Transcripts For CSPAN3 Society 20240706

Thank you very much. I love the enthusiasm of the postal lunch crowd. Its very exciting. Well, i am and honored and humbled to be here. To have invited to been invited to speak amongst this really incredible assembly of speakers and all of you attending and to share some the history and highlights of the society of the cincinnati collections. I have to say that throughout the past two days, ive each night back to my hotel room and because in a conversation with someone or listening to someones presentation, someone said something very smart, very insightful. And i went back and thought, i need to sort of see this differently. Im thinking about this, about our collections differently and its relationship to these other topics. So you all been sort of inspiration already. So thank you for that. So society of cincinnatis collections documenting revolutionary war and its legacy are of the broad scope of my talk today. We did begin acquiring in 1783, which is the the society was founded. So we are just a month shy of our 239th birthday, despite that long history. Ill particularly focus today on our Robert Charles lawrenceburg aside collection on the art of war in the age of the American Revolution, which was created in 1988, and it now holds many of our most important collections and draws scholars for both its breadth and specificity. So forgive me, i cant ignore sort of the primer on what the society is and talk a little bit about our early collecting as a foundation for where we go with the ferguson collection the society of the cincinnati is americas oldest Veterans Organization and among the oldest historical organizations in the nation. Founded in may 1783 by Continental Army officers camped along the hudson river near newburgh, new york. As the revolutionary war was coming to a the army was starting disband and uncertainty for. The future of the soldiers lives as well as the new nation ever present. The societys purposes were laid out in its founding document. We call the institution, which you see of here, written by henry knox and i was actually just having a conversation with a gentleman who sometimes referred to as the singular founder of the society. Although we prefer to think of all of the original members as our founders, but he he pen this document and laying out its purposes to perpetuate the memory of the war for independence, to maintain the fraternal bonds between the soldiers, promote the ideals of the revolution, support members and their families in need, and advocate for the compensation to the officers by congress congress. The society was named for the ancient roman citizen soldier lucius concha cincinnatus, who you here in an 18th century depiction. In the fifth century bce, the roman senate called on cincinnatus to lead the army of republic against the foreign invaders and granted him dictatorial powers to deal with the crisis facing rome. After leading the army to. He resigned his commission returned power to the senate and retired to his farm, refusing rewards serving the republic. So for the classical world as as in the 18th century, both in europe and america, cincinnatus, the embodiment of civic virtue, characterized by a willingness to sacrifice interest and private gain for the good of the public. Fast forward to the 18th century in america. George was widely considered an american cincinnatus and the founders of the society referred to themselves as cincinnati using the plural of the name to indicate their own commitment, the virtues of the roman hero and in that sense, putting all of those men, whether low level Junior Officers or the commander in chief, really on the same level of public service. So originally, the society had about 2200 original members who were officers, the Continental Army and navy, as well as their french, acknowledging the alliance that had helped to win the war. George washington was fittingly the first president , general and original members include henry knox, baron von steuben, gates, nathaniel green, benjamin lincoln, james monroe, Alexander Hamilton and aaron. John. Paul jones. Thaddeus kosciuszko. The marquee to lafayette. Come to russia, bo. Come to staying pure plum fun. James peel i could go on just for a little background and this society was established as a hereditary organization and the founders believing that they were sort of building in this sort of insurance that as the generations there would be these men to come along, who would have this hopefully built in and feeling this responsible party to carry on the work of the society so that future generations would not forget the sacrifices and ideals that resulted in american independence. It remains a hereditary today with more than 4000 members descended from both american and french officers of the revolution and the society is unique among hereditary organizations in america as its founders were actual participants in the event that the organization is meant to commemorate. So today i have gotten the question before it is a society, it died out. Does it still exist . We very much do both as a hereditary organization and a nonprofit and the institution today. The principle guiding document for our mission to encourage understanding and appreciation of the achievement of american and its enduring importance. The society, a Nonprofit Organization officially in 1937 and the following year, established its headquarters Anderson House, which you see here a 1905 mansion in the Dupont Circle