00:13 - Hello my name is Curt Miner I'm chief of interpretation and senior history curator

00:18 - here at the state museum of Pennsylvania and i'm standing in front of.

00:22 - Revolutionary things

00:24 - objects from the collection it's a special exhibit we've mounted

00:27 - to Mark

00:27 - the occasion of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary the nation's founding.

00:42 - First section is titled relics and these are objects from our collection

00:47 - that have a direct association with the American revolution

00:50 - and Pennsylvania's role

00:51 - in that

00:52 - i'm standing in front of the

00:54 - first continental regiment flag.

00:56 - It's one of the

00:57 - very few surviving

01:00 - American revolution flags in any museum collection

01:03 - it dates to seventeen seventy six.

01:06 - It saw a lot of

01:08 - action

01:09 - during the American revolution everything from valley forge to

01:13 - the surrender at yorktown

01:14 - the other exhibit

01:16 - inside this section is a display

01:19 - of a French made canon.

01:22 - People often wonder why

01:24 - would our

01:25 - museum have a French made

01:26 - canon well

01:27 - the continental army.

01:29 - Was underequipped relative to the British.

01:32 - So they relied a lot on

01:34 - munitions

01:35 - that were supplied by

01:36 - the French who became an ally

01:38 - this canon

01:39 - dates to seventeen fifty eight

01:41 - it was named

01:43 - L'embuscade

01:44 - which translates to the ambush

01:48 - and it was on the grounds of the Harrisburg arsenal

01:51 - after the American revolution

01:53 - and eventually donated to the state museum

01:56 - it too saw a lot of action and the Marquis de Lafayette

01:59 - identified it as having been.

02:02 - At Yorktown in seventeen eighty one.

02:15 - The second section of the

02:17 - exhibit is titled representations and replicas

02:20 - and it focuses on objects

02:22 - that were created

02:24 - to commemorate the American revolution everything from

02:26 - large paintings to small flags to small.

02:30 - Decorative arts

02:31 - my favorite piece in this

02:33 - particular section

02:35 - is this wonderful painting we have it's called

02:38 - birth of our nation's flag it dates to 1893 the artist is Charles.

02:42 - Weisgerber.

02:44 - He is credited

02:46 - with

02:47 - creating

02:48 - in the popular perception the notion.

02:51 - That Betsy Ross

02:52 - stitched the first American flag

02:54 - this painting made its debut at the Chicago world's

02:58 - fair in 1893 and it was at that point

03:01 - that the story of Betsy Ross

03:03 - finally got legs and was

03:06 - entered into the notion of what became thought

03:09 - of as historical fact but in fact it was really

03:12 - a bit of a fabrication

03:14 - based on speculation

03:16 - and hearsay

03:17 - but it's an important part of the telling of

03:19 - the American revolution story is how people

03:21 - remembered it

03:22 - and

03:23 - putting some of the new

03:24 - myths created as a result of it.

03:28 - Third section of the exhibit

03:34 - focuses on remembrances past we're going to be

03:37 - celebrating the 250th here in 2026

03:40 - but Pennsylvania it's important to note was at the center of two previous major

03:44 - celebrations one was in eighteen seventy six

03:47 - the second was in nineteen seventy six

03:49 - this wonderful object is from the bicentennial celebration

03:53 - it's called the bicentennial wagon train pilgrimage

03:56 - it was one of about fifty reproduction covered wagons that were created for this

04:01 - really incredible event which

04:03 - recreated

04:04 - migration

04:05 - from

04:06 - to the west

04:06 - in reverse

04:08 - so instead of starting out east they started in the west

04:11 - and fifty wagons converged on Pennsylvania in July nineteen seventy six

04:16 - at valley forge

04:17 - and this is one of those wagons of which we have

04:20 - appropriately placed on this pedestal.

04:38 - This exhibit has very large objects also has very small

04:41 - and very important objects and one of my favorite

04:44 - are these two locks of hair that we have in our collection

04:48 - they've been in our collection for over a hundred years.

04:51 - They are documented to have been owned

04:54 - by George Washington and plucked from his head

04:56 - in fact one of these two locks of hair

04:59 - comes with a letter of authentication

05:01 - that indicates

05:02 - that the owner had got it from George Washington himself

05:06 - when he was in Philadelphia where he lived

05:08 - temporarily as president of the united states.

05:17 - This full scale replica of the Liberty bell was created

05:21 - in nineteen sixty four for the new York world's fair

05:24 - it's one of about one hundred and forty objects

05:26 - that we pulled together for this special exhibit

05:29 - i hope you'll come

05:30 - here to the state museum to see the special

05:32 - exhibit will be on view here in the first floor

05:35 - of the

05:35 - state museum

05:37 - until the end of July twenty twenty six.