>> c-span created by america's cable company in 1979 brought to you as a public service by your television provider. >> coming up on c-span, highlights from our first lady series. then tonight's life first lady program on frances cleveland the first first lady to be married in the white house. later president obama takes part in the memorial day services at arlington national cemetery. >> over the next hour, we'll look at some of our first ladies and the places that influenced their lives part of our history series first ladies influence and image. our program on martha washington includes visit to the washington

homestead. >> it's clear that after martha arrives at mt. vernon in april, there's a lot of management that she has to do. when she marries george washington she brings with her 12 house plays and that is really almost an unimaginable luxury. these are slaves not producing crops which is where your income is coming from. they are doing things like cooking, serving the table, cleaning the house, doing laundry. this is not productive labor in the sense that it's not producing income. so she brings the those slaves with her and she brings financial resources to the marriage as well as her managerial skills makes mt. vernon a successful operation and makes possible for washington to be away fighting a war. the fact that washington had the

support system that enables him to volunteer his time and talent to run the revolution is critical. during most of the revolution is a distant cousin of george washington. alater in the 1970's the farm manager is george augustine washington who is washington's nephew. he ends up marrying fanny basset who is martha washington's niece. tells you something about the closeness some of the family relationships. it's clear from the correspondents while they're at mt. vernon with martha washington, she was a take charge woman. in termings of her interaction with the slaves, she interact with the cooks. there are also slave women spinning on a continual basis.

she's supervising what the gardeners are doing. she liked having a kitchen garden that she could go out and bring in vegetables for what they're going to be able to serve. she's the one who's really planning the menu. there are just a lot of levels that she is working with. we know it's a big operation really the center of her whole life. >> a close friend of martha washington abigail adam spent most of the time during the revolution in massachusetts. >> it's a commitment to country. abigail rose to the occasion. the first 10 years of their married life john and abigail lived in this home from 1964 to 1774. it's where they raised their four children. this is the birthplace of their second child john quincy adams who went on to become the sixth president of the united states.

it's important home because the primary link between she and john adams would be letter writing. it was from this house that he was provided a window to what was happening back here in the colony of massachusetts during the revolutionary war. abigail would report to john about the militia no boston during the battle of bunker hill, she took her youngson right over to penn hill down the road the high point. she would watch the battle of bunker hill with her son and report to john adams the fires and the smoke rising from charlestown. she was the eyes of revolution and john adam the second congress in philadelphia. abigail amends, here in the pub of the household. this room was considered the classroom for abigail. during the war, one must

remember, the schools were closed down so the children did not benefit from a formal education. instead it was up to abigail to teach them the lessons. not only arithmetic and french but literature and morality. she was their primary educator here in this room. this is the room where the lessons would have taken place. she reported to john adams. she begin to take up the works of rollins ancient history. she was having john quincy read her two pages a day. i don't know ever read rollins heft but for a 7-year-old boy to accomplish this, he had a very good instructor. during the occupation of boston, there were many refugees leaving from boston out into the country and they needed a place to live. abigail adams wanted to open home next door for these refugees. abigail rented out the house to

a farmer and his son. they would provide assistance to abigail on the farm here. she reported to john in one of her letters that she met with some very ill treatment. she asked mr. hayden to share his house with the refugee but he refused. by the time abigail received from a importance from john -- john adams, she taken care of the problem. there are troop that's are marching in her yard practicing their ma yours and preparation for -- ma you've -- maneuvers. at one point there were militia living in the up stair attic. she welcomes these militia men to her home and supported the revolutionary war with her action. in 1787 abigail ripped they had

outgrown their little cottage. she begin to negotiate with her cozen to purchase the house we're standing in front of now. john adams joyed a lot of peace. there were two rooms on the first floor, two rooms on the second and three smaller bedrooms on the third floor and then a small kitchen in the back of the house. essentially there were about 7.5 rooms to this home. this was john and abigail's home base. >> before becoming first lady abigail would spend nine years in this house. the first year she was setting up the house after returning from europe. she remember one of the grand houses in quincy. her perception of grand changed. she began right away making plans to enlarge the house. she wanted to improve on the size and height of the ceilings and the size of the space.

