00:18 - Hi my name is Michael

00:20 - barr santee I am

00:21 - the Edwin wolf the

00:22 - second director of the

00:23 - library company of Philadelphia.

00:25 - And I'm very pleased to welcome

00:27 - you for this tour of

00:28 - the library company.

00:30 - The library company

00:31 - was the first public library

00:33 - in Philadelphia or anywhere else

00:34 - and it was founded

00:35 - by Ben Franklin and

00:36 - a group of his friends

00:37 - back in seventeen

00:38 - thirty wow one

00:39 - when Franklin is just

00:40 - a very young man.

00:41 - Franklin came to Philadelphia

00:42 - to seek his fame and fortune

00:44 - and he was an avid reader

00:46 - and he was an avid

00:47 - talker and he loved to.

00:49 - Put together groups of people to

00:51 - think together

00:51 - and solve problems

00:53 - and when he was in Philadelphia

00:54 - he founded a group

00:55 - called the janta.

00:56 - The junto was a

00:57 - group of men who met

00:58 - together either every

00:59 - Friday night at a local

01:00 - tavern and.

01:01 - They talked about history they

01:03 - talked about politics

01:04 - they talked about

01:05 - practical matters of

01:06 - the city of Philadelphia

01:08 - and they also

01:08 - talked about books.

01:09 - Eventually

01:10 - they decided they wanted

01:11 - to lend books to each other

01:13 - and they started a

01:14 - little library that was

01:15 - based on the individual

01:16 - books each of the

01:17 - members of the gionta owned.

01:19 - Overtime that

01:20 - didn't work because

01:21 - people didn't return the books.

01:22 - So it was Franklin's idea

01:24 - to start a membership

01:25 - library where people

01:26 - would contribute

01:27 - a small amount of

01:27 - money every year

01:29 - and the group would

01:29 - then buy books together

01:30 - and lend them to

01:31 - each other through the

01:32 - library.

01:33 - Based on that premise.

01:35 - The library company

01:35 - became the first public

01:37 - library and the first

01:38 - membership library

01:39 - anywhere in the world.

01:41 - It grew quickly the

01:42 - idea of the library

01:43 - company proliferated

01:44 - throughout the colonies

01:46 - and frankly was very

01:47 - proud of how this model

01:48 - of a public library.

01:50 - Became so important

01:50 - to cities up and down

01:51 - the eastern seaboard

01:52 - and the new colonies.

01:54 - The library company became

01:55 - Philadelphia's largest library.

01:57 - It's main library throughout

01:59 - much of it's history

02:00 - so that by the time

02:01 - of the the civil war

02:02 - it was one of the

02:02 - five largest libraries in

02:03 - the country.

02:05 - Today the library

02:06 - company has a research

02:06 - library but that means

02:07 - is that we spend most

02:08 - of our time working with

02:09 - scholars with historians

02:11 - and with amateur

02:12 - scholars and other folks

02:13 - who come in to look

02:14 - at our collections.

02:15 - Which go all the way back to

02:17 - the founding of the institution.

02:19 - What makes the library company

02:20 - important as a research center

02:21 - is that it's collection

02:22 - is based primarily

02:23 - on what the people of

02:24 - the time were wanted

02:25 - to read.

02:26 - It is not a collection

02:27 - that was built through

02:28 - what

02:29 - faculty at a

02:29 - university thought their

02:30 - students should read

02:31 - or what ministers in a

02:32 - church thought their

02:34 - parishioners should read.

02:35 - It was what members of a

02:36 - community wanted

02:37 - to read themselves

02:39 - and as result

02:39 - it reflects the tastes the

02:41 - interests the

02:42 - intellectual history

02:43 - of

02:44 - this moment really

02:45 - important moment

02:46 - in time.

02:48 - The library company was

02:49 - the first library of congress.

02:51 - When the

02:51 - first continental congress

02:53 - met in Philadelphia.

02:54 - It

02:55 - met in carpenter's hall

02:56 - and upstairs and

02:57 - carpenter's hall was

02:58 - where the library

02:58 - company happened to be

02:59 - located at that time.

03:01 - And so all the members

03:02 - of the continental

03:03 - congress were given

03:04 - circulating privileges

03:05 - at the library company.

03:07 - This is true for the second

03:08 - continental ca congress as well

03:09 - and then when the constitutional

03:11 - convention met here in the

03:13 - seventeen eight

03:14 - seventeen eighties.

03:15 - The members of

03:16 - the constitutional

03:17 - convention also had

03:18 - circulating privileges

03:19 - as did the first

03:20 - government of the

03:20 - United States in the

03:21 - seventeen nineties.

