The historians are looking for eyewitnesses to event that happened 60 years ago. Inall know if it happened these halls here, the only people still alive for the pages who were 16 years old at the time. We are come in handy if you times with a couple of the project and we hope to continue to do so in the future. Constantly amaze me. Meeting judge tracy was a page for eight years. Having the pleasure of driving over in his car with his Capitol Police man afterwards. Still has his badge and we got there all the security. If anyone needs a ride back, he is here. , great pressure pleasure, i. T. Is met i introduce matt. Thank you all, i met wisniewski, the historian of the house. Lineittle further down the , the senate associate historian. We are very pleased to be with you as you kick off the page union weekend. We would like to spend a little bit of time telling you about research,r recent collection acquisitions related to pages and leave sometime at the end for questions might have. The history offices on both sides of capital have a strong interest in the history of congressional pages. On the house side, as jerry alluded to, we are documented the history and development of the program in part by conducting numerous oral histories with former house pages for more than a decade now. These interviews extend all the 1930s. To a pair of fromrved as a page 193236, told us many stories including one about training a young staffer named lyndon b. Johnson about how to operate the ands at the House Chamber and was inl junior the chamber on that fateful day december 8, 1941 and would go on to become the longest serving member of congress that more than 59 years. There is a nice synergy that has developed between doing these oral histories in the work of the house curator in capturing the material culture of more than two centuries of pages in the house and that is that many of our interviewees as well as other folks who have donated their memories to the collection. Assembledrs have dozens of images and artifacts and objects that document the rich page history, everything letters homer area uniformss to 1907 page to a 1940s era Capital Page School varsity letter and everything in between. In 2013, my office produced a roughly 40 page history of the house page program. Copies of which are available online. You can download the booklet. Here it is in paper form, or you can read online. In addition to highlighting the origins and a moment of the program, we used those oral history that we had done with placedll paced participants in the program. Former clerk of the house don anderson and phil goodwin was a page in 1954 when the puerto rican nationalists attack the chamber. The chamber. Highlighting stories of pages were pioneers or first, we were fortunate to draw from interviews we have conducted with the first email page to serve in the house, appointed by speeder carl albert in 1973. Mitchell who is believed to have been the first africanamerican page to serve in the house sponsored by illinois congressman paul findlay and republican leader gerald ford. His appointment was highly symbolic. It occurred on the hundredth anniversary of lincolns assassination. After the galvanizing march on selma. He marveled with the fact that he watched the debate on the landmark voting at from the doorway of the republican coat room. Researching, we came across some tantalizing tools in sources thatdary perhaps there had been earlier pioneers. These were obscure references and footnotes to some late 19th and early 20s century newspaper articles that suggest africanamericans may have served in the later half of the letter half of the 19th century, perhaps during the reconstruction area. Era. Upon closer inspection, the ages did not add up. It may have been that they were adult employees of the doorkeepers office. Ranks possible the page may have been integrated after the civil war. Historians often described congressional reconstruction that was imposed upon the south as the second American Revolution which political and wereenship rights conferred upon free slaves, at least the men. In changing the reconstructed southern states, this process also changed the face of the membership of the house itself. For the first time, africanamericans, some of them former slaves were elected to serve in congress and all 20 served in the house from 18701921. Two others in the senate before jim crow laws effectively removed africanamericans from political dissipation for more than a generation. Until recently, we knew very little about how reconstruction change the house at the staff level. More popularas Research Tools came online. Mainly digitized copies of historical newspapers. And the congressional record. These tools and involving involving impact of the impact of evolving the progress process. It was through these historical newspapers, official house disbursement records and census records that we discovered that, in fact, the first africanamerican page was appointed on april 1, it can 71. 1871. He was a 14yearold. This was during the first session of the 42nd congress. He was represented by cognition from virginia. He served in virginia after the war and became involved in state politics and when virginia was readmitted into the union in wone ran for and on a seat that represented greater richmond. With porters background, his appointment seemed a purposeful and symbolic act. On his first day, and new york wrote, correspondent except for some practical jokes which have been put upon powell, he got started very credibly. Andrts indicate he made 77 . 