she will write to her daughter not to wear any of her large feathered hats because the ceilings were too low. she began to work with an architect to enlarge the size of the home. with sensitivity to the architecture, she had the builder dig down so they would lower the floors and get the high ceilings that she desired. you step down two steps and you're in a whole different world. a typical day for abigail would to rise at 5:00 a.m. much of her time here was spend tending the farm and taking care of the house. she loved those early morning hours to spend by herself, preparing herself for the day but most importantly having a chance to indulge in one of her

novels. >> although this is a presidential home, it is the home of a family. abigail instead of having servants doing all the work for her even as the first lady, she woulds be contributing to the kitchen. this is asking she -- something she continued. she was very involved. she had children and grandchildren visiting her here. she also spent a great deal her time writing because again, this misfortune being apart was our fortune. abigail would write of the room she was in and the window and the view she saw. the beauty unfolds outside of the window tempts me to forget the pass. an indication while abigail was back here at peace field, she was on a new beginning as first lady of the united states as wife of the president and still a mother.

she would describe life here at peace field so romantically that john adams would reply what i will do to enjoy thee without interruption. >> knowner for her hero -- >> most of the dresses we have are based on description that we have of the way that dolly dressed. one dress that we owned is a recreation of something that we still have. this is typical of the style of the day. it shows classical line, a simple drape and it was much more simple and elegant than the fashion either before or after it. this is the sort of style that dolly would have worn while she was first lady. many of the dresses were more elegant. this represents what she wore at

her inaugral. this is james madison first inaugral. she wore a simple bus velvet. she wore pearls which is something more classically elegant but less ostentatious than the diamonds you find in the courts in europe. dolly was setting a style that was unique to american fashion. a lot of people think that dolly set the fashion of the turbine. that's not quite true. it began in persia. dolly popularized the style. people noticed it. some times they thought that her fashion was a little bit too regal. there was one instance she wore something that was lined in

irman. people said that this was over stepping things. she looked too regal. she looked too queenly and they were afraid that queen dolly was setting the wrong tone for republican america. toward the end of her life, dolly still wore many of the fashions that she wore in her earlier days. some of this may have been to invoke that american founding. she was the last living matriarch of this generation. but some of it was because of the growing thing in her life. she didn't have the money to buy the latest fashions. she had to wear many of her old clothes and repurpose them. she had paints of her final days and she's often wearing the same thing. >> a more private first lady elizabeth monroe broke some of the traditions expected in her position and gained a reputation

of being queenly. >> one of the most authentic of the house. you go back to one time in the white house, i probably would go back to the monroe period. the wheels of the united states really begin to turn. it began to come to life. monroe, of course thought that the era of good feeling would last forever and political parties will dissolve. people will begin to move west in big numbers. i think that was to be the period i would like to be. in furnishing the house, james monroe and his wife was very much into french. he wanted all the furniture to come from france and he spent a lot of money with these clocks. these things are still in use.

you had that and all the presidents used since then. >> when you see earliest things, many of them were in the blue room. we have the wonderful guilt chairs and sofa. they were required by president men -- monroe from france. he was criticized. this room is much more of a period room in that sense that the wallpaper is much more of the same period as the furniture as the portrait of president monroe. it's really a place where the monroe would feel the most comfortable too like teddy roosevelt. to walk in and say i understand this room. the furniture we bought that's the portraitings we set for.

this wallpaper is about vintage. >> only first lady born outside of the u.s. had a make a few adjustments to her new life in america. with her mother-in-law former first lady abigail adams. >> when they first came on the old house, they had just journeyed back from europe, landed in washington d.c. and made the journey up to quincy. her health was not good at the time the journey was very difficult. she was brought to this house to meet her father and mother-in-law. of that moment show would write, had i stepped on to noah's arc, i could not be astonished. she had a challenge in winning over abigail adams. john adams was easy. she felt comfortable with him and liked by him. abigail was more skeptical. perhaps due to john quincy's teasing. he only gave out abigail a