03:23 - When

03:23 - the government of the

03:24 - United States moved

03:25 - to Washington DC

03:26 - and eighteen hundred.

03:27 - They liked the idea of

03:28 - having a live varies so much

03:30 - that they started a

03:30 - new library of congress

03:32 - in Washington DC

03:32 - to serve the needs of

03:33 - the government

03:34 - but the model

03:35 - they were following

03:36 - was the one that had been

03:37 - set by the library company.

03:38 - In the seventeen eighties

03:39 - and seventeen nineties.

03:41 - I'd love for you to

03:42 - come with me now to

03:42 - take a look at some of

03:43 - the rooms and some of

03:44 - our great treasures that we

03:45 - have here at the

03:46 - library company.

03:47 - We're here now in a room

03:48 - we call the law Logan room.

03:50 - The Logan room is

03:51 - named after James

03:52 - Logan who was

03:52 - William penn secretary.

03:54 - In the new colony

03:55 - of Pennsylvania.

03:56 - As secretary Logan

03:58 - was lived in Philadelphia

04:00 - and made a lot of

04:01 - the decisions on behalf

04:02 - of William penn and

04:03 - the penn family and the

04:04 - administration.

04:05 - Of the colony

04:06 - he was also a polymath.

04:08 - An extra ordinary

04:10 - reader and intellect

04:12 - who built one of the first

04:13 - great collections of books.

04:15 - Here in the

04:16 - in Pennsylvania

04:17 - anywhere in the colonies.

04:19 - And when the founders of the

04:21 - library company

04:22 - Ben Franklin included.

04:24 - Decided they

04:24 - wanted to start a new

04:26 - library they went

04:26 - to Logan for advice

04:28 - and asked him what were

04:29 - the most important books.

04:30 - That their library could have.

04:33 - The first collection of

04:35 - books that the library

04:36 - company or a very

04:36 - interesting set of books.

04:37 - You have to imagine these

04:38 - people out here on the frontier.

04:40 - What books would they

04:42 - want to have in a library

04:43 - and the books they

04:44 - chose were very practical.

04:45 - There were books

04:46 - about medicine there are

04:47 - books about business

04:48 - there are books about

04:49 - history.

04:50 - There weren't a

04:50 - lot of novels not

04:51 - a lot of poetry

04:52 - not a lot of drama.

04:54 - Mostly a library of how to books

04:56 - of how to do things that you

04:57 - would need to do to survive and.

04:59 - Have a.

05:00 - Thriving city out here on the

05:02 - far edges of the British empire

05:03 - we use this room now to tell

05:05 - the story of the library company

05:07 - and front and center in the

05:08 - story of the library company is

05:10 - our founder Ben Franklin.

05:12 - Franklin of course

05:13 - was born in b Boston

05:14 - and

05:15 - and came to Philadelphia

05:17 - at a very fortunate time.

05:19 - It was a time when the colony

05:20 - was just preparing to grow

05:22 - and they didn't have a lot of

05:23 - printers there was

05:24 - one printer in town

05:25 - and Franklin

05:26 - tells a story in his

05:27 - autobiography

05:28 - about how he went to

05:29 - meet that printer and start

05:30 - his own printing business.

05:32 - Is very canny businessman

05:33 - within a very

05:34 - short period of time

05:35 - had managed to

05:36 - get a lot of the business.

05:38 - Of printing for the commonwealth

05:40 - of Pennsylvania and.

05:41 - For.

05:42 - Clients within the city.

05:44 - And.

05:45 - He eventually got

05:46 - the contract to print

05:47 - money for the colony

05:48 - of Pennsylvania

05:49 - and that became one of

05:50 - his most lucrative projects.

05:52 - But he was

05:52 - a voracious reader

05:54 - and.

05:55 - The library company became

05:56 - a place where he could.

05:58 - Acquire books read

06:00 - books he gave the library

06:03 - company and good

06:03 - number of his books as well

06:04 - and it became also

06:05 - a place where he

06:05 - would bring his friends

06:06 - or have his friends

06:07 - become members of

06:08 - the library company.

06:09 - In order to share ideas

06:11 - and to share thoughts.

06:12 - One of the other

06:13 - important functions the

06:14 - library company in

06:15 - Franklin's life was it

06:16 - became a place

06:17 - where he began his

06:18 - experiments with electricity.

06:20 - And behind it behind me here

06:21 - you see a one of the

06:23 - original electricity machines

06:25 - that Franklin developed in order

06:27 - to conduct his

06:28 - inspect experiments

06:29 - with static electricity.

06:32 - We have other items

06:33 - here in this room we

06:35 - have some telescopes

06:35 - and measuring equipment.

