of suburbia after the civil rights movement and how local governments impeded desegregation of neighborhoods. sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on the presidency, a symposium on first lady with scholars discussing why first ladies have -- such power appeared watch this weekend on c-span3. >> the c-span cities tour child the country, exploring the american story. we have been to more than 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 -- from that one company that came here in 1888, the glass company, came all of these tertiary companies that have

built this economy of glass in toledo. so, we are standing in the glass pavilion, which is part of the toledo museum of art. the purpose is to show the glass collection, which is one of the significant parts of our collection here. it is a third of the overall collection in toledo. it is also one of the largest collections of glass in the united states. and the city has a wonderful history of glass both in terms of the industrial contribution in toledo and also in terms of what the museum presents. >> edward was the founder and the proprietor of the last -- glass company. it was through his ties with the glass 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 both glass collection and

paintings collection. edward, he was born in 1854. the new england glass company which was the precursor to his glass company, started in 1818. his father became the agent for the new england glass company in 1872. and so, he learned the glass business from his father. and in 1883, his father suddenly passed away unexpectedly and he took over the business. he brought the glass company to toledo because number one, there was a natural gas in findlay. there was high silica sand , a component of making glass. plus, the businessmen of toledo sweetened the pot and gave him the site for the factory as well as sites to build houses.

once here in toledo, it faltered a bit. the workers were unhappy because they did not have their family around. and it was not a highly developed area. so, all the amenities that they were used to in the boston area were not available in toledo. and so, he lost a bunch of workers. so, he went to west virginia to recruit more workers, but not only recruiting the workers he needed, but recruiting a man named michael owens. he ran the factory in the early days and he led the marketing campaign. and he was able to go to places like the world's fair in order to put the libby glass company on the international stage. and the place where he did that first was the 1893 chicago world's fair. and he built this whole

pavilion, a whole glass furnace and studio so 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. and not only do they have the opportunity to see glass being made, they also were able to see this wonderful novelty that nobody had seen before which is called the glass dress. they got this technology where you spun glass dress is very thin and you can stretch it and stretch it to the thickness of a threat. what they did is they pulled all of these threads and they will -- they wove it 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. one of the most beloved works. 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 that was happening in st. louis that year. often times, companies would make grand works for the fair as a way of showcasing their greatest abilities. and what they could really do. so, this is a piece of cut glass. it would have first been blown as what was called a blank without any decoration on it. the glassblowers would pass it off to the cutters. and then that would've gone through several stages of cutting where you first rough out a design and you go in and really make the cuts deep. and more precise. the wonderful thing about cut

glass is that it has this really brilliant look to it so when the light shines on it, it reflects and refracts and makes this beautiful, brilliant look. >> so, the type of glass libby was making here at that time period was brilliant cut glass. it is what you think of it that very heavy, sparkly with the beautiful designs that just look like diamonds when the light hit it. from the 1880's until probably the 1920's, was the era of brilliant cut glass. and that was really the time that libby was marketing his wares. they were marketed to the higher class of people. so, 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 company going. and so, it became much more mechanized during that time in between of the death of him between -- in 1925 and the start of world war ii. when you think about glass in toledo and the phrase the glass city, it is because it was the kernel that grew out not just at the libby glass company but owens illinois. they were a bottle making company and it grew out of michael's 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. and so it grew. 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. >> well, 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 named harvey lid on the team -- harvey. 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 in the history

of studio glass which takes us back to the early 1960's. in 1962, there was a man who taught ceramics at university of wisconsin madison who really wanted to experiment with glass. and he worked with a director at the gma, -- toledo museum to initiate a series of workshops. the first one happened in march of 1962. and harvey sent out a letter to a group of other ceramics professors and invited them to come to toledo and participate in the glassblowing workshop or -- where they would experiment. and so they came here and set up a furnace. they built a furnace. they did not know how to melt glass, so they went to a local scientist who worked at a company that made fiberglass. and they began to experiment. there was a retired glass blower

named harvey who worked in libby , he came in and help them to 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. and other artists you see represented in the case were also making glass in the 1960's and 1970's. so, when harvey had these workshops, he had a great moment -- a successful moment with experimenting with glass. he returned to his campus and set up the first university program in the country program for teaching glassblowing. others would follow. while you see in many people's work the focus on the

traditional glass form like the vessel, you also see this tremendous range in which people are working today. in very sculptural ways and abstract ways. the possibility of glass 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 our libby glass. this beautiful pavilion i am standing in is very much 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 across the country on c-span.org, cities tour appeared this is american

history tv, only on c-span3. >> for five weeks, 830 through june 27, we will feature a first lady symposium, hosted by the white house historical association. sundays at 8:00 p.m. eastern, here on american history tv on c-span3. 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 institutions founder james smithson. this is abou40