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society in the country. it was founded by a woman who wanted to preserve new hampshire history. we're going to look at the core exhibit about new hampshire history, which features a number of object considered iconic objects of new hampshire history. the first item i want to show you is a dugout can do. -- a new. canoe.gout this is one of the oldest items in the collection. 500 years old.

where stone age people. they do not have tools, anything they had came from natural resources they found around them. this canoe would've taken about one month to build. they would've started with a slow burn, a very controlled burn on the top of a large pine tree and then they would've taken a stone tool to dig it up. because of the high attrition rate, the life span was short for these people. they would die through disease or warfare. a lot of the canoes, they are still finding them to this day around lakes in new england. a storm will churn up the autumn bottom of a lake. then a canoe will emerge. this canoe was found in the lake region of new hampshire and it is about 500 years old, which makes it the second largest object. the second oldest item in this exhibit is this bowl, which dates 2000 to 3000 years. a bowl like this was a lot of work to make. a soft stone, but still stone. they would've used a stone doubt

to appeal how this bowl, but it would've been very useful, they could've used it to carry water, cook in, they were hunter-gatherers, but they also grew crops, so they could have used this to collect crops in. the first arrived in 1623. they were interested in fur and fish. the cod fishery off of the coast. the beaver pelt they sold to fishermen. pine trees were used as masts in the ships. farming was the primary occupation. new hampshire is not ideal for farming. the terrain is rocky. the growing season is short. in the off-season most farmers had another skill or trade. some selected textiles. some did barrels or shoes. some made furniture.

such as this high boy here. in the 1760's, two brothers started making furniture. they were very good at making furniture. their furniture was in high demand. they brought in their sons and nephews to work in their furniture trade. soon they were no longer farming, there were making furniture full-time. dunlap furniture became some of the best-known furniture in colonial america, particularly in new england. they made a huge range of furniture from dressers to a that every farmer would own to a high-end piece like this high boy that would've been found in the homes of the wealthy. we're looking at a number of items from the battle of bennington, which was actually fought in vermont during the american revolution. the majority of soldiers who fought were from new hampshire. so new hampshire played a big part of the american revolution , but some historians claim we sent more men to fight in the continental army and the militias than any other colony . new hampshire's most famous revolutionary war general was a man named john stark.

no battles were fought in new hampshire, but new hampshire men played a huge role in the battle of bunker hill fought in boston. two thirds of the troops were new hampshire men led by stark. the other was the battle of bennington, which was fought in new york on the vermont border in 1777. john stark was considered the hero of the battle of bennington, and many years later, they had commemorative dinners for the battle of bennington. in 1889, he was too old to attend, but he sent a letter to the gentlemen joining in the commemorative dinner, and in that letter, he penned a famous phrase for new hampshire -- "live free or die, death is not

the greatest of the evils." that became the new hampshire motto. behind me as one of two revolutionary war flags. it was used by the second new hampshire war regiment and was captured at the battle of 40 and in 1777. usually if your flag was captured, it was destroyed, ripped up, and used for bandages were worn for whatever reason. this flag was taken back to front by the british commanding officers and kept in his family for generations. in 1910, it was found by our benefactor in virginia and he purchased the flag and brought it back here to the new hampshire historical society where it has been preserved and on display for many years. there are only a few revolutionary historical flags, one is on display, and the other is being conserved and cared for. after the american revolution, there was a big building boom in

new hampshire, and industry underwent a radical change. farming was still imported and as you can see from this lithograph. there was still farms in existence. bill technology came into existence. they started building using waterways huge power looms and bills. the textile industry boomed. in new hampshire. the changeover to the industrial revolution had a profound impact on the new hampshire lifestyle. one was a transition from agricultural society to urban and industrial. just over my shoulder is made by painting made by thomas hill. if you look in the center of the painting, there is a very small house depicted. that house belonged to a family who lived in new hampshire. they moved up to crawford in 1825.

at the time they moved there, crawford notch was almost deserted. there was barely anyone living there. about one year later in august 1826, a massive storm moved through the white mountains and it caused a great deal of damage all over the valley, rivers flooded, bridges were washed out, a search be made to look . a search party went to look for them and found a landslide had destroyed almost the entire valley, and all that was left intact was their house. so the house itself was untouched. people had just left the house. there was food on the table, beds were made, lots of signs of recent habitation but no people. the search party began to look for the family, and they actually found the bodies. the disaster, the tragedy sparked national attention. soon thousands of people were coming to the white mounds to view their house.

in the process, they fell in love with the white mountains and the beautiful, picturesque scenery, and artists began to paint the mounds and soon the disaster turned out to be a big boon for the white mountains and started a big tourist industry. it was odd, the visitors came to see them, including this image, which is the old man of the mountains. he became a famous symbol of new hampshire. this is it edward hills 1819 portrait of the old man. the old man was first recorded by europeans and 1805 markman who were cutting a path, they recognized his profile. the profile of a man carved out of stone, which seem to characterize new hampshire, and it became a symbol of great wonder.

some thought it might be an indian prophecy. most recognized it as one of those weird and wonderful things nature produces from time to time. in 1815, nathaniel hawthorne wrote a short story about it called "the great stone face." it was another thing that brought thousands of tourists to new hampshire. it truly became a symbol of new hampshire. unfortunately, the old man began to slip a little, and effort was put into shoring him up with a number of steel trusses basically. unfortunately and surprisingly , that system failed, and in may 2003, that failed and when people woke up on that morning in may, the old man was gone. he had slipped down the face of

the mountain, and that symbol of new hampshire was last unfortunately. the last thing i will show you is a model of the mount washington cog railway. mount washington is the tallest. the first person who made the ascent was a man named darby fields. he had a number of guides with him who refused to go to the top because they said it was too dangerous. after that time, many climbed mount washington successfully , but with the tourist drive of the late 19th century, lots of people wanted to get to the top of mount washington who were not able to physically undertake the challenge, so a gentleman named sylvester marsh came up with an idea of building a railroad to the top. unfortunately, it was too steep of a decline for regular railroad, so he developed an ingenious design using caused to gradually pull the cars up the line with a special antilock breaking system that prevented

them from slipping back down and in a controlled fashion. he got a charter from the state of new hampshire in 1858 to build this cog railway. he took years model and travel around and got investors and put his own money into it as well , and he eventually built the cog railroad in 1868 and 1869 and it is still in operation today. we hope that by visiting the new hampshire historical society, that people will understand the rich and complex history from the earliest inhabitants of the revolutionary war to the development of the mills, the civil war, the tourist industry. new hampshire has had a remarkable history that has mirrored u.s. history. what has happened on the u.s. cene has also happened here in new hampshire. we hope our efforts, people can appreciate all that new hampshire has to offer. staffrs cities tour recently traveled to new hampshire to learn about its

rich history. c-span.orgat /citiestour. you're watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend. >> this weekend marks the integration of little rock high school. in 1967, nine african-american students were prevented from entering the school. president eisenhower sent federal troops to allow students to attend. author elizabeth jacoway talks about her book "turn away thy son," about the events that lead up to that day. she was a central high school student at the time of the integration. her talk from the university of arkansas is just over one hour. >>