06:36 - And these were all

06:37 - things that you could

06:38 - borrow from the library

06:39 - company in order to

06:40 - use them at your home.

06:42 - And

06:42 - this is a.

06:44 - Trend that we've

06:44 - seen start up at public

06:45 - libraries again now to

06:46 - where you can borrow

06:47 - a telescope or.

06:48 - Bother

06:49 - borrow other kinds of equipment.

06:51 - That was set the library company

06:52 - was doing hundreds of years ago.

06:55 - One of the largest

06:56 - objects in this room is this.

06:57 - Air pump.

06:59 - And.

07:00 - Electricity was

07:01 - something a lot of people

07:02 - were interested in

07:03 - were experimenting in in

07:04 - the

07:05 - in the eighteenth century

07:06 - but also vacuums

07:07 - in the properties

07:08 - of air were very

07:09 - much of interest.

07:10 - John penn who was

07:11 - one of the sons of William

07:13 - penn and one of the

07:14 - succeeding governors

07:15 - of Pennsylvania.

07:16 - And

07:17 - wanted to give this air

07:18 - pump to the library company.

07:21 - The library company

07:21 - wanted something

07:22 - else from John penn

07:23 - though they wanted an

07:23 - official charter.

07:25 - That would establish

07:26 - them as a business

07:27 - that would allow

07:27 - them to own one land it

07:28 - would give them a sort of viable

07:30 - legal existence

07:30 - that they didn't have.

07:32 - In their early history.

07:34 - And so they built

07:36 - John penn

07:37 - and his.

07:38 - Heir apparatus

07:39 - this incredible cabinet.

07:41 - This was built by Philadelphia

07:42 - cabinetmakers who were

07:43 - members of the library company.

07:46 - Both to give it a proper housing

07:48 - but also to show John penn.

07:50 - How much they were grateful

07:52 - for his contribution to them.

07:55 - Surely enough within a

07:56 - year or two of giving this.

07:58 - Air pump at home and

07:59 - this elaborate cabinet

08:01 - John penn gave the library

08:02 - company the charter

08:03 - that they need it.

08:05 - One of the

08:05 - artifacts in this room

08:06 - I think tells the story of

08:08 - the library company best.

08:09 - Is.

08:10 - This box.

08:12 - And

08:13 - that is basically

08:14 - a suggestion box.

08:15 - It's a suggestion box that dates

08:17 - back to the seventeen fifties

08:19 - and it has on it it has a lions.

08:22 - Lions mouth painted

08:22 - on it and basically

08:24 - says gentlemen are requested ID

08:25 - to put into this box

08:27 - the titles of such books

08:30 - as they wish the library

08:30 - company to acquire.

08:31 - It is an important

08:32 - artifact because it again

08:33 - reminds US of the

08:33 - origins of the library

08:34 - company

08:35 - and

08:36 - the first community

08:37 - based library

08:38 - that.

08:39 - Acquired its books not based on.

08:42 - Teaching a curriculum or

08:43 - a certain religious message

08:45 - but a acquired it's

08:46 - books on the premise

08:46 - of what the community

08:47 - wanted to read

08:48 - and that today makes

08:50 - the collection so valuable

08:52 - for scholars because

08:52 - if you want to know

08:53 - what people in the

08:53 - eighteenth century were

08:54 - reading what they

08:55 - were thinking about what

08:56 - they were concerned with

08:57 - you can go to the library

08:59 - company and find what

09:00 - members of Philadelphia.

09:02 - In the eighteenth

09:02 - century wanted to

09:03 - read and what they

09:04 - wanted to know.

09:05 - That the.

09:06 - Suggestion box here is an

09:08 - important artifact.

09:09 - That

09:10 - sets US apart from

09:11 - other libraries that

09:12 - might have preexisted

09:13 - library company or

09:14 - other very early libraries.

09:16 - Were up here now in the

09:17 - stacks of the library company.

09:19 - We are an eight

09:20 - story building and have

09:21 - those stories six of

09:22 - them are where we keep

09:23 - our books

09:24 - we have over a million

09:25 - items in our collection

09:26 - of those around seven

09:27 - hundred thousand

09:28 - or individual books.

09:30 - Those books are

09:31 - date back mostly

09:32 - to before the civil war

09:34 - when the library company was at

09:36 - it's peak as a

09:36 - collecting institution.

09:38 - Our collections are

09:39 - especially strong

09:39 - though in the areas

09:40 - of women's history.

09:42 - African American history and

09:43 - commercial and economic history

09:45 - of the early years

09:46 - United States.

