you'll tour the collection in michigan. and then herb rt hoover scholar george nash talks about the relationship between the 31st president and calvin coolidge. >> just four days before the election, coolidge ever the party regular finally gave hoover an extraordinary effusive public endorsement. hoover, he declared had shown his fitness to be president. hoover said coolidge was able, experienced, trustworthy and safe. >> american history tv, all weekend, every weekend only on c-span 3. this is american history tv on c-span 3. tonight we're featuring state capitols from the c-span city's tour, which takes us across the

country to learn about hur history with the support of our cable partners. ♪ >> the kansas state capitol was built over 37 years, which is kind of unusual for capitols. but they started in 1866 after the civil war was over. we became a state january 29, 1861, so that makes us 154 years old in 2015. but they weren't able to start on the building because of the civil warsuch so when they did, they built it in sections. we are played out like the capitol. then they did the south wing which has the former supreme court. and then the north wing has the

state library and former secretary of state's office. and then finally the dome. and that did take 37 years at a cost of approximately $3.2 million. and so it was quite a bit of money at that time, but they did spread it out over the 37 years. and we are one of the few capitols all the money was raised before they were built. so there was no debt associated with actually building the capitol itself. when kansas was about to enter the union, there were an equal number of free states and slave states. so kansas was going to break the tie. and i believe that's where the state motee kind of comes from. our state motto stands for to the stars through difficulty and just kind of talking about how kansasans are tough, they can get through anything and no matter what they're going to make it through. we are currently on the second

floor of the kansas state capitol. this floor has the most famous mural on it that's in our capitol, the tragic prelude in the late 1930s. when john stuart curry was painting the prelude, he was commissioned to participate the story of kansas. so he started off, coronado was in that participating showing the first days of the person who described kansas. and then the buffalo hunters who are clearing the way for the railroads. so there was progress. the tragic prelude is in the east wing of the building. and then the covered wagons are participated heading west re representing that western expansion unit. we were kind of the last country before people headed out to

california. again, the main figure is john brown. he towers about ten feet tall in the painting and surrounded by the north and confederate flag and united states flag. and then theretwo dead soldiers that rest at his feet and represent everyone who died during the silver war. so there's quite a lot of symbolism. there's a gentleman hidden in the background with a top hat, and there's some discussion that might have been ape hack lincoln, but he wouldn't have been president at that time since it was prior to the civil war. it's kind of some foreshadowing in there. and he included a prairie fire in the participating as well, which he said it represented the death and destruction with war,

the corm coming storms of war and the natural disaster we face in our state. there's a lot of symbolism in there. and when you look off to the side he also includes the western meadowlark, which is our state bird. some people say he was a martyr. some people say he was a terrorist. but here he is our famous painting. and people can come, and it's art so you can interpret it how you would like. the state library is in the north wing, again. that was the last place that was completed in the capitol building. and it was at the time about 1900 and any digs was the state librarian at that time. she was the first female state librarian. and she said a lot of contributions to the way the

library turned out. so when you first walk in, it's very open. when you look up, there's a pineapple stencil over the ceiling. the pineapple is a symbol of welcome. there's also some face headdresses. and then theresome bird faces eating berries on the side of the walls. she is credited also -- she was a populous. which kansas was the only state that had populism. we had some popalist governors and big figures that were involved in the popalist monument. but she reminded workers even though they were designing the library, at some point they would be holding a lot of books. so they did reinforce the floor on the north wing knowing there

had be powould be books on that. when people got electricity they a lot of times got rid of those glass floors. but luckily we kept ours. so the flasz itself goes around the bookcases. and so you can kind of see in between. we also have two original book lifts that librarians can still use today to move books up and down from the first floor to the second floor. in the capitol we have the dome tour you can climb 296 12e7s and go to the top of our building. we are taller than the nation's capitol by about 18 feet. there are a few capitols that can go to what we consider our seventh floor, but not many go to the very top. in fact we're pretty sure we're the only one. but we go up to the top and you can see about 40 miles from the

balcony. it's a beautiful season. we tell people to go up several times a year because winter, spring, fall is very fun to look out. winter is probably you can see the farthest. it's very crisp, very clear at that time. it's open to the public. it's beautiful. when crow come into the rotunda you see the beautiful glass gloam surrounded by all the copper. and you look up and think you're seeing all the way to the top, but you're not. there's another 75 above that, and that's a dome tour. and we do tell people it's not a forced march to the top. it is fun. and if you're scared, we don't make you geall the way to the top. with our recent renovation we were able to add on quite a bit of space on the ground level. and the historic society was given basically a nice visitor

area. so on permanent exhibit we have a john brown sword. a lot of people like to look at that. we don't know if he used it for anything except we know he carried it with him. we also have the original constitution. so the first page of the original kansas constitution that made us is state is housed here in the building. and it's quite an original article. and it's right here. and kids can see it, and adults can see it. and it's on display although some kids can't read it now because it's in cursive. but we try to share it with everyone. if we were looking up where, we'd see into the dome where that's at. when you're at the top of the capitol, and as i mentioned you can go out on the balcony and look and see for about 40 mile,

if you lean back on one of the four corners of that balcony, you can see ad astro. he's a bronze statue, and i guess even though i mensed uralier it took us 37 careers to complete our capitol, some people might say it wasn't completed until 2002 because that was the year that we puts ad astraon t on top of building. it is an iconic tribute to the original people who were here firs