little bit of information about louise catherine. it was in many ways a surprise that he married louise catherine so quickly and abigail did not get a chance to know her. she was concerned although she was an and citizen, she had never stepped foot on american soil. this is not what she intended if her son john. through time she learned to grow and love and understand louise catherine and through the years they forged a very strong and loving relationship. louise catherine describing abigail adams as the planet which all revolved. louise catherine and john adams did not live at peace field. in fact they would return only during the summer months to get a relief of the politics from washington. her grandson henry adams remembered louise catherine fondle. in his work, the education of

henry adams, he describes louise catherine and her relationship. he always felt she was the odd man out if you will because she was born in england and educated in france and she remained a foreign personality to many of the adam' but not to henry as a world traveler himself. his fondest recollection of louise sitting at the table using her silver teapot set she brought from england. she would entertain both herself and many of her guests in this room. john quincy adams and louise would inherit this home from john adams. john quincy thought about selling this house. after discussion and thought with louise catherine they decided this was important to the family story to hold on to this house for future generation. >> plier >> -- prior to the election,

rachael jackson enjoyed a brief time of retirement. sharing it with close friends and a lot of family. >> they came to this property in 1804 he was just sort of retiring for a while. when they first moved her, he spent a lot of time at home. the primary people who would have visited prior to the war of 1812 would have largely been friend and relation in the area. rachael had a huge family. rachael was close to her family. jackson being an organ. after the war of 1812 when he become this national hero, there were people here all the time. rachael is pretty acknowledged to be a pretty nice hostess.

during jackson's fame after the battle of new orleans, pretty much from 1815 on through the rest of rachael's life, they had lots and lots of company. they had many parties or evening dinners or things here at the hermitage. they entertained people and they appreciated those fine things too. they acquired a good deal of silver. they would have been used for an evening party where probably some very highly liquored up punch was served. this kind of dual image of her as country lady, she wasn't that exactly. i think it was more about her comfort in the big city than it

was about her actual appearance or clothing. rachael was not a fan of anything that took andrew jackson away from the hermitage. i think he knew pretty well that she would have preferred him just to stay home and be plantation owner andrew jackson. this is the earliest letter we have that jackson wrote to rachael and it was written in 1796 when he was in east tennessee on business and it read to her, my dearest heart. i sit down to write to you, i'm absent and my heart rest with

you. when i shall restore to your arms domestic sweetness with you the dear companion of my life. never to be separated from you again during this fluctuating life. the garden was considered one of her really special places. lots of comments from visitors about her gathering flowers and gifts. >> there's one story when a young lady was here on her honeymoon and she and her husband were invited to stay. she mentioned that the garden was very special to rachael and when they were preparing to leave to move on to the next stage of their honeymoon, she walked through the garden with rachael and rachael gathered flowers. >> raised in society angelica van buren was suited as white house hostess. >> angelica would spend the

summers here. there were occasions where they spent parts of the winter months here. they would spend the summer months here for most of the time. here in the time dining angelica would serve as hostess. during those times angelica if she was in residence at the house here will be the hostess. she was so wealthy she all the social graces at the time. so much so even the ambassador from france was critical of america complimented angelica van buren. here in the green room one of two parlors on the first floor, typically the women of the house would engage in variety of activities, polite conversation. they would read or recite from

memory to one another. they would often times play games in here. angelica van buren was trained in philadelphia. there were occasions she would have played the harp for other female guests here in the green room. this is the breakfast room here. it's a much more intimate room compared to the main hall that you saw earlier. it's a place where the family had their daily meals. the china that you see here is the daily china that they used in the household. angelica van buren would have ate off these plates. in july of 1843 while angelica and abraham were visiting her father-in-law here, she suffered a miscarriage. we know from letter that she wrote, she was on the couch.