50 and his first month as a page. This was the going rate for roughly 20 other page colleagues who worked on the house for. Loor. Beyond that, we know only scant details of his circumstances. The census record lists his father as a we are right and mother as a homemaker. It appears that powell was not plucked out of security for the Ground Breaking appointed. He hailed from a prominent Virginia Free africanamerican family. His maternal grandmother great uncle, excuse me, was one of the most influential black american politicians of the 19th century. John mercer langston who would go on to represent virginia in the house in the 51st congress. Linksis an asymmetry that the stories of Frank Mitchell and offered Powell Alfred powell. Just like mitchell who arrived in 1965, powell arrived during the republicancontrolled house, republicantrolled house. Amid a contentious debate on the rce of the passing of the fo act of it and one, the two clubs plan acts ku klux klan act. On his first day as a page, notable africanamerican members such as Robert Elliott and joseph rainey, both of south carolina, brady was the first africanamerican to serve in the house, he delivered speeches on the floor attesting to violations against the 14th amendment rights of the constituents. In that sense, picking provided a common experience for two teenage africanamerican boys who, separated by nearly a the houseitnessed grapple with monumental civil rights issues. To change gears and conclude, i would to tell you about one of the Research Questions that nagged us as we wrote the history of the house page program. One that we are still trying to determine conclusively. Exacts pinpointing the start date of the practice of paging in the house. We know the use of legislative messengers evolved over the better half of the century. When adults serve as messengers when the late 1820s according to official house records, it is clear that a page corp employing young boys and teenagers took shape, but when exactly . Following the panic of 1837, 1 of the Major Economic recessions of the 19th century, the house ,ommittee of accounts responsible for the institutions expenditures looking to trim costs fell into the practice of paging. Soon discover the house had never set a formal number or budget to administer the program. Interviewing old and experienced officers of the house, the committee reported the house first employed boy pages convened iner he the District Of Columbia it convened in the District Of Columbia and 1800s. By the 1820s, at least three age boys served on the floor. A decade later, 18. As members sought to provide income to local orphan boys or the destitute families. Heinze recollection of Washington City is a brief records reference that some of the earliest pages dating back to the early 1800s may have been the two young sons and nephews of thomas claxton. Guides,eful glides, they do not provide content for a firsthand account. By happy coincidence while researching something completely unrelated, the history of members wearing hats on the floor, subject for another day. [laughter] i am happy to talk about that at another event. We stumbled upon the earliest firsthand account of a house page which im aware. Thomas hill hubbard, represented a district that encompassed utica and cooperstown of new york served in the house in the 15th and 17th congresses. Career was not long. Fortunately, for historians, he wrote his wife many letters. Detailed his impressions of washington, the munro administration and his college. These letters are at the library of carter street on Christmas Day of 1817, just after the opening of the 15 congress, he wrote her a long letter describing the house. This was interesting, at a time the house convened at an old brick capital. Congress is temporary quarters on the grounds of the modernday Supreme Court on the capital for being repaired after the british had sacked it in 1840. 1814. As im sure my colleagues will agree, research can be a boreas, orius,ere are those lab but there are those days where it is serendipitous or sublime. Wrote that the members with the hats on as they pleased, still require when one rises to speak, he must respect the take off his hat and address the speaker. But then, in the line, we have a charming little boy about 12 years old, and when a remember rises to submit a resolution, a little fellow stands by his side. Identified by the name oswald, stood by any member who addressed the house and if anything is submitted in writing, he takes it and conveys it to the clerk who sits under the speakers chair watches until another member rises when the same ceremony takes place again. Hubbard also recounted that oswald was required to, among other things, poor glasses of water for longwinded speech members. [laughter] this is the earliest contemporaneous account that places page boys in the House Chamber. Oswald, more than likely, was john oswald who appears in a few house sources related to end of session pay and bonuses for messengers and other employees. In the early 1800s, he was the dunn and his alliance with other count ali that theyther counts may have been the earliest pages. Like many house pages, he spent a long career in the house succeeding his father in 1824 as the sergeant at arms and serving in that capacity until 1832. Were getting closer to taking the history of house pages that to the turn of the 19th century and as i indicated at the opening, finding and preserving the stories remains an abiding interest for our office and with that, i will turn it over to ms. Elliott. Thank you. [applause] hello, im sarah elliott, curator of the house. Tois great to follow matt give you a real sense of what 19th century page life was like in the defining