neighborhood. Washington, d. C. , donated by lars anderson, donated by isabel, the widow of Society Member lars. Anderson, this is the first and only Headquarters Building the society has ever had an Anderson House has provided a home for our Museum Library and Educational Programs and propelled the growth of the organization in the 20th century. In 2012, the society created the American Revolution institute of the society of the cincinnati as its public face, carrying out the Historic Mission to promote understanding and appreciation. The achievements and legacy of the revolution. This also made our elevator pitch much more simple. Instead of having to first explain what the heck the society of the is. And no, were not headquartered in ohio, we can jump right to the meat of the American Revolution and our work in that space. So to achieve mission today, we support advanced, study, present exhibitions and other public programs, collect and preserve artifacts and documents of the revolution advocate, historic preservation, and provide to teachers and students to enrich understanding of the American Revolution. So to the collecting and i will say i want to point to you that anything thats part of the collection i have noted in brackets after the credit line, the date we acquired it, the year, which if you want to dig down that level, you can sort of trace where in the development of our ferguson collection we acquired these things. So here we have a wonderful revolutionary war of a connecticut officer John Hutchinson buell and his post war portrait miniature at the heart of our programs today are our collections, which are naturally critical to our library, to our temporary exhibitions, but also play a prominent role our public programs, our classroom materials and our online resources, our collections. Now number than 50,000 items. The vast majority that is in our Library Collections, our museum holds about 4500 works. And while focusing on our revolutionary war highlights today, we do also collect artifacts and documents related the history of the society up through today as well as hold the original furnishings and artworks and other material related to our Headquarters Building. Anderson house, the origins of the societys collections. Go back to our in 1783 when the Organization Began compiling its correspondence and founding documents into an archive that we continue to maintain and grow the papers in the archives collection offer rich record of the early history of society and its founders. And not only will you find there actual nuts and of the founding of the society, but topics, you know, overlapping with many of the major issues of their day at this point, the society really was only looking inward to these papers as a record of its own. But looking back with modern, i think we really can say this. The beginning of our collections. Youve seen it once already in detail. The most important document and the Society Archives is the institution. Our founding document, this First Official copy. I dont this is nearly like the declaration but was adopted the societys founding meeting on may 13th, 1783 and within days inscribed on this large of parchment, it is inscribed with the society inspiration, purpose and organizational structure and signed at the bottom. Here you can here at the head of it, George Washington. And then 35 other officers of the Continental Army who were present in the encampment along the hudson, including generals knox, steuben du ty and putnam. The institution also described emblems of the society, which put the story its namesake purpose inspiration from the world and ties to the revolution into a pictorial format that was intended for a circular metal problem. Font who was the designer of the city of washington who before that fought as an officer with the Continental Army and became an original member of the society, created these ink and washed drawings of the emblems which show on your left the obverse. Cincinnatus receiving a sword from. Three senators while at home with his family in a decidedly america and log cabin style roman dwelling and on the reverse on the right, cincinnatus having returned to his plow, triumphant, with fame overhead and the sunrise on a city in the background. These are the classic motifs of cincinnatus and really capture the spirit of these men returning home from war, putting down their swords, picking up their plows, contributing to their civilian republic. These are among a total of four drawings by john font that he did in 1783 for symbols of membership in the society, which are part of our archives. But funds crowning achievement for the society was. Designing our insignia or badge known as the eagle. And this diamond eagle is the ultimate example. The insignia was is worn by members to signify their association with the society. It bears versions of the emblems we just saw in long fonts, drawings and oval medallions on both sides of the medal in the shape of an american bald eagle suspended by a ribbon of light blue and white, signifying the union between america and france, the alliance, the eagle, is typically made of with enamel, decorations and. If youve been looking out for it, although you may not have known, you should, but you are. We should be in of the portraits weve seen, particularly in six presentation, there were a couple officers that light blue ribbon of the cincinnati eagle. But this is something a bit different. The diamond eagle was, commissioned by Charles Hector