09:47 - We don't have a

09:48 - lot of collections

09:48 - of hand written materials

09:50 - and

09:51 - we have most of our

09:52 - collections or

09:52 - printed materials.

09:54 - Our collection is especially

09:55 - strong in ephemera.

09:56 - These are items that

09:57 - were not necessarily

09:58 - made to keep not

09:59 - necessarily fancy books

10:01 - that were meant to

10:02 - last a long time but

10:03 - pamphlets and

10:04 - commercial printing.

10:06 - A really extensive and

10:07 - wonderful collection of

10:09 - visual materials.

10:11 - Prints and early

10:12 - photographs in particular.

10:14 - That document the

10:15 - history of Philadelphia

10:16 - but also of the united

10:17 - states as a whole.

10:19 - My name is Cornelia king I and

10:21 - chief of preference

10:23 - and curator of women's history

10:24 - here at the library company

10:26 - and thank you very much

10:27 - for giving me this opportunity

10:29 - to talk about the library

10:31 - company's next exhibition.

10:33 - It is going to be

10:35 - women get things done.

10:37 - Women's activism from

10:38 - eighteen sixty two

10:40 - eighteen eighty.

10:41 - I want to talk about

10:43 - what was going on with

10:45 - women and gender

10:47 - roles and politics.

10:49 - In the nineteenth century

10:51 - because we time this

10:52 - exhibition

10:53 - to coincide with

10:54 - the ratification of the

10:56 - nineteenth amendment

10:57 - in nineteen twenty.

11:00 - So hundred years later

11:01 - we're looking at women's rights

11:04 - and we're listening in say

11:06 - twenty sixteen when a woman is.

11:09 - A candidate for president

11:11 - and we're seeing a lot of.

11:13 - Popular press images of

11:15 - cant women candidates.

11:18 - That are.

11:19 - Frankly backlash against them.

11:22 - Suggesting that

11:23 - women should not be

11:24 - involved in politics

11:25 - and there's a lot of

11:26 - resonance for women's historians

11:28 - who study the nineteenth century

11:31 - and that's why I

11:32 - would like to share

11:33 - the material today

11:34 - with you that I have.

11:36 - Right here.

11:37 - That focus as an.

11:39 - Off for example the backlash

11:41 - that happened

11:41 - after seneca falls.

11:44 - This says.

11:47 - That if women are going to

11:48 - be involved in women's rights.

11:50 - They're going to be putting

11:52 - on the breaches and expecting.

11:54 - Their husbands to

11:55 - put on the she frocks.

11:57 - In other words they're worried.

11:59 - That if women.

12:00 - Become more

12:01 - involved in politics.

12:04 - That they will.

12:07 - Upset

12:08 - the gender roles

12:09 - that are important

12:10 - in nineteenth century america

12:12 - but many women did not choose to

12:14 - be aligned with the

12:16 - suffrage movement.

12:18 - And in fact the

12:19 - suffrage movement

12:20 - itself had a lot of infighting.

12:22 - Leading up to the passage

12:24 - of the fifteenth amendment.

12:27 - In eighteen seventy.

12:29 - In eighteen sixty nine

12:30 - the women's movement

12:32 - with Elizabeth cady

12:33 - Stanton and Susan b

12:34 - Anthony and Lucy stone.

12:37 - And lucretia mott

12:38 - split into two groups

12:40 - over whether black men should

12:42 - get the right to

12:43 - vote before women.

12:48 - Elizabeth cady Stanton

12:49 - and Susan b Anthony.

12:51 - Believed that

12:52 - it was

12:53 - absolutely essential

12:54 - that women be included

12:56 - that suffrage.

12:58 - Become.

12:59 - A women's issue as

13:00 - well as a an issue for

13:02 - the

13:03 - for black men with the

13:04 - fifteenth amendment.

13:06 - And.

13:07 - Other women Lucy stone.

13:10 - Believed.

13:12 - The opposite that.

13:14 - It was so important that

13:15 - black men get the vote.

13:17 - That they should put aside

13:19 - the issue of women's suffrage

13:21 - because that would

13:22 - be so controversial

13:24 - and

13:24 - do it as a two stage thing

13:27 - and pass the fifteenth.

13:29 - Amendment giving

13:30 - black men the vote.

13:32 - And then turning

13:33 - to women's suffrage

13:34 - which of course is what

13:36 - happened with the ratification.

13:38 - Of the fifteenth amendment

13:39 - in eighteen seventy

13:41 - but at that point

13:42 - there was a lot of infighting.

13:44 - In

13:45 - the women's rights

13:46 - community over this

13:47 - issue and it did not

13:48 - heal for twenty years.