elements of being a page 150to your hundred ago. 200 years i want to walk you through the experience of a Single Family from a pair of pages that they sent to the house in the 1860s. The details of it comports with what matt has been talking about today. Abouting to tell you all birdie pillsbury. Brother, the pages in the house. The reason we know about birdia and elliotte is that this photo is part of a rich trove of artifacts on 19th century page life recently given last year. Elliott was 13 when he became a page in 1859 and he was 16 when he left the house for the naval academy. Albert tooke left, his brothers place at the age of 11. Were going to be talking about very young ages here. Is prettyboys story typical of 19th century pages as far as we know. Families in need, destitute families and orphans that were assisted by members of congress in finding work for the young boys in need. It was often local boys in washington. In this case, boys in the district. , it is based on letters for the most part. The letters will seem a little familiar. The content of them. Of pagesry is typical of any generation. The daily lives were a mix of complicated ties back home and communications that any kid might experience. Ordinary work in the chamber in these extraordinary moments of witnessing history. Use toe letters that we find out more about elliott and birdie and webpage life was like, a scattershot approach to preserving them on the part of. Lliott and bertie b there are no letters from elliott back on. I feel like elliott may have skated away quickly. I think he was a golden boy. He did everything right. That can be entered taking irritating. I have a whole fanfiction about how pretty resented elliott berite resented elliott. [laughter] this envelope is typical. The massachusetts member of congress who has served as speaker of the house earlier in his career. The family at the time, they were not unfamiliar with washington or political life. This is the earliest document from the collection two years before elliott comes a page. From a guy known as uncle albert. Bertie s namesake. Family, he wrote with opposite advice to elliott even manages to make a long description of how boys played marble in the streets of washington into a mortal mroral lesson. Our streets and sidewalks are so wide, i give room for youngsters to indulge in the game. Annoying, many acquired brief dexterity of snapping marbles. Ive often been amused and astonished to see a boy hit a sickle marble at a distance of 20 feet. I do not wish you to understand me that i think the boys in washington are any smarter, indeed i think they are not. They acquired great perfection by long and continuous practice and everything does in attending to a single object to conservative time. At the time that he wrote the letter, elliott was 10 and bertie was eight. Around that time, he sat for a photograph with his mother. He was a schoolboy at the time and he used this book, also in our collection, he lived in nationbuilding area. Ship building area. Just outside of boston. The next year, his father, Insurance Agent died in at that time, and that place, the death of the breadwinner for this family through them into complete this array. Disarray. She dropped from thriving middle class. She had to rely on the kindness of strangers and rents to provide for her. One thing that she did was contact old friends and those old friends did assist them by finding respectable work. She was looking for work for elliott. Letter and month or two after her husband dies and her old friend writes this letter in response to a visit to her. But he calls her betty blue eyes. She asked her help and he was the general of massachusetts and promised to do what allows him to obtain for her son to position. She was asking specifically for a house page post. Paces but theral gift of the clerk which boys will. You shall have one of them. She asks he asks her if he can take her for a drive. It worked out for elliott. This is a little later in his life when he is just after out of the naval academy. Was 13 when he traveled to washington and you can see what it looks like right around that is in 1863. It was a tough journey and had to make it on his own. Had to go through cities, across rivers, switch methods of travel described the church a couple years later. Trains would go to new york and you had to take a stagecoach across the city to take a train and then got the ball tour. Then the train cars get drawn across the city by mule and then you are in a train again. Once they got down there, uncle albert help them find housing. They seem to have lodged with someone named the commodore gets upgraded to the admiral. 14, bertie leads to live in a room himself. He wanted to move away from the enclave of living at someones house. He lives across from fords theater. Is trying to explore the city under his new job, this is what it looked like at the time, letters from home start to arrive and then i could be unfamiliar to anyone who is a page alumni. One of the letters out there at the screen is a letter from his mother. She said im sorry you are not a little more particular in your writing. The spelling was good and the letter was brief and written badly. Then she writes him again and wishes him a happy new year expresses hope that he is eating well. Do you get letters like this . Then she dramatically which is she could be with all her children while they live. Elliott ee what ghosted on her. These jobs were something that were the power of some of the grant them, to help a destitute family, but there was an expectation that you will be of service to those folks back home. Writes askingnny 