de stang, an admiral of the navy, and the first president of the French Branch of the society d as a surprise gift for george from all the french sailors who served america in our revolution. It was presented to washington, the societys first general meeting in philadel in may 1784, really just steps from here and soon as he wore it, the diamond eagle became the badge of the office of the president. General, its been worn by every president generals since, including Alexander Hamilton, who succeeded his former commander in as president general in 1800. Its made of 198 diamonds, emeralds and rubies that form the body of the eagle. And this circular trophy section above. I could give a whole 45 minutes on the diamond eagle, but quickly, whats so i think still deserving some exploration but seems to suggest this is not just a pretty assemblage of various shapes of diamonds these are actually have been put in to create of the alliance as well the revolution. So you have a pair of epaulets right above the of if you chanan some unfurling on either side here a birds head, an ancient symbol of france. But but moving on from our origins in the 19th century and the First Quarter of the 20th century, the society really honestly wasnt focused on collecting it was dealing with a membership in the civil war period, then contributing to centennial celebrations, and then into the early 20th century, reviving. Honestly most of its state branches that had gone dormant through the 19th century. The acquisition of andersen house, as i mentioned, as the societys Headquarters Museum in 1938, really spurred the organization on to build a collection documenting the revolutionary war, that it had a physical space to do that, and it did energize organization to envision what its museum and Library Programs could become and lest you look at these images and think that this building has nothing do with the revolution, i could show you a few photos of some murals, some ways that Lars Andersen incorporated the insignia of the society and the societys history into the building. But what i think is so cool and completely coincides well. Is that andersen house on land . That was the site of the only revolutionary war encampment in the district of columbia what are the chances . So in july 1782, as the french army marching back north from the williamsburg yorktown area to, boston, they had a very structured march, very structured series of camps along the way and in four successive nights as had divided up the french army the french army encamped july 20th, 1782 and several nights around that date on the grounds of andersen house. So we stand on that sacred ground. Well, so so from the 1930s into the 1970s, the societys collecting were not as well defined as they are today. Ill say that. But a focus the experiences of the american officers in the war naturally emerged owing the societys own history and honestly, because of our donor pool in this period, almost all of acquisitions were gifts of Society Members and their relatives who donated items had descended in their families. Since Society Members had to be descendants of revolutionary war officers to join, they already strong connections to the revolutionary war ancestors and the objects and documents that they came with very strong provenance. So we were lucky for that. This resulted in many of our objects retaining an association with their original owner. Like a large collection of artifacts and documents that youre seeing some of here owned by Lieutenant Colonel Tench Tilghman of maryland, who was George Washingtons longest serving aide de camp during the war. These objects were donated and bequeathed his great great grandson, harrison tilghman, in the 1950s and sixties. And one of the things youll see is one of my favorite things in the collection on lower left, the congressional presentation sword awarded to Tench Tilghman. In 1781, or at least resolved to award to him in 1781. So during this period strengths emerged in the collection by virtue of what was being donated paintings. One of the most frequently acquired items these early years, and perhaps not a surprise as portraits would likely be more likely to be passed down and preserved and survived the 200 year journey from the revolutionary era. Two standouts that i picked out from this a watercolor miniature of barnabas binney, who was a boston born surgeon in the Continental Armys Hospital Department in the war painted during war, wearing the uniform of that surgeons wore that was donated a descendant in 1955. Its incidentally also on exhibition currently in new exhibition saving soldiers medical treatment in the revolutionary war and on right you see an oil portrait of jacob kubrick, who was a charleston native, a wealthy, prominent charleston family wearing the uniform of the second South Carolina regiment. He was killed in april 1778 in service. But his his story and his likeness go on in this portrait painted by ben bridge, the philadelphia born who made his name in the south. This was also donated by a descendant in 1968. Weapons and other military were similarly frequently donated in this period. And something i dont understand and i dont know if its common in other collections of this period, swords were much more frequently donated in this in this than firearms were one of the most important in our still is the cut that you see lower right made by john bailey in fredericksburg, new york that was owned by massachusetts officer adams bailey made about 