earlier she another baby girl die as an infant. angelica and abraham did have three sons. here on the second floor, angelica would spend a great time while visiting father-in-law. we had several dresses worn and worn by angelica van buren. i believe this martin van buren and his daughter-in-law and angelica had a close relationship. he was a man that was why he was successful in politics. she was trained in the social graces of the 19th century. they genuinely cared for one another. >> prior to becoming the first

lady, le tisha tyler raised their family. >> when john resigned, he and their family moved here. we constructed his law office and his laundry, the house they lived in is no longer here. here in williamsburg they're situated at the center of the town. the courthouse is right across the street near all of the markets, near all of the shops that up and down the street. this is short of the beating heart of williamsburgs. all of the political activity, the social activity, they're really living the center of it in this fantastic 18th century house that they were living in as john tyler is resurrecting his political career. they have they moved here when

le tisha was running the household. she was running their various plantations. right here she suffered a stroke in 1839. that partly paralyzed her. although she was still able to retain control of the family account, of all the family business while john tyler was getting back involved in politics. it's right here in this space that john tyler learned that he was elected vice president to william henry harrison. it's also here in the spring of 1841 where he was informed that he became 10th president of the united states. it was here that le tisha tyler learned that she became the first lady of the united states. >> when her term was over, julia tyler and the president retired to their plantation along the james river. >> the tylers was born in charles city county at greenway.

he purchased this house at the end of his presidential term. he came down here once before he retired from the presidency, brought with him julia gardener. they were married. she had liquor around the ceilings. she had the mantelpieces brought in from italy and the knock on the front door -- you have to look hard to see it, it's been meticulously poll lished -- polished through the years. julia and her mother were very close. we had many letters written between julia and her mother

from this plantation. this house is only one room wide. they would sit in the hall quite frequent. she sat in the open doorway that led to the south porch and wrote letters to her mother. quite frequently, she come with the president who kept his feet on the banister and would read his newspaper and throw it on the floor. in the gray room is a table and it's the table upon which we are told john tyler served julia tyler breakfast in her bedroom after he had been around the house. after his horse back ride he will go to the table and have breakfast. also, her mother writes her and says, i understand from other people that visit you that you

sleep until 9:00 in the morning that the president brings breakfast in bed. she said please do not take advantage of an elderly gentleman. in the afternoon julia writes to her mother frequently. her brothers, david and alexander who were students at princeton became upon the suggestion of mrs. gardener. her mother writes her back and said don't be so picky on minutia. she did love to entertain and we do have the record of a ball

which she said. in her honor of her sister margaret who came here frequently, a portrait here is of julia and margaret. this port trait -- portrait was painted. anyway, the ball that she had for margaret started at 9:00. she says they danced the waltz until the sun rose. the finest champagne flowing. among one thing that julia did here for entertainment is they allowed all the house servants children to play continuous with the churn of the big house. the letter julia tyler speaks with of her children playing with the children in the yard.

she speaks of them dancing with the children in the yard. the supervision of the house servants and there were a total of 90 slaves. there were 13 house servants here. they were happy in this household. she loved it. she refers to the melody of his voice. she always refers to his intelligence. she had a wonderful time here. >> during our program on sarah polk, we looked at how she saw the importance as first lady. >> how sarah looked was important to her i think certainly from the standpoint and how she was perceived by the

public. she saw a reflection the presidency itself. she was known for having beautiful dresses and looking incredible in a white house that was equally beautiful. the blue dress is called a robe. it was purchased in paris, france in 1847 and worn by her late in the administration. it's basically a robe. it will be the undressed of the first lady. this is the dress that she would wear. the white dress is a ball gown also made in paris, france. high end fashion for the 1840's. it was a style mrs. polk used again that she found a style she liked. it's a beautiful gown and silk and satin and it has a great deal of lace attached to it. mrs.polk also a frugal woman that she was, often purchased dresses and buy great deal

material so they can enhance them and change the way they look. she would buy a single gown and buy extra material. she was master at accessorizing. she had a wonderful collection of handbags and her jewelry was the american mode in the 19th century. it was rather unamerican for women to wear precious gems and said she would wear gold and silver and french paste. her head dresses are unusual. they're incredibly rare. few of the head dresses survived from this time period. we have a wonderful collection of head dresses. one unusual piece a turbine which would have fallen out of fashion but of course dolly madison was still alive. >> a teacher by trade abigail fill fillmore -- fillmore was

the first to have an occupation. >> miller and abigail didn't leave when they were both teachers. they both had this desire and love of reading. abigail was brought up in a family that had many books. her father was a baptist preacher and they loved to read. when she moves into this house, she continues that. they had their own personal library. she wanted to let young people learn extensively about the world as it was. this room that we are in, it's actually the focus of the entire house. history is made here, she employed herself as a teacher. she tutored young students in

