war. this 90 minute event was co-hosted by the woodrow wilson center and the national history center. seminar featuring greg brezinski, which -- christian will introduce a one thend, is co-sponsored by woodrow wilson center's dish program, and its kissinger's -- institute as well as gw history department. with that, christian will and should is today's speaker. thank you. thank you eric. welcome to all of you. apologies for the slight lead. .e have since been covering the they've been patient with us in the past -- running over session. i feel good about giving them a .ouple minutes extra for set up be aware, you wille