100ott for help getting copies of a report from the war department. Multiple letters like that treated them like peers and useful people to know. Sometimes they will ask to have the local member support. The page was expected to express that whether it was useful or not, there was still this expectation that you are a fully fledged player. Sometimes it is smaller like asking for copies of speeches. They were not that many tourists come to town. Now we are back to bertie because elliott is old enough to get to the naval academy. The pressures at home were still there. Bertie takes his place and at the time, there were about a dozen pages in the house and the stations themselves and when a member clap their hands, a page would run to do the bidding. Life, after a buzzer system is introduced, bertie thinks that is terrible and you dont get to know the members as well. s earliest letter home. This is after his 12th birthday. Context, this is what life was like. The war has begun. The doorkeepers that he better not come to the capital during the night session because they were bigger boys. Soldiers are everywhere, headed the battle, streaming in and out of the makeshift battles, nighttime in the city was no time break it to be out. He also talks about the possibility of being a page. He treats it as a job and is helpful for the reelection of two local members. Hoping they will improve the chances. After that, he turns to other more he says, i stated pretty good chance of being page next session, dont you think . And then he tells his mother what he is having for lunch. He talks about food a lot. One of my favorite things about this whole endeavor of trying to decipher all of the different handwriting from some of the kids, their penmanship is not that good. Love food. So many experiences are like that of adolescence, obsessed with food. He talks about how much he likes his lunchbox. He is a page runner. He confesses that he and his fellows do not like congressman washburn because in his role as watchdog of the treasury, he does not think the pages should be getting any extra pay or sessions. His adventures, even though he is not allowed out in the dark, they continue in the daytime. This letter is from a little later and is one of my favorites. The first part describes his experience with senator mcdougal from california. This afternoon the senator was so drunk and riding horseback that he tumbled off. Albert help to get the senator and the senator said, you are a good boy and i will remember you. He knows the center is not insulted and did not know what he was saying because he was so drunk. After all of that, he turns, as you might writing her mother, to a lengthy description of how he is brushing his teeth. Had a lot of experiences with his interactions of members and what it meant to them and the things that stuck in his head like senator mcdougal. He talks about former speaker banks being very gracious to all of the pages. He says he would sometimes on purpose congressman banks would drive the pages nuts by instructing them to go to the clarks desk instead of t clerks desk. Butler and john bingham were said to be very kind to the fact that he spelt inc. All spilt ink all over them. They were kind even though the rumor got around that the two men were accused of doing the deed themselves during a heated argument. It sometimes moved from the to ridiculous to the sublime and it could happen to anyone in the house, this page capacity, in this case the wobbly senator and the ink. Albert describes the chamber after the passage of a 13th amendment abolishing slavery. He said, the vote was taken up on the amendment of the constitution, two thirds having voted for it and it passed. He described the reaction in the gallery and said people were turning their hats in the air, waving their handkerchiefs and he never saw such thunderous applause since i have been here. I need a blue pants i need a new pair of blue pants. [laughter] ms. Scott he got more pants later but also had a copy of the 13th amendment and had signed by all of the members that voted for it. It did not survive in the house collection, he donated to the house. He talks about other important moments during the experience, the eulogy to lincoln after his death. He collected a lot, not just memories but a lot of keepsakes, in autographed book for those of you that collected autographs during their page years. Some of them you can see he pasted them in. Sometimes he would get extra signatures and send autographs home to his sisters. Fromt this photographed Andrew Johnson when Andrew Johnson patted the boy on the head and gave him this photo and cited on the back for him. Very nice. His most substantial mementos was a chair. He took the chair that has a lid that flips up. We were not sure where this was in the house. After he left, after both of the boys left, elliott rose through the ranks of the navy and ultimately became in explorer and inevitable admirable. Bertie did not stay in public service. He went back on and took care of his mother. He was a good boy. He worked for a local lumber dealer and ultimately became the bookkeeper. Evers 30 years before he darken the door of the house again. Cache of letters in autographed books and off photos and schoolbooks and things like that, this popped out from much later, and we were able to some of thethrough letters and newspaper articles that this was his first visit to d. C. Since his page days three decades earlier. There he is on the right and we know that at the time, the person he was most anxious to see and renew his acquaintance with was a library messenger from the 1860s, a kid who had been