the evening, namely in the course of history. this room would have been, of course, the living room but also servedded as a their kitchen. here in the fireplace, miller and abigail would spend hours in the light by the fire. abigail fillmore cooked in this room. here we are in the fillmore bedroom. the original staircase has an angle. we do believe it was a ladder at that time. as a young wife and mother, dressed in a long skirt and with a toddler on her hip, she asended that ladder into the bedroom. within this room, we have the fillmore bed and dresser. we know that abigail was a very wonderful seamstress. we do have her quilt here a very colorful quilt called the

tumbling black pattern. the house being on main street was a very busy place. it was frontier but it's developing. abigail would have had many visitors. we can envision abigail having a very full life. we do see her as a hospitable young woman, young wife, young mother teacher. >> having already lost two sons and hoping her husband wouldn't win election, jane pierce was first distressed when their family suffered a train accident. >> this is andover, massachusetts. it was home to john and mary akin. they were very close friends throughout life. mary was there for jane in the most important times. jane and franklin came to andover to visit the akin family.

they came here with their son vinny to visit the cousin. franklin and jane became very close and to catch those children after their son passed away. the family stayed at 47 central city which is the summer white house. it's called that franklin pierce would come to visit his wife in andover. jay will stay with her sister and he would come to visit them in the summer in particular. it's believed the administrative staff stayed at 47 central street. jane and franklin were staying in andover because there had been a death in the family. jane's uncle had died. they went to boston to attend the funeral. they returned to andover so they could pack their things and head to concord and get ready to move to the white house. unfortunately the train ride was devastating. an axle rod broke on the train.

as i understand it vinny was a child, this would have been five minutes of the train. when the train rolled down, he was hit in the back of the head severely. vinny did not survive the crash. the services for vinny took place at mary akin's house. they went to concord to bury vinny but jane did not attend. she was very grief stricken and could not make it to the final procession of the funeral. jane was sick most of her life. she's been referred to as tuburcalr. >> this is the hole of president james buchanan. in the spring of 1848, they

moved here. this is the place that she would call home until the age of 36 when she married and moved to baltimore. we're entering the parlor here and this room is a special room. this is a place where harriett lane might serve tea to friends and guests, write letters to her friends, play games, sing. just enjoy each other's company. very much like we would use the family room today. we have harriett layne's piano. this was probably purchased some time in the mid to late 1860's. as you see we have her music book here. this book contains a number of her favorite pieces including italian classics and we also have some patriotic songs in here. one of her uncle favorite things to do was to sit in this parlor

on a sunday afternoon and listen to his niece play the religious hymn. he was a very devout presbyterian. harriett lane was enthusiastic about things. she was simply -- upon presentation to queen victoria, ms. lane made a great impression. the queen was impressed with her. as a result of two of them formed a very interesting friendship. i have this bracelet. this is actually a gift that the queen gave harriett. it's a gold bracelet and inside it has her name, harriett lane and the date of 1857 when she received the gift. behind me here we have a

lithograph of queen victor and her husband. these were a diplomatic gift presented to president james buchanan. they hung in the white house. harriett lane spent time traveling with her uncle james. they also entertained international visitors during their time in the white house as well. one of the most interesting groups they had was the japanese delegation. the japanese delegate came to the white house in 1860 and they came with all types of guests. what we're seeing here are some of the little things they got. beautiful shoes, paper folded objects. this is a little dictionary in japanese. >> a very ambitious woman. mary todd lincoln found

greatness in her husband. >> this is the lincoln home in springfield, illinois. the home where mary helped build lincoln's career. this is where he became the president. >> mr. lincoln was a very ambitious person. he had a lot of goals. those were enhanced an when he met and married mary todd. she said wanted to marry a man of good mind and hopes for a bright future. she said she's going to marry a man who will be president. there was something about abraham lincoln that she saw the potential and encouraged it and helped developed it. lessons and etiquette in the dining room that helped polish him up. the strawberry and cream party,