13:50 - Until eighty nine ninety

13:52 - when the groups realigned.

13:55 - And in the meantime.

13:57 - Huge numbers of

13:59 - women wanted no part.

14:01 - Of women's rights activism

14:03 - they were either indifferent or

14:05 - opposed to women's suffrage.

14:08 - Which is a big

14:09 - part of the story.

14:12 - You have people

14:14 - like Sarah josepha

14:15 - hale who was in

14:16 - Philadelphia as the editor.

14:19 - Of go these ladies book.

14:21 - Issuing editorials about

14:23 - how important it was.

14:26 - That women not lose their power

14:29 - by becoming more

14:30 - like men that women

14:31 - were very very very

14:33 - definitely not inferior

14:35 - but they had a separate

14:36 - mission and their

14:37 - moral power derived from their.

14:41 - Activities in the home

14:42 - their domestic duties.

14:44 - And

14:45 - she probably was probably the

14:48 - leading opinion leader.

14:50 - In eighteen sixty the

14:52 - sir circulation for

14:53 - go these ladies book

14:55 - was said to be one hundred and

14:57 - fifty thousand

14:58 - copies a month with.

15:00 - Subscribers often passing

15:02 - them on to their friends

15:03 - sometimes I feel like.

15:05 - My job.

15:06 - Is to rediscover

15:08 - the women whose

15:10 - names were household names

15:11 - in nineteenth sen

15:12 - Hillary america

15:13 - and Frances Willard was

15:15 - definitely one of those.

15:17 - She was the second president

15:19 - of the woman's Christian.

15:21 - Temperance union

15:22 - and in

15:23 - the.

15:24 - From the point of view of the

15:25 - women's Christian

15:26 - temperance union

15:27 - all society's problems

15:28 - would be solved.

15:30 - If.

15:31 - You could.

15:32 - Prohibit with

15:33 - the sale of alcoholic beverages.

15:36 - And so.

15:38 - From her point of view.

15:40 - Addiction.

15:41 - Dysfunctional families.

15:44 - Criminality

15:45 - and poverty

15:46 - were all a direct result

15:48 - of drinking alcohol and

15:50 - there were hundreds

15:51 - of thousands of people

15:53 - across the country.

15:55 - Typically.

15:56 - A church women's groups had

15:58 - their own chapter

15:59 - of the w c to you.

16:01 - And

16:02 - it was a huge jj.

16:05 - Enterprise in nineteenth

16:06 - century america.

16:09 - With women activists.

16:12 - Wearing their white ribbon.

16:14 - On.

16:16 - Frances Willard's.

16:17 - Garment

16:18 - and the people who wore the

16:20 - white ribbon were showing their.

16:22 - Solidarity with the w c to you

16:25 - and here's her slogan.

16:27 - Of yours in her home protection

16:30 - and that is key because

16:32 - she and her supporters.

16:34 - In.

16:35 - The.

16:37 - Latter part of the

16:38 - period I'm looking at.

16:39 - Are supporting.

16:41 - Women.

16:43 - Women's voting rights.

16:45 - This third woman

16:46 - was not

16:48 - the.

16:49 - Organizational

16:50 - genius that we think of.

16:52 - Sarah hale as and

16:54 - Frances Willard as.

16:56 - She was a woman.

16:58 - Who wanted

17:00 - to

17:00 - vote because she thought the

17:02 - fifteenth amendment

17:03 - was broad enough.

17:05 - That it should would.

17:06 - Allow women to vote.

17:08 - And.

17:09 - There were a lot of

17:10 - legal challenges she

17:11 - filed the law suit as

17:12 - many other women did.

17:15 - Claiming that the fifteenth

17:17 - amendment was broad enough.

17:19 - To encompass women's suffrage.

17:22 - Carry Burnham

17:23 - is filing her lawsuit

17:25 - when she is denied the right.

17:28 - To register

17:29 - to vote.

17:30 - In

17:30 - Philadelphia.

17:32 - And her case her case

17:34 - goes to the supreme court

17:37 - and she loses she loses

17:38 - in eighteen seventy three.

17:41 - The judge.

17:42 - Says that

17:43 - there are two reasons one is

17:45 - she is not.

17:46 - A free man

17:47 - and so.

17:48 - That disqualifies her

17:50 - and also

17:51 - that citizenship does not.

17:53 - Imply voting rights

17:55 - were she was the other.

17:59 - Theme in her challenge.

18:02 - To the law

18:04 - and

18:04 - she ends up being

18:07 - the first female graduate

18:10 - of the university of

18:10 - Pennsylvania law school.

18:11 - In eighteen eighty three.