1778, donated the senate in 1964. What you see on left is the first revolutionary war firearm to enter collections in 1978. So took that long donated by or but first its a french model 1766 charleville musket and its one of the ones marked on the barrel to a New Hampshire regiment. This the New Hampshire battalion and this was donated by the noted john dumont, whose has come up a few times in addition to being a collector, he was a member of the society in new york and actually served as one of our president s general. So he would have worn that. Domenico once upon a time of the manuscript and printed materials that were acquired during this time these years, among the most noteworthy on the left, the first manuscript, apt, orderly book to enter our collections, which was kept captain William Popham for lord sterlings division in 1780. And what youre looking at here is one of the most kind of oft often cited sayings in our collections. We just love to bring out this page records. The announcement of Benedict Arnolds treason, john. And what you see here, treason of the blackest was yesterday discovered and treason had been written underscored so boldly. The iron gall ink burned a hole in page that has since been conserved with japanese paper. On the right, the french engraving of general washington that was printed after a painting by jeanbaptiste le pen based on a painting by Charles Wilson peale, was donated as well by a collector, who was a member of the society society. So lets finally get to the ferguson collection with this foundation of the societys own origins and collecting. Earlier in the 20th century, the society had built an interesting collection, some very important pieces and a foundation, some some hints at where strengths of the collections may lie. But by the 1980s, the staff sought a more focused collecting, especially to building an Important Research collection to attract scholars to library. So flowing from the societys Historic Mission to study and appreciate the achievement of american independence, the staff with the question how did the americans win the war. Simple right countless people have asked this question. There are numerous to go on the staff thought how did the fledgling American Army filled with men who had no military training or experience, might stand a chance at defeating british. How did they know to organize and clean their camps . How did they know how to train their troops . What tactics to use, how to build fortifications, how to provide military medicine and on and on. So the answer our staff came to at the time was they read first leaning on the robust literature on the art of war in europe, particularly england, and france, and then contributing their own. The americans read. This literature, the art of war, of course, included manuals for drills, tactics, treatises on artillery and engineering, official regulations and army lists. It also included military histories, biographies and memoirs from the classical world world through to the 18th century as well, works on disparate subjects like. The laws of war and military medicine. Officers from washington and knox on down encouraged their men and fellow officers to read military treatises, to the Continental Army. And this was the way in washington eyes and others that they stood a chance to win this war. Even american leaders outside of military recognized the role reading military treatises would play not just in their own understanding the conflict, but the chance the american side had to win. In 1775, john adams sought the advice of his military friends to a list of what he called the best authors on the art of war. Thomas jefferson and Benjamin Franklin added military treatises to libraries and the library of company of philadelphia added to its the latest military treatises for the use of its members and for the members of the Continental Congress who shared its building Carpenters Hall in 1774 and 75 to meet the growing for military texts american printers many centered here in philadelphia produced a flurry of printings. At first they were reprints or new editions of european standards, but the immediacy of war, the necessity of soon produced a crop of american writers contributing, their own experiences and lessons to a new homegrown military literature. So in 1988, the Robert Lawrence ferguson collection was formally, with this focus in mind, to create a Research Collection on the art of war in the era of the american acquisitions for the ferguson collection have been funded from beginning by a member of the society of the cincinnati who chooses to remain anonymous the collection has been a blessing. The societys wildest hopes honestly carving a niche for us that has made the library a top destination for scholars of the revolution and the art of war in the 18th century. So name which we say so often. I must tell a little bit about him lieutenant Robert Charles Lawrence Ferguson was born in 1943 and elected to membership the Virginia Branch of the society in 66. At the age of 23, the same year, this photograph of lieutenant ferguson, his parents, general robert g. Ferguson and charlotte lawrence. Ferguson was taken the following year in 1967 as a First Lieutenant and the 101st Airborne Division of the army in vietnam. He was fatally wounded when his platoon ambushed the collection that bears his name. And we literally say it every day honors his memory. A young 20th century cincinnatus who gave his life and service to his country as so many of his