very important. she wheeled over a lot of power. this dining room when they moved it, it was a eat-in kitchen. that's not something that high society upper class person would do. mary grown up with a formal dining in lexington, kentucky. she felt she needed to have one here because she didn't want her children growing up without proper manners. in a lot of cases mr. lincoln -- all of her boys needed some polishing and manners. she created this dining room to have that formal space for she and her family but also for when he had guests over. there were a lot of different people that came to visit mr. lincoln during the campaign and after he was elected president, four betweens before the election and the inauguration. there were a lot of visitors coming to springfield. one of them was william steward who ended up being mr. lincoln's

secretary of state. mary had trades of something that may be a slice of her famous white cake. you can get your refreshments in here. may be relax a little bit more after the formal side of meeting mr. lincoln. this is the double parlor and these are the two nicest rooms in the house. there's marvel top tables and the windows, there's guilded candlesticks. there's a walnut what not shelf with a bus of mr. lincoln on it. that was here in 1860. this is a fancy place. this is where she wanted to show off. mary would have held her parties in here where she would have

been discussing mr. lincoln's political aspirations. this is where people started when they started to visit the part. they started a the front door and met mr. lincoln here, may be went to the dining room and picked up refreshments. this is where mr. lincoln met with the republican national convention committee that told him he had been nominated to run for president. mary helped showcase what her husband done, how far he had come from that one room log cabin and kentucky to this beautiful house and kind of hinted where they were headed. stating to the world abraham lincoln had made it and he was ready to move on. >> because of illness, eliza johnson had to take a different

approach. >> we have one of eliza's necklaces which is a plain black cross. another is her sowing case and three of her favorite past times being as reclusive as she was was embroidery work, reading poetry and scrapbooking. on the broader sense, they did receive political gifts while in the white house and we have an ivory basket which came from queen emma of the sandwich islands which are now the hawaiian islands. that was the first time a queen come to visit the white house. andrew johnson was the first president to have the easter egg roll on the white house lawn. previously it was held at the capital. it sort of stopped during the civil war. he brought it back. he held it on the white house lawn so eliza could watch.

she wasn't able to get out much and she ended up watching. during the white house years eliza chose not to assume the role of first lady. she was very ill at that point. she received many gifts that she brought home with her after they left the white house. one of the most spectacular is this porcelain box that was given to her by the frenchmen. it had 50 pounds of chocolate bonbons in it. we have in the letter from some of her children saying that they would go up to mom's room in the white house to get a treat from the bonbon box. another item that she brought back was in remembrance of a visit that was charles dickens would come visit them at the white house. she returned and brought back one of his books. she was an avid reader.

another item that she brought back is a gaming table. it was given to them by the people of ireland and it's a 500 pieces. they would play games. but the craftsmanship is remarkable. another piece that goes back to them during the white house is actually the fruit container. that was a gift from the children of philadelphia when they were in the house and eliza brought that back home with her. >> after years following her husband from one military outpost to another, julia krantz was given a place to call home. >> this home was a gift that 13 businessmen to give to the grant family in appreciation for his service during the war. julia mentions coming up the hill and being presented this

lovely villa. the parlor was the entertaining part of the home. we all know julia was an entertainer. the family spent time here in the parlor. we know mr. grant and their daughter ellen plays the piano. emergency the family sit -- imagine the family sitting here listening to the sister and mother. the day after his election, grant and julia opened up their home and the parlor here for people and town folks to file through and congratulate both of them on his election. this is the general and mrs. grant's bedroom. the bed here the oldest piece probably the most personal. this is the original bed they

brought from white haven. putting down some roots here and they left it here. even through all of their travels in the white house, this was always here for them when they came back. this is called a lap book. it has mrs. u.s. grant on it. she probably kept papers and pen and correspondence in here when she was writing letter or receiving them. religion was important for mrs. grant. her grandfather was a methodist minister. growing up it was important to her and she instilled that in the children. they attended the methodist church here and the pew they used was still marked. over on this dresser, we have a bible that was given to mrs. grants by the methodist episcopal church in 1888. this is the dressing room, the most personal space in the house relating to julia grant. this is the room she will come to get ready in the morning,