18:14 - I'm standing in

18:15 - the reading room of

18:16 - the library company

18:17 - of Philadelphia

18:19 - we have this room

18:21 - for

18:22 - people examining

18:23 - items in our collections.

18:25 - At this point we estimate

18:27 - we have a million items.

18:29 - Most of which are.

18:31 - Books.

18:32 - Pamphlets

18:33 - newspapers.

18:35 - Journals and other printed items

18:38 - are manuscripts

18:38 - the manuscripts that

18:40 - we have are on

18:40 - deposit next door at the

18:42 - historical society

18:43 - of Pennsylvania

18:44 - we built this building in

18:46 - the nineteen sixties in order

18:48 - to be next door to

18:50 - the historical society

18:52 - which is the largest manuscript

18:54 - report satori in the

18:55 - mid Atlantic region.

18:57 - People say they can do

18:58 - their whole academic projects.

19:00 - In the two buildings which

19:02 - is a great thing for scholars.

19:04 - We serve many scholars in this

19:06 - room over the course of the year

19:08 - we have fellows we have about

19:10 - fifty fellows a year

19:11 - who are on site.

19:13 - Doing research for them

19:14 - our doctoral dissertation

19:16 - or their postdoctoral studies

19:18 - we also have many non academic

19:20 - historians who

19:21 - use the collection

19:23 - and I encourage

19:24 - anybody who think.

19:26 - Thinks that our collections

19:28 - might intersect

19:29 - with their interests

19:30 - to get in touch with US

19:32 - because we're very happy

19:34 - to make make our

19:35 - collections available to people.

19:38 - For their

19:39 - research projects.

19:41 - Hi

19:41 - I'm will fenton director

19:43 - of research and

19:43 - public programs here

19:45 - at the library company

19:46 - of Philadelphia on

19:47 - the curator of this

19:49 - exhibition which i'm

19:49 - going to walk you through.

19:50 - This is called ghost

19:51 - river the fall and

19:52 - rise of the conestoga

19:53 - it's meant as a

19:54 - companion to a

19:54 - graphic novel that we've

19:56 - published here at

19:57 - the library company.

19:58 - And.

19:59 - It's an unusual

20:00 - exhibition for US.

20:01 - Whereas most of our exhibitions

20:03 - are really all about

20:04 - our collections

20:05 - this one is really about

20:07 - both our collections

20:08 - and the artistic

20:09 - representation of them.

20:11 - So I'd like to

20:12 - start with some of

20:12 - the materials that

20:13 - we have because

20:14 - all of these are.

20:15 - In an eighteenth

20:16 - century materials and

20:17 - I'd love to talk a

20:18 - little bit about how he

20:19 - chose them and then

20:20 - what they're doing

20:21 - in relation to the

20:22 - artwork on the wall.

20:24 - So first things first.

20:25 - Ghost river the

20:26 - fallen rise of the

20:27 - conestoga is

20:27 - about a little known

20:29 - colonial massacre

20:30 - called the Paxton boys

20:31 - massacre of seventeen

20:32 - sixty three it was

20:33 - actually two separate massacres

20:35 - a group of former militiaman

20:37 - named the Paxton boys

20:38 - the recalled the

20:39 - Paxton boys because

20:40 - they were from the

20:41 - Paxton township.

20:42 - Just outside of what

20:43 - is today Harris b berg

20:44 - and.

20:45 - They

20:46 - murdered

20:47 - twenty conestoga.

20:49 - Men women and children.

20:50 - In two separate events and

20:52 - first in Lancaster.

20:53 - Just outside of

20:54 - Lancaster I should say.

20:56 - In conestoga Indian

20:56 - town and then second

20:58 - in

20:58 - Lancaster

20:59 - and they vowed to

21:00 - march on Philadelphia

21:01 - after they had

21:02 - committed that atrocity.

21:04 - Where they do.

21:05 - Said that they were

21:06 - going to inspect.

21:07 - The

21:08 - remaining indigenous

21:09 - peoples that were brought

21:11 - in for the protection

21:12 - by the government.

21:13 - And they got as far as

21:14 - German town whether

21:15 - it where they were

21:16 - met by a delegation led

21:17 - by Benjamin Franklin who

21:18 - persuaded them to disarm

21:20 - into publish their

21:21 - grievances and that sparked

21:24 - what is called the

21:24 - Paxton pamphlet war.

21:24 - A vociferate the print debate

21:26 - that reshape

21:27 - Pennsylvania politics

21:29 - and that is normally

21:30 - what we talk about

21:31 - when when we talk

21:32 - about the Paxton incident.

21:33 - That print debate which

21:34 - really gives a voice to.