working not as a page but a library messenger, william h. Smith who later in the 1880s was appointed as the house librarian, making him one of the highest ranking africanamerican individuals in government during the postreconstruction period. They got together and take a snap and it was saved with his page material. Waitedthat you all have 30 years to return to the capital. On behalfe, even more of the house collection that if you have artifacts and Amazing Things like this from a different generation of pages that you will not wait as long as they did to approach us about see if they can be part of the nation pose a collection. Thank you so much. [laughter] ms. Scott hello, i am delighted to be here with all of you today. That we haveory been researching for three or four years and the senate office. I started in the office in 2010 and we recently wrapped the story up in about and that is what im going to present to you. It is a story about senator windsors. It starts with a question. Should girls be allowed to serve as senate pages . Thats surprisingly simple question sparked a protracted and Contentious Senate debate in 1971. Today, i am going to tell the story of how three young women and their senate sponsors brought about the downfall of a lingering Senate Tradition. It is sensitive. You are right. There we go. Nearly a century and a half earlier, we believe in the early 1830s, senator Daniel Webster appointed the first senate page, a boy by the name of hansen who was nine years old. He was the grandson of the Senate Sergeant of arms. Soon thereafter, just one year after, the Senate Appointed its second page, isaac bassett, a 12yearold boy and these two young boys to get a tradition much like a house, much like matt and sarah described. Pages started as a first step on a long Senate Career path. Bassett who is well known of 19th century student for clark served his whole life in the senate and died while still the senate staff. In the 19 century, senate boys were often orphans or children of widows that lived on capitol hill. Their senate jobs cap them off of the streets and out of trouble and their senate paycheck helped support their families. In the 20th century, the pages grew older and a school was established and later a dormitory was built and participants arrived from all over the country to participate in this unique civics lesson. Single as 1971, every senate page appointment, every single senate page rather had been a boy. No senate rule explicitly forbids the appointment of girl pages, but the practice of appointing male pages persisted well into the 20th century. In the 1960s, some senators began to question this voice only tradition. That forced then sergeant at arms joseph duke to disband the practice in a letter. While i know of no specific policy or role, which says there pages, i the girl doubt such an innovation would be wise. The type of work performed by changes requires much walking and even running at times. Such activity would preclude the employment of teenage girls. 1970, three senators took a bold step. Raised thecy question with his republican caucus, could he appoint a female page . The caucus responded that there was no prohibition. The caucus would put on payroll whomever the senator selected. Though senator percy issued a call for applicants, hundreds of young women applied, including 16yearold Ellen Mcconnell who is seated right appear in the front row. [applause] ms. Scott she got the job. When she reported for duty, however, the new Senate Sergeant of arms, Robert Dunphy refused to swear her end. He insisted that the Senate Rules Committee must issue a formal decree noting a change in Senate Tradition. Seemedommittee chairman disinclined to consider the issue. I do not detect any enthusiasm he admitting girl pages, explained to a washington reporter. Being prudish it seems to lack dignity to pictured on women sitting around the steps of the chamber waiting to be dispatched. His refusal to break with Senate Tradition put Alan Mcconnell in llen mcconnell in a bind. Her family helped move her out to washington where she settled in the nearby boarding house for professional women. His refusal to swear her in was a considerable inconvenience. She could neither enroll in page school nor could she work as a page. Senator percy found a temporary solution, and he placed her on his office payroll where she could collect or pay stipend and work for the senators personal office while the senator worked out a more permanent solution. Senator jacobs also selected a female page for appointment. Er name was paulette a high school student, she lived with her parents in alexandria, virginia. Since joining the senate in 1957, the senator had already made two historic page appointment. In 1965, while congress debated the Voting Rights act, he had appointed Lawrence Bradford junior, an africanamerican to serve as his page. Contemporary towns in 1965 identified bradford as the first black congressional page. I think we need to dig into that further. Our office has identified at least one other black page who was appointed in 1869 by senator sumner. In 1966, he made another noteworthy page appointment, selecting john lopez of brooklyn to be the first puerto rican page appointment in the senate. By 1970, he had decided that the time had come to make a third historic appointment. That is when he selected paulette. She was eager to be sworn in and begin her service. Unlike what, she lived nearby and therefore was able to continue to attend school. Oklahoma hads of also selected a female page for appointment. Politically a active oklahoma family, price had dreamed of serving as a congressional