forebears had done. So our staff went to work building a collection that now numbers more than 12,000 items, mostly purchased one at a time as as 700 a year, in some cases, our staff relied on inventories of personal libraries of, the period and other contemporary documents on military reading, as well as modern sources. And one scholar in particular who was writing at this developmental period for us was joseph rowling, who published in 1991 or 1990 the art and science of war in america, which was a great resource. And i must give credit to the three Library Directors who have overseen this collection over the years. First john kilburn succeeded by sandy powers. And for the past 20 years, our Wonderful Library director, ellen mcallister, Clarke Clarke and i must credit ellen clarke in particular Whose Research and writing i have pulled from liberally for some of this presentation. The initial focus the collection was on the 18th century art of war books that. The americans were reading, but fairly quickly that expanded to military works that europeans mostly the french and the english were reading and in the 18th century then it expand did to scoot earlier into the 17th century and even the 16th century to context and show the evolution thought about military science that led up to the revolutionary war this all led to an incredibly partnership with ira, who is now retired professor history from rice university. Well as west point and he was at the time on a book project books on the british army in the age of the american by the late nineties, he was compiling what would become a list of 650 military books based on the preferences of 42 18 century british officers who left records of the books they owned, purchased, read, recommended and wrote. He out about our ferguson collection, which was robust enough at the time for him to seek as a place where he could come and actually physically many of these books that he had only other wise put on a list on his computer. And after more than ten years, his book was by the university of North Carolina with the society as copublisher. And while our library is cited as a repository of more of the books in his list than any other place, his work has influenced us to expand our holdings based what the british were reading and we go back to his list today to help fill gaps in our collection. While books will always be at heart of the ferguson collection, it does also include thousands of prints, maps, broadsides diaries and journals. Portraits and other materials that what soldiers were reading and learning and add documentation of what they actually went out and did the revolutionary war. So we have the theory well, as the practice. So to get into the meat some highlights from collections from the ferguson collection. Rare books, of course were the first focus and remain the core of. The ferguson collection, one of the earliest manuals published for officers during the war, the prussian evolutions by Thomas Hanson was published in the spring of 1775 in philadelphia and actually you can read the publication information here. Just, i think about a block away from where we sit. Was this published or printed . Hanson was an officer in the philadelphia associates, and he adopted frederick the greats system of military discipline and drill for the use of the american troops. And this is just one example of dozens of others from americans who were looking for looking to europe for ways to implement more professionalized system managing and training an army. This was so popular, well respected that washington ordered eight copies for his own use just a month before he became commander in chief. But despite that popularity, its exceedingly rare today. This copy, as youll see from, the signature was owned by daniel udrih, who was a colonel of the second battalion of the berks county, pennsylvania, militia. From 1777 to 81, one of our most important printed french works is this copy of francais for the year 1781 that was printed on the press of the french fleet that arrived in newport with roche and. Those troops in the summer of 1780, like almanacs did at the time. It has phases of the moon distances from newport to nearby cities, but it also includes a directory. The commanders of the french army and navy and a chronology of the war in america to that point as a reference, i think, for the french soldiers there, its probably the first french almanac published in the United States and ours is the only complete copy known to exist in an institutions collection collection. One by one, we have collected every army list from 1754 to 800, with the exception of if you have a copy of the 1762 army list, please let me know more or more accurately let ellen clarke know. We also have copies of the the french of these army lists. Although with a few more gaps and addition to being wonderfully helpful but very down in the weeds, sources for tracing officers through their units over time in this extraordinary, they also provide more personal information about how an army changes during war, at least how its personnel change in war. This copy of the british army lists for 1773 was annotated the war, presumably by another british, with the notes of fates of his compatriots. And on these pages we see killed at lexington. 