the shadow of brexit in looming overhead because that turns out to be a hard exit, that will be very bad for the peace process of northern ireland and destabilize a lot of the progress that has been made. i think i have gone on too long. if cooperation continues, i think the time will come that the vision of a agreed island with catholics and protestants and they can all live in common and engage in mutual respect. i think that will be realized. thank you very much. [applause] >> american history tv. 48 hours every weekend of events that document the american story. >> the c-span city tour travels the country. it's 2011, we have been to 200

communities across the nation. like many americans, our staff is staying close to home due to the coronavirus. next, a look at one of our cities tour visits. >> toledo is known as the glass capital of the world because of the one company i came here in 1888 came all of these tertiary companies that have built this economy of glass in toledo. we are standing in the glass pavilion which is part of the museum of our. the purpose is to show the glass collection which is one of the significant parts of our collection here. it is also one of the largest collections of glass in the united states. the city has a wonderful history with glass in terms of the

industrial contribution and in terms of what the museum presents. he was the proprietor of the last company. it was through his ties with this last company that he made his fortune. because he and his wife had no children, he left that fortune to the museum and he gave us a large glass collection and paintings collection. he was born in 1854. new england glass company which was the precursor to his own, started in 1818. his father became the agent for the new england glass company in 1872. he learned the glass business from his father. in 1883, his father passed away unexpectedly and he took over the business.

he brought the glass company to toledo because number one, there was natural glass in findlay. there was high silica sand available. the businessmen of toledo sweeten the pot and gave him the site for the factory as well as the ability to build houses. once here in toledo, it faltered a bit. the workers were not happy because they did not have their family around. it was not a highly developed area. all the amenities that they were used to in the boston area were not available in toledo. he lost a bunch of workers. he went to west virginia to to recruit the workers he needed. he also recruited a man named michael owens.

he ran the factory in the early days and he led the marketing campaign. he was able to go to places like the world's fair in order to put the libby glass company on the international stage. the place where he did that first was the 1893 chicago world's fair. he built this whole rebellion, a whole glass furnace and they could see glass being made. of course, stop at a gift shop at the end and purchase glass. this turned out to be wildly successful. not only do they have the opportunity to see glass being made, they were oval -- also able to see this novelty nobody had seen before which is called

the glass dress. they got this technology are you spun class through a very thin. it's very malleable and you can stretch it to the point that is the thickness of a threat. they pulled all of these threads and they will bit into fabric. they made this fabric into literally a dress that could be worn. it is a phenomenal dress. >> we are in front of one of the best-known works in our collection. it almost needs no introduction. this is known as the libby punch bowl. it was made in 1904 by the libby company, specifically for the world's fair happening in st. louis that year. often times, companies would make grand works for the fair as a way of showcasing their greatest abilities.

this is a piece of cut glass. it would have first been blown as a blank without any decoration on it. the glassblowers would pass it off to the cutters. that would've gone through several stages of cutting where you rough out a design and you go in and really make the cuts deep. the wonderful thing about cut glass is that it has this brilliant look to it so when the light shines on it, it reflects and refracts and makes this brilliant look. >> the type of glass libby was making here at that time. period is brilliant cut glass. it has the beautiful designs that look like diamonds when the light hit it. from the 1880's until probably

the 1920's, was the era of brilliant cut glass. that is a time when libby was marketing his wares. they were marketing to the higher class of people. they were sold in jewelry stores and there were catalogs that people could pick out what pattern they wanted and orders would go back to the factory and it would then be shipped to the client. as time went forward, it changed what libby glass created. there were still a few high-end things that were hand loan, hand cut, hand engraved. they quickly switched over to things that would make a profit and continue the profit going. it became much more mechanized during that time in 1925.

one you think about glass in toledo and the phrase the glass city, it is because it was the colonel that grew out not just libby glass company but owens illinois. they were a bottle making company and it throughout the inventions for the automatic bottle machine company. out of the roots comes this flat last company. and then there is owens corning fiberglas. that was another way of using glass in this setting. it wasn't just the libby glass company, it was all those other glass companies that were outcroppings of that one company that came here in 1888. >> toledo has a long history of

glassmaking in terms of its industry and again in the 1960's when a series of workshops happened here, spearheaded by a ceramics professor. this is a case of works by what we would call pioneers of the early studio glass movement. toledo as a city and the museum played an important role in this watershed moment. this takes us back to the early 1960's. there was a man who taught ceramics at university of wisconsin madison who really wanted to experiment with glass. he worked with a director at the toledo museum to initiate a series of workshops. the first one happened in march of 1962. he sent out a letter to a group of ceramics professors and

invited them to toledo and participate in the glassblowing workshop or they would experiment. they came here and set up a furnace. they did not know how to melt class. they went to a local scientist who worked at a company that made fiberglass. they began to experiment. there was a retired glass blower who came in and get the hang of what one does with a blow pipe. they blew things like these three objects you see laying on the deck here. they might look primitive but the idea was that they were experimenting with glassmaking. harvey would go on to make a very sophisticated body of work. they were also making glass in

the 1960's and 1970's. when harvey had these workshops, he had a great moment with experimenting with glass. he returned to his campus and set up the first university program for teaching glassblowing. others would follow. while you still see the focus on the traditional glass form like the vessel, you also see this tremendous range in which people are working today. in sculptural ways and abstract ways. it really exploded in the last 50-60 years. >> from the beginning until now, the glass industry has diversified. however, the base is still here. we still love libby glass. this beautiful pavilion i am standing in is a monument to the

marriage of industry and beauty. it is a wonderful testament to our toledo history and that fundamental history of glass. >> you can watch this and other programs in the history of communities on our website. this is american history tv, only on c-span3. >> this week, we're looking back to this date in history. >> you do not like the way that scars of centuries are saying now. you are free to go in when you want and do as you desire and choose the leaders you please. you do not take a person who for years has been hobbled by change. and up to the starting line of a

race and say, you are free to compete with the others. and still, justly believe that you have been completely fair. it is not enough to open the gates of opportunity. all of our citizens must have the ability and walk through those gates. this is the next and more profound stage of the battle for civil rights. >> follow us on social media. for more this day in history clips and posts. >> american history tv on c-span3. every weekend, documenting america's story. funding comes from these companies and more, including charter communications.

[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ television companies supports american history tv on c-span 3 as a public service. founded in 1846 this smithsonian institution was originally housed in a redstone building on the national mall known as the castle up next on american artifacts a behind the scenes tour of castle spaces not open to the public with novelist steve barry and curator richard stamm. much of mr. barry's latest work of historical fiction the lost order takes place here richard stamm is author of the castle and illustrated history of the smithsonian building. we met our tour guides inside the crypt of the instituti