O Say Can You See?

A historic day for the U.S.A.

Many of today’s newspaper headlines describe the victory of presidential candidate Barack Obama as “historic.” The election might qualify as historic for a number of reasons, but with the selection of this country’s first African American president, the issue of race is what’s on most people’s minds.

This ca. 1963 poster from the museum’s collection makes the point well. At that time, when Obama was about two years old, African Americans and other minorities were engaged in a protracted and sometimes violent struggle to exercise their full rights as citizens of this country. That same year, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. proclaimed his dream that “my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

The long-term significance of this election to America’s history of race relations remains to be seen, and will surely be the topic of many debates. But when you consider the change that has occurred over the course of a single lifetime, it is hard to describe the occasion as anything but “historic.”

Matthew MacArthur is the museum’s Director of New Media.

Collecting the presidential campaigns

Political history curators Harry Rubenstein and Larry Bird have been traveling to the Democratic and Republican National Conventions since the late 1980s. At each convention they collect campaign memorabilia for the museum’s political history collection—a whopping 150,000 objects and counting. In the following video, Harry and Larry give a “show and tell” of some of the artifacts they collected from the 2008 campaigns. In addition to everyday campaign materials such as signs and buttons, the two curators brought back some colorful artifacts—like a McCain “terrible towel” and an Obama action figure. What are some of the most interesting presidential items you’ve seen in elections past?

Dana Allen-Greil is the museum’s new media project manager. In her neighborhood, jack-o-lanterns bedecked with depictions of the candidates were quite popular this election season and, unfortunately, too perishable for the museum’s collections.

Rolling out the carriage

Is your car, truck, or carriage sweet enough that we’d want it for the collections at the National Museum of American History? We’ve shown you Stanley, the blue robot vehicle, and would now like to introduce you to President Ulysses S. Grant’s carriage. This carriage was purchased by Grant during his first term and he rode in it to his second inauguration in 1873. Its most recent journey was from an offsite storage location back to the museum floor where it will greet visitors to our popular exhibition The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden.

Despite its four large wheels (that still turn), the carriage made the migration on furniture dollies to avoid any risk of damage.  Fine arts handlers and museum staff carefully maneuvered the vehicle through the halls of the museum to the third floor and into the exhibition.

Daniel Hoerr is an assistant in the New Media Department.

As now, democracy was up to bat 100 years ago

When the museum’s Archives Center was relocated to the first floor in 2003 to make room for the Price of Freedom exhibition, staff members were assigned to find items in our collection to reproduce as decorations for our new reference room. It was a great opportunity for each of us to showcase some hidden treasure in our collections. I immediately remembered one of my favorite images, a postcard in our Lou Newman Collection of Baseball Memorabilia, with the title “Democracy at Bat, 1908 Campaign.” I love this image! It combines politics and baseball in a satirical way.

The donkey, representing the Democratic party, is up to bat, obviously hoping to get a hit, with William Howard Taft behind the plate for the other team wearing the catcher’s gear (often nicknamed “the tools of ignorance”). One of a catcher’s roles is to “call” the game for the pitcher, i.e. signal to him what type of pitch to throw, and as the pitcher is unseen, maybe we’re to assume that it’s Teddy Roosevelt, who campaigned (“pitched”) for Taft that year. Democratic candidate and two-time loser William Jennings Bryan officiates as umpire, and his hand is raised in a “strike” call. Uncle Sam is out of place here, as there’s no fourth man at home plate during a baseball game. As we now know, the Democrats struck out, and Republican Taft won the election.

Cathy Keen is an Associate Curator in the museum’s Archives Center.

A real national treasure?

Last night (October 16) on “The Colbert Report,” the museum’s director, Brent D. Glass agreed on air that Stephen Colbert is indeed a national treasure. The saga began in January, when the comedian began a quest to have his portrait accepted by one of the Smithsonian’s museums. Colbert bargained with director Brent Glass, was rejected, and then headed over to the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. The portrait was hung near the bathrooms in the Portrait Gallery for a few months where it was a hit with museum visitors. Last night’s episode picks up where we left off in April, when the portrait was displayed in the National Museum of American History’s “Treasures of American History” exhibition.

Fast forward to the present to find Dr. Glass formally accepting the portrait into the museum’s collections. Watch the reactions when Colbert “accidentally” puts his foot through the painting as he hands the artifact over to the museum.

Have no fear, though, Colbert did not kick through the actual portrait! The original is safe and sound among the other treasures in the museum’s entertainment collection.

We hope you'll join us for the grand reopening festival on November 21st. As Colbert said, “Be There.”

Dana Allen-Greil is the museum's new media project manager.