page since First Reading her eighth grade civics book. Excuse me, reading about the page program in her eighth grade civics book. The more she learned about it, the more she wanted to be a part of the program. In middle school she began to mail letters of inquiry to her congressional delegation, asking for an appointment and she was disappointed when she always received the same standard reply we do not take girl pages. Price thought girls can do anything voice could do. She was determined to challenge that boys only Senate Tradition. She drafted a petition calling for congress to appoint girl pages and went around her neighborhood securing signatures for support. After collecting hundreds of signatures, she thought that was a lot and she then took that petition on a flight to washington, brought the petition with her ouster with the young democrats. She and friends presented copies of the partition with hundreds of signatures petition to the oklahoma delegation. At first, unsurprisingly, Nothing Happened but years later, a few years later while she was a junior in high school, she received a call from the senators legislative assistant. Senator harris is thinking about appointing a girl page, he said in which you be interested . She said she would and she and her parents shortly thereafter for ao washington swearingin ceremony that never took place. She returned to oklahoma and continued in her studies, waiting for the Senate Rules Committee to move forward or not. The Senate Rules Committee cap the issue bottled up for a few months, as long as it could really. Pressure forced the committee to finally consider the issue. The rules committee opened hearings on the topic in march testified onpercy behalf of the unlimited they wish to sponsor. The reminded the panel of passage of the Civil Rights Act which inhibited gender discrimination in the workplace. Do we want to tell the American People that equality is sacred everywhere except on the senate floor . Pagesng girls to serve as was a question of fundamental, human fairness. Senator harris submitted a letter of support. I feel excepting girl pages in the senate, we would be taking an important, symbolic step. The senate should end discriminatory hiring practices waste on sex alone and serve as an example for all american industry. The committee explored other issues of concern, such as how was the senate how would the senate assure the safety of the girls when they left Capitol Grounds . Where would they live . How would they get to the Capital Safety safely and what kind of clothing they would wear . In an open letter to members of wrote, the paulette most tragic note in all of this debate is the idea that merely because i am a girl, you would deny me the privilege to learn at close range about the most Important Branch of government. The bills proponents noted that at a time when the Nations Capital was experiencing a lot of crime, pages safety ought to for girls andtion boys. The senator of nevada presided over the hearings. He opposed the appointment of the mill pages. Female pages. What we have women taking care of the Capitol Grounds and taking care of the plumbing and things of that sort . Tradition is something that means a great deal to those of us that are privilege to serve in the u. S. Senate, but it comes a time when we should break with certain Senate Tradition. Nearly two months later, the rules committee finally approved a resolution allowing for the appointment of female pages. Senator jobless introduced javis the resolution. Our original resolution would simply permit females to be pages, he explained. The rules committee, however, have revised the original proposal. The new resolution required senators who wish to appoint girl pages to submit a letter to the sergeant at arms, assuming full responsibility for the safety, wellbeing and strict supervision of the female page. A responsibility that had never been required for boy page appointments. He conceded that though the new proposal was not perfect, he would vote in favor of it. With the house and senate poised to reorganize the page system, which included the construction of a pages senate dormitory, he careined the interim advises us to let the resolution go through. Feelings of the objectionable features aside so that julie price, a truly outstanding American Girl can be sworn in as a senate page. Opponents to the measure voice their concerns but the bill posey proponents prevailed and in 1971, the senate agreed to tradition,ce only approving by voice vote. We do not have record of how they voted the day. On to the swearingin. Darn, can i go back . Probably not. Yes. Thank you. 1971,xt day, may 14, ellen, paul let and julie blazed the trail as the first female pages. There will be shuddering in the cloak room predicted the senator from pennsylvania and he was half right. The republican cloak room welcomed the young women, but it would be another six months before the democrats allowed their female pages to enter their cloak room. I can go into that it is later time. I want to end with a little personal story here. A story about why the Senate Historical office knows the store today. It actually starts with a story today. It actually starts with a phone call. A little story, a short story maybe 150 words on her website about the swearingin of the first female pages and it included a photo, the swearingin of all let. Aulette and ellen i received a phone call from julie price in 2012 and she said, i have read that paragraph on the website, and she said very politely but firmly, it is wrong, or at least it is only partially right because you have left out my piece of the