19 1775, i believe it says. He was killed in service in america, wounded, killed, wounded, abundant bunker. So the the effects and the personal notes that this officer chose to add to his copy of this list of his fellow officers of the british army, some of whom were falling by the wayside. This is not exactly an art of war volume, but it is an extraordinary of what soldiers took with them to war and how objects passed from one to another. I think. There have been threads of in various talks this weekend, this 1770 copy of paradise lost john milton was brought to america by davids. A lieutenant in the royal regiment of artillery, who was part of british army that surrendered at saratoga. In 1777. His signature see on the top of the title page davids may seven, 1776. Below that is the name woolwich academy, the great english military academy. But in the second name visible here, which you see twice on the frontispiece, is john stone, who was an american lieutenant who served at the rutland barracks in massachusetts, where davids was held prisoner after saratoga. But we dont know is what really want to know is how this passed from davids to stone. British hands to american was a spoil of war. Or was this a more amiable exchange between two officers on the opposite sides of this war . We dont know, but its still a wonderful relic. Of our manuscript collections. And the fergusson collection is honestly not been so focused on single sheet manuscripts, individual letters, things like that what has been a top priority for the ferguson collection, our manuscript orderly books, George Washingtons order of january 1st, 1776, directed officers to keep orderly books. And he said his excellency hopes that the importance of the great cause in which we are engaged will be deeply impressed upon every mans and wishes it to be considered that an army without order regular ity and discipline is no better than a commissioned. It is ordered in that not only every regiment, but every company do keep an orderly to which frequent recourse is to be had it being expected that all Standing Orders be rigidly obeyed. So with this order formalized what had been practice in the british army of systematically keeping a daily record of the general brigade and division orders, congressional declarations, Court Martials and other military precede and troop and other details of military at the unit level as orders were handed down through ranks, they were copied into each orderly book at the company level. The order book was kept by the orderly sergeant who then read them aloud to the Junior Officers and enlisted men. Our collections contained more 50 orderly books, including these four acquired together in 1998, kept by various pennsylvania regiments in 1779 and 80. The vast majority of those are american orderly books. But this one interesting example is the headquarters book kept at coxs camp in the summer of 1778. This was about 40 miles outside london and was the largest of the special military Training Camps established to defend the homeland. Should britain itself be invaded during war. There were more 17,000 troops at coxs camp and this is the record at least of their summer of 1778. Another area of manuscripts that we have in recent years in particular to become more frequently collecting our manuscript diaries, journals. And i must say we have small though particularly think exciting collection of manuscript french journals. This one is a set of five bound journals kept by captain ruari, who was a french Army Engineer with and those forces and documents his experiences in america from his arrival newport in 1780 through his march with the allied armies through virginia to the siege of yorktown. And it also includes his later travels in virginia, the marquee to shasta lou. And then the return to boston in 1782. The journals were probably written after he got home from france after the war and appear to have been drawn largely from a group of letters which we have also acquired that he wrote to his family during the war. And this seemed to be the pattern for these french journals that you see today coming up that they really assembled after the war from a variety of their own sources sources. So here we finally get to sort my poster boy for this talk on the museums of the ferguson collection. There are just about a little more than a hundred objects in the ferguson collection. So tiny percentage of really the overall volume of it, mostly portraits, weapons and early commemorative artifacts, but some really wonderful, vivid and graphic things. And want to take a minute to talk about the acquisition of this ralph earl portrait of james fairly because its really kind of spanned the arc of my career with the society as well hes wearing his war uniform although its slightly postwar there. And of course ever in my mind things i look for the eagle insignia the society of the cincinnati on his coat and. This is one of those decades long ive been finding documents and i could see photographs of it, but i could not find this thing. But this has a happy ending. Fairly had been an officer in the new york continent, a line as well as an aide de camp to general steuben during the war and likeness by earl is one of two dozen portraits that the artist painted from debtors prison in new york city in the 1780s, including several other veterans like steuben as well as other Society Members wearing eagles who really kind of took it upon themselves to earl and try to raise the money to get him out of debtors prison. So soon after i became curator in 2003, several of our leadership told me of this portrait having been owned by another member and hung in an office in anderson in the 1970s. They had no idea