ready for bed and to come in may be kind of get a little solitude from everybody in the house. we have her sewing kitting. we have a couple pairs of her little size four shoes she wore and some purses she would have used. a majority of the furnishes that we still have in the house belong to the grant family when they were here. if they walked through the door today, they would recognize this house and probably feel right at home because the furnishing was the same. this is where he came back after he was a military hero. this is where he was living when he was elected and when she became first lady. this was home to them right before that. >> called the mother of the

regimen, lucy hays kindness and passion endeared already to many. >> her children was extremely important to them. she and her husband had eight children. we know from diaries and letters this was their gathering space. not only is this their bedroom, this is where they spent a lot of family time together. this room is important to lucy as a mother because this is where her eighth child was born in this bed. he was the only one of the ability hays children to be born here. tragically he was never a very healthy child and when he was about 18 month olds, he passed away from something that was hard on the family. this is what she took with her when she was encamped during the civil war. it was very important to her that she be with him as often as

was practical. when he was in winter camp and that kind of thing when he was in western virginia, she would travel with him and she wrote in diaries and letters how important it was for her to be with him. she often wrote that she was very considered about the welfare of the men that were in his regimen. she took this with her and she would do some sewing. she was a very good seamstress. when he was married, she made her own wedding dress. one of the things that's interesting, this is where they had family christmases. they would have breakfast and then they would come in here and they would open the presents, the whole family will gather in here. they had simple presents. this is the space where they

would do that. lot of tradition. lot of important family tradition happened in here as well as day-to-day activities with the family. this is a water color painting of the president and lucy's bedroom. you can see there's some blue colors in here. that same color scheme is reflected in here. we know lucy likes the color blue. we know that by this painting here. we found colors embedded with these pieces of furniture. this is the bedroom of lucys only daughter. her name was fanny. this is a painting of fanny with her father. she was one of -- the only

daughter. you can imagine a little girl growing up in a house like this with a lot of brothers. even though her parents claimed she was not the favorite, she had this furniture fade for her and she certainly was the darling to her mother and father. >> lucretia garfield create -- >> this is the parlor. this was indeed both the formal parlor and family room. james and lucretia spent a lot of time with their children. they both adored their children very much. they lost two children to infancy. those children died before the family moved here. james and lucretia five children, hal, jimmy, all had

very two intelligent parents who strongly believed in education. they felt education was an emancipating factor. they took dance lessons, piano lessons. over in this other room, we have molly's piano which was a gift to her on her 13th birthday. she practiced the piano and that was a reward. here in the family parlor like almost every room in the house, you see a lot of books. books were important to james and lucretia. some of their favorite author was dickens and also william shakespeare. the family would read to one another and often times out loud in the evening. that was one of their favorite activities. we're here in the family dining room. in the center of the table is a

very interesting art piece. it actually won an award at the philadelphia centennial. mrs.garfield absolutely adored her time at the exhibition. she visited all the tents, the art tents, the science tents, the technology tent. she was specifically interested in the latest science and technologies of the day. she would write pages and pages what she saw at the site. like of people think of mrs. garfield a very artistic lady. she was very intelligent. dinner time was important time of the day. a time to talk about what they were all doing. the garfields would use this time again to educate the children. they would play games with the children. sometimes they will bring a book to the table. words were mispronounced and

misspelled. james and lucretia made everything an educational experience. >> first ladies influence and image. our series is available on c-span, c-span radio and online at c-span.org/first ladies. >> there tends to be a denegation of the u.s. military by some historians. whenever one battalion fought an american battalion, the germans tend to be superior. i think this is just nonsense because it's pointless. global war is a clash of systems. it's which system can produce the wherewithal to project power

in the atlantic, pacific, indian ocean, southeast asia. which system can produce the civilian leadership to create the transportation systems? the civilian leadership that's able to produce 96,000 airplanes. >> sunday june 2nd two-time winning author rick atkinson will take your call and e-mails live sunday at noon eastern on book tv. c-span created by america's cable companies in 1979 brought to you as a public service by your television provider. .... >> on c-span tonight our first lady series looks at the like of frances cleveland thin -- then president obama takes part in

memorial day service at arlington cemetery. supreme court justice sotomayor answers questions in denver. ....