21:37 - Colonial leaders

21:38 - in Philadelphia.

21:39 - And what we're trying

21:40 - to do with this exhibition

21:42 - is to push back against that

21:43 - and to imagine what

21:44 - you can find in this story

21:46 - you're not just

21:46 - attending to the.

21:48 - Privileged perspectives of

21:49 - those who had printing process.

21:51 - So.

21:52 - What we have in our collections.

21:54 - Is really

21:56 - a lot of the material

21:57 - that would be

21:58 - representative

21:59 - of the most prestigious

22:01 - colonial Americans

22:02 - folks that had access

22:03 - to those printing presses.

22:05 - Those include engr ravings.

22:07 - Books.

22:08 - Political cartoons

22:10 - and pamphlets

22:11 - pamphlets being sort

22:12 - of a social media of

22:13 - the day cause you

22:14 - could produce them very

22:15 - quickly and very inexpensively

22:17 - and circulate them quite widely.

22:20 - What we've done

22:21 - with this exhibition.

22:23 - Is we placed.

22:24 - The sort of

22:25 - official record of

22:26 - those printed materials.

22:28 - In conversation with

22:29 - artistic representations

22:31 - of this incident

22:32 - done by west oil lv

22:33 - tray and

22:34 - it's just an astonishing artist.

22:36 - From the tongue for

22:37 - people out in los Angeles.

22:39 - What is

22:40 - spare full about this

22:41 - whole project is it's

22:42 - really a collaboration

22:43 - through and through.

22:44 - It takes our collections

22:45 - and it puts them into.

22:47 - A sort of artistic

22:48 - reinterpretation with

22:49 - native American

22:50 - partners a native publisher.

22:53 - Author

22:54 - and illustrator.

22:55 - So

22:56 - in this first case

22:57 - you have sort of

22:58 - the prototypical

22:59 - representation of

23:00 - colonial america or colonial

23:02 - Pennsylvania I should say

23:04 - which is Benjamin west

23:05 - penn treaty with the Indians.

23:08 - Which

23:08 - is really a mythological

23:09 - depiction of the

23:10 - treaty of shak m

23:11 - accent which made the

23:12 - whole settlement to Philadelphia

23:14 - and the surrounding

23:15 - area possible

23:16 - but you'll see in this case

23:17 - that we also juxtapose that.

23:19 - With various versions

23:20 - of the betrayal

23:21 - of that dream of a

23:22 - peaceable kingdom

23:24 - and that's artwork by

23:25 - westerwelle v tray that shows.

23:27 - The immediate massacre

23:28 - in conestoga Indian town

23:30 - and the belt

23:31 - of the shack a

23:32 - and treaty that would

23:33 - be.

23:34 - The wampum treaty belt

23:36 - in the ashes of that city.

23:38 - In our next case we're really

23:40 - getting into the printed debate

23:42 - and I think that there is always

23:43 - a lot of attention to textual.

23:45 - Records of that which include.

23:48 - Broadsides which

23:49 - are like big posters

23:50 - that would have been

23:51 - hung up in taverns and

23:52 - coffeehouses.

23:53 - Of books and of course pamphlets

23:55 - which circulated very widely.

23:57 - What is really special

23:58 - about the library

23:59 - company's collection

23:59 - is that we have

24:00 - political cartoons

24:01 - from this period

24:02 - and the Paxton incident really

24:04 - gave rise to some of the most.

24:07 - An.

24:08 - Exciting and

24:09 - disturbing graphic

24:10 - images from this period.

24:12 - It's really the first

24:14 - visual culture debate.

24:16 - And so

24:16 - you can look at any one of these

24:18 - are political cartoons

24:19 - one of which.

24:20 - Is the Paxton expedition

24:21 - which is actually

24:22 - the first interior

24:23 - view of the city of

24:24 - Philadelphia

24:25 - so think about

24:26 - that the first sed

24:27 - depiction of the inside of

24:29 - Philadelphia

24:29 - happens in the wake.

24:31 - Of this incident.

24:33 - So this exhibition

24:34 - features about a dozen

24:36 - pages from the graphic novel

24:38 - it had sixty pictures of artwork

24:40 - and one hundred

24:41 - and twenty pages total

24:42 - because it's always

24:43 - a balance of art and

24:44 - context with this project

24:46 - and what I think is

24:47 - powerful about this

24:48 - exhibition is that it

24:49 - treats each one of

24:49 - those pages.

24:51 - As a piece of.

24:52 - Art

24:53 - and and so we're

24:53 - really framing it we're

24:54 - putting it on the

24:55 - walls and we're letting

24:56 - our audiences get

24:57 - a clear sense of.