where it was today, and that member had long died. Long since died. But i think to it was this the one that got away they always admired portrait they had it so close that they could touch it and then it left and vanished. They had no idea where it was. So just wanted me to keep an eye out for it. So i, you know, set about trying to piece together a provenance for it, which really only got me back to the 1960s to i think the kennedy galleries in new york city had no idea how long it had been separated from the family and about his recently as scholars could locate it in the 1991 catalog, the wadsworth am exhibition, ralph earl, the face of the republic by elizabeth kornhauser. Its only mentioned in the text in passing and in the footnote. She stated that its most recent location was with a Richmond Corporation effigy international. So i proceeded to try to get in touch with people at Fuji International and was actually able to talk with the owner who unfortunately told me that he had since shut down the company and sold its art collection, including the fairly portrait by the mid 1990s. Not too long after the publication of that book, he couldnt. He sold it to a chicago dealer. Had no idea what happened after after that it appeared in sothebys in 1995. But the letter that they forwarded me to the now more than ten years old winner of that lot went unanswered. And at that point, i thought the trail had gone cold, but it was always there in my mind. And i have to say owing nothing more than to just luck. Chance this surfaced at sothebys again in january of 2017, being sold from the collection. George as parker of the i might mispronounce this but can cex and this foundation so i think it was really and i think based out of wisconsin it was i think really flying under the radar so we were able to purchase it for the ferguson collection and really kind of return him to his previous home and have on long term display in our museum at Anderson House and have been loving it since then. So as we look back over more than 30 years of assembling the ferguson collection, in talking with ellen, you know, we had some observations about how it has evolved over years. We our geographic perspective, Atlantic World history took hold in the 1990s, collecting maps, prints, portraits and artifacts of people and events in the caribbean, gibraltar, india and elsewhere to document the revolution as a world war. One strength of our collections somewhat happenstance that resulted from this documents as well as a portrait and as well as a weapon related to gibraltar. One of the rarer and quirkier engravings. The collection you see on the left is this that was actually published as a design for a handkerchief. Commemorate the british victory over, the french and spanish and a portrait not part of the ferguson collection, but really related to its themes is this of general sir william green, the chief engineer at gibraltar that was painted by George Carter right after the war, and one of the things that really drew us to this portrait was the set of books that you see the table. And if youre able to if i were able to zoom in, you can make out the names of authors, vauban and others on the spines and covers of those books and. At the time of the acquisition of this portrait, we had examples of all of those works. The ferguson collection. The expansion in focus beyond the americans and their allies to also represent british, german and loyalist actors happened fairly quickly in the Library Collections took a bit longer for the museum to catch up. But one of our more recent acquisitions of british material for the Museum Collections is, a watercolor portrait miniature of henry painted in new york by john. During the war that we acquired in 2015. And it happened to join in the collections is a book that we actually acquired much earlier in 1998. That was henry clintons copy of charles steadmans history of the war, published in 1794. And it has what you see a glimpse of here clintons annotations on more than 80 pages of the work, correcting the author, defending his own actions as as commenting on those of his fellow british commanders. Its a great example of sort of competing views of history and, that conversation thats going on between clinton and steadman and. And which one do you think is right . What should be a fun game for any reader of these. More recently, as weve checked, most of the boxes not nearly all of them, but in printed materials and military manuals weve been able to acquire more rare and unique items that have quickly become icons of our collections among them. We have sebastian bowmans map of yorktown. Thomas paines common sense and a complete First Edition set of arrows. But perhaps our most frequently used image since we acquired it for the ferguson collection in 2014. Is this message portrait of George Washington engraved and sold by Charles Wilson peale in 1778, after his own portrait. Its the first authentic printed likeness of and a widely popular that was copied by numerous other engravers and then artists. This is one of only three copies known to survive in the world and. We put it on folders, we put it on our website, well put it anywhere. One of the things that we are most excited about, both in our history as well as in where were going is how collection is used. Certainly first and foremost, as particularly the Library Collections is there to scholarship, especially through our Library Fellowships. Since 2007, weve awarded Library Fellowships to