story. I was sworn in three days later because it was the weekend and i had to fly from oklahoma to washington dc and i was not in the city. , well, itf the story counts and i think it should be included on the senate website. I said, we think so and we would like to get the story. To get the full story we which are love to talk with you. When you consider doing an oral history with us . She said, graciously that she would. She came down from pennsylvania and one interview led to the other. Accounts we have packaged together and confined and you can find the three oral histories on the website with dozens of other oral histories we have taken. The reason i bring this up is because those oral histories really helped us to figure out what was going on behind the scenes. The story is much cooler than just them being sworn in and will committees but it was how the sound women petitioned, in some ways, the members to really start this process. They hung in through moments of frustration to finally be sworn in really months after this whole thing started. Thoseurage you to go read stories if you have not already, because those three interviews in particular talk about raking the page programs gender barrier. They discussed the long waiting period following the appointment of their official spurring and, the Media Attention they receive, some of it unwanted. I know that in particular the once they are sworn in, there is a lot of talk about what the page girls are wearing and a lot of talk about, is this too much work for them . Are your feet tired . Do you need to sit down . I guess i should not be surprised by the sexist language but it is there. They talk about the way the boy pages and the senators receive them. A couple of them noted there were a few members, some Seven Members that were not too pleased that the girl pages were there but most of them were gracious and welcomed them despite the fact that they did not agree with the admission of female pages. They discussed the members and staff they got to know, like many of you, as well as some of the political and policy debates of the era including a great debate in the senate over the equal rights amendment. Senator sam ervin, one of the women remembers him, the story paulette. Do you want one of these frail things going to war . You should not be considering the equal rights amendment . They reflected on how their page experiences shaped their professional lives. More importantly, their interviews as to all of the interview is that we try to collect in the historical office, they try to tell us something about the institution in the particular era we are gathering information about. And this case, it was the senate as an institution in the 1970s and the way some of its male members resisted change, even the change of bringing in some female pages. I encourage you, on a final note, to if you have not already take a look at the senate website, look through our list of oral history interviews. You will find that we have dozens of things that might be of interest to you and probably many things that mention the d you served and you may want to reflect upon some of the things that were going on during that time. I thank you for your time. [applause] mr. Wasniewski we are right up against time for the documentary but im sure jerry will give us one or two minutes for questions of anyone has questions about the presentations. Does anyone have any questions . We answered everything. [laughter] mr. Wasniewski great. Thank you very much. [applause] lets have a proper round of applause. [applause] a couple comments. I want to thank you for that presentation. Is here. I know you call their own earlier but i will tell you a story. The reason im the picture of the three women sitting down there in 1971, my mother saw it the Los Angeles Times and cut it out and put it on my desk and said, this is something you may be interested in, and of course applied and lo and behold, a couple months later, i am going. En was the woman who fought the fight. To all of you female pages, this is the person you think, right here, thank, right here, right now, thank you, ellen. [applause] come want to reemphasize, if you have i want to reemphasize, if you have memorabilia in the right time is there, call us, call her. It belongs here first. If you have not had a chance, please, visit our center of the history displays of the housesenate. It is actually incredible. Those of you that worked or, you could spend days here going through those exhibits. I will put in a little push for a bigger page presence, but that is another story. Matt, thank you on the presentation of the first africanamerican page. You will see more from these three in the earlier panel in a documentary we will show you in just a few minutes. Some of the same stories and some of them broadened. Julie price was interviewed for the documentary and she kept saying, what they have is wrong . I told her to call them and she did. A round of applause for these three. [applause] thank you all. Announcer interested in . Visitn history tv our website. This week on the presidency, a conversation with jeffrey ward who was also the principal scriptwriter for the 2014 ken burns documentary the roosevelts. He spoke with leslie stahl about Franklin Roosevelts mother sarah and her relationships with her son and her many grandchildren. The New York Historical society hosted this hourlong event. Todays program, grandmother power, the roosevelts is part of the schwartz distinguished series. I always like to thank mr. Swartz for his support which has enabled us to invite so many promt
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