24:58 - How big these images

24:59 - are and that this wasn't

25:00 - just something that

25:01 - was done on an iPad

25:02 - for example.

25:03 - The artists were.

25:04 - Betrayed be

25:05 - all of this work an eleven by

25:06 - seventeen pages

25:07 - of Bristol board.

25:09 - What I think is really special.

25:11 - About this first.

25:12 - Image on our wall

25:13 - is this is actually

25:14 - the opening spread

25:15 - of the graphic novel

25:17 - and it's a depiction of

25:18 - the lennart a origin story.

25:20 - In the graphic novel of course

25:22 - there's text that

25:22 - accompanies that.

25:24 - That would be overlaid on this

25:26 - but this.

25:27 - Large beautiful

25:28 - depiction was actually the

25:29 - very first image that

25:30 - were show depicted

25:31 - or that that that will

25:32 - show your illustrate did.

25:34 - And it was really

25:35 - important that she take

25:36 - her time with this

25:36 - one because you'll see

25:37 - embedded in this image and

25:39 - bits of.

25:41 - Artwork that we

25:42 - found or that we've

25:43 - identified from the

25:44 - susquehanna river valley.

25:46 - So there are all sorts

25:47 - of engravings on the

25:48 - rocks there and she

25:49 - has transported those

25:51 - into this piece.

25:53 - So this is the final

25:54 - wall visitors will see

25:55 - before they leave

25:57 - the exhibition and it's

25:58 - chosen very deliberately.

26:00 - Certainly it has

26:01 - reproductions of archival

26:02 - materials that we

26:03 - want people to think

26:04 - about as they're leaving

26:05 - this exhibition space

26:07 - but you'll notice

26:08 - that so much of

26:08 - the wall is occupied

26:09 - by these names.

26:11 - And these names aren't

26:12 - something that we just

26:13 - discover they've

26:13 - actually been well

26:14 - documented these

26:15 - are the names of all the

26:16 - conestoga people who

26:17 - were murdered by the

26:18 - Paxton boys.

26:20 - In the two separate incidents in

26:21 - December of

26:22 - seventeen sixty three.

26:24 - And you'll see that.

26:25 - In many cases they have both.

26:27 - Indigenous names

26:28 - and English names

26:29 - and that's important

26:30 - because when you're

26:31 - thinking about the

26:32 - conestoga people these were

26:33 - deeply assimilated peoples

26:35 - they traded

26:36 - with.

26:37 - With settlers

26:38 - their children played together

26:40 - with settlers they

26:41 - had English names

26:42 - they spoke English

26:43 - they wore English dress.

26:45 - And so I think it's

26:46 - important to capture

26:48 - both their indigenous identity

26:50 - and the identity that they

26:51 - would have been known by.

26:53 - By their neighbors

26:55 - and.

26:56 - In what's also

26:56 - important is that all of

26:57 - these names are taken

26:58 - from something called

26:59 - the Pennsylvania provincial

27:00 - minutes this is sort of the.

27:02 - The unit of record

27:03 - that most libraries in

27:04 - Pennsylvania have

27:05 - particularly research

27:06 - libraries it's many volume set.

27:08 - And what's

27:09 - astonishing about

27:10 - this is that all of these

27:11 - names and the English

27:12 - names were down

27:13 - documented.

27:15 - Just four or five years after

27:17 - the incident

27:18 - I hope that

27:19 - folks have a chance

27:20 - to see this in person

27:21 - and also to see all of our

27:23 - collections in person because

27:24 - they are much more marvelous.

27:27 - In.

27:27 - Their original presence.

27:30 - That being said we do have a

27:31 - digital reproduction

27:32 - of all of this.

27:33 - And our digital edition

27:34 - ghost river dot org

27:35 - makes available all

27:36 - of the materials that

27:38 - you've seen here today.

27:39 - Freely to anyone

27:40 - who's interested.

27:42 - Thank you for

27:42 - coming to visit US at

27:43 - the library company

27:44 - of Philadelphia

27:45 - I hope you'll come by in

27:46 - person to visit US here.

27:48 - Or if not.

27:49 - Follow US online

27:50 - both on our website

27:51 - but also through our

27:52 - social media feeds.

27:54 - We do a lot of

27:55 - programs online and

27:57 - you can.

27:58 - Plug into some of our great

28:00 - lectures and conversations.

28:02 - Through following

28:02 - US on our social

28:03 - media or finding

28:04 - them on our website.

28:05 - Library company

28:06 - started as a community

28:07 - of learners I hope

28:08 - you'll come and join US.

28:10 - Thank you.

28:11 - And and.