nearly 70 scholars writing dissertations, theses as well as other projects that can relate to our holdings and in addition to our collections informing their work, their use of the library has influenced our collecting. They are able to see strengths and weaknesses of our collection from an outsiders viewpoint that, were maybe a little too close to see quickly, as well as passing along trends circulating in academia, and it actually was one of our first fellows who accelerated our expansion of the collection documenting revolution as a world war. When he visited expressing his surprise we didnt have more on the west indies at that time. We put these materials on exhibition very. We mount temporary exhibitions once or twice per year and hardly one goes by that does not have one. If not many pieces from the ferguson in them. But in two cases theyve really been the star of the show in 2008, on the 20th anniversary of the creation the ferguson collection, ellen clark curated the exhibition the enlightened soldier james wolfs reading list on the art of war, which capitalizes on a remarkable recent acquisition. Just that year of a three page letter that youre seeing a piece of here written. In 1756 from then colonel wolf to thomas townsend, responding to request for advice for his younger brother henry on what he should read to prepare for a career. The british military, wolf, ended up recommending this three page letter, a total of 25 authors, subjects or titles, and like with that portrait of green at the time of our of this part of this letter the ferguson collection already included at least one edition of each of those works. So we proceeded to create an exhibition of them and had the letter and displayed the works and associated materials organized the same way that wolf organized his. Ellen followed that show with a more focused one in 2017 and 2018 called books the field studying the art of war in revolutionary america. That went back to that first theme of what the americans were reading. And here you can see little bit of our exhibition gallery and. Most recently we are sort of excited and inspired our classroom resources, which is a newer program of ours in the last ten years and it has also been influencing what rises the surface in our collections and what were adding to the collections that will really resonate with teachers, students. So of the things that actually has been in our collection for some time but is seeing life in this way is this plate of sleeping soldiers from the market a segers a mass occurring that im sure art de la guerre published in 1748. This book was one of the most influential military in the 18th century and shows how to arrange nine soldiers to fit in an eight foot square tent. And it is really fun to ask if you tape an eight square foot spot out on the floor, if they can do this and then what it feels like and how do you feel about the other people, your tent, is this comfortable, cool. And then what else do you notice what theyre for example, this guy had to keep his boots because hes closest to the entrance of the tent. Should someone to get up. Lastly, another one of my favorite pieces in the collection is historic scope. Thats actually a product, the civil war era made by Milton Bradley and company, the bradley. And its a fairly object but of these handcolored lithographs showing the colonial and revolutionary america and its a window into literally what generation thought was important to remember what was popular to show and to learn about the and some of these things are iconic still today valley forge the surrender of cornwallis some of them think are really much more representative. What was popular then that has really slipped from memory today like this of israel putnams escape from the british. So i will end with and then another plug my colleague ellen clark. If would like to read more about the ferguson collection. We have a digital book that she wrote. 2020 on 100. Somehow she just this all into 100 treasures from the ferguson collection thats accessible from our website and i encourage you to go to our website and contact if you have any questions. And thank you all very much for your attention. Great. Well, thank you so much. We have time for two questions before our next speaker. The first one comes to us online and it says, which officer do you have the largest collection for . Oh, wow. It might. Attention, tillman. You saw three images of items in the collection and in the in the Museum Collection beyond the epaulets and the sword we have a pair of buttons we have his society the cincinnati eagle which is amazing and maybe a dozen other more domestic objects related to him and his wife on the library side have his manuscript journal of siege of yorktown, as well as his manuscript of a trip he took. I want to say in 1775 to iroquois country as the secretary of a delegation to try to convince them to neutral in the war and a variety of other papers related to his war service. The presentation the sword. I think thats one of our largest groupings. Great there any questions from the room. No. Oh, i knew there was one. Do you happen to have any who the officer was who annotated that army list . Not to my knowledge. Im not sure if there are any other clues throughout or maybe could be kind of ferreted out with more research, different. Awesome. Well, thank you so much was also really nice to see the diamond once again on the presentation screen because we also had it here at the museum. So thank you