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conservation, and museums and the chief curator at the colonial williamsburg foundation. pastverseas williamsburg curatorial operation, educational conferences, conservation initiatives, and museum operations, including direction of the abbey altar to museum.ler it goes without saying that ron plays a significant leadership role at williamsburg, directing initiatives across the foundation and importantly expanding decorative arts research with a focus on the material culture produced and consumed within the american south. staff isorial particularly thrilled to welcome ron to charleston this evening. over the last five years, our and colleagues at colonial williamsburg have developed a partnership that stem from the enthusiasm, guidance, and encouragement provided by ron, and the visible side of this collaboration is a groundbreaking new exhibit at the colonial williamsburg foundation, curated by ron and margaret richard, which we will hear more about this evening. what began as a series of correspondence in 2009 grew to loan agreements, conservation plans, collaborative research, and finally, the eggs addition of 27 object -- the exhibition of 27 objects. ron has helped contextualize the architecture and contents of drayton hall, the drayton family, while reestablishing the position of the low country of the 18th century in the atlantic world. we eagerly await future collaborations. ladies and gentlemen, let's give a warm welcome to ron hurst. [applause] >> thank you, carter, and everyone. i am so pleased to be in charleston. i never miss an opportunity to come to the holy city. it's one of those very special places, whether you are interested in historic architecture or not. a grand place to be. most modern impressions of the early south center on white-columned plantation houses -- [laughter] and rustic log cabins. they may also include gentry plan turns with english extraction, backwoods minting coonskin caps and the enslaved, as you see in the center here. the popularple, image stops there. while all of these elements are, in fact, a part of the early south's story, the full picture is so much richer and more complex. as every charles stony and -- charlestonian knows, there were ande of hugo no extent german extraction as well as .oravian families there were scottish , and there was a large jewish community by a family in williamsburg. ms. jones of beaufort, south carolina, and other enslaved people accounted for a huge part of the population, and there were many more native americans than we know about. and that is just the tip of the iceberg. southerners were not the two-dimensional anglo african society that is depicted in popular media. instead, they were a surprisingly diverse and multicultural people right from the beginning. historians have long known this to be the case because it is readily apparent the -- in teh he period documents, but the objects made and used also reveal the story. from fine arts to utilitarian objects, the material record of the early south is much more complicated and much more visually arresting than many observers suspect, and that is what i would like to explore with you this evening. i'll begin by sampling the imported materials, which are often ignored in studies of this kind, but imports are an important part of the landscape because they so often tell us about the buyers' cultural and economic affinities. make no mistake -- staggering quantities of european and asian goods flowed into the south from many points, especially after 1700. ofy usually arrived in one two ways -- wealthy southerners could obtain such goods directly from their factors in england and scotland. southern cash crops, tobacco, , and suche, indigo were shipped for sale to ports in britain and sometimes the west indies, and the credit that resulted from their sale allowed southern planters to order manufactured goods directly by return shipment. alternatively, southern consumers at all economic levels could purchase goods directly likelocal retailers william prentice, whose williamsburg virginia store house is still standing on the duke of gloucester street today. built in 1739, its interior probably resembled the one that was re-created by colonial about 20 years ago. one of the best views into the world of early southern retail is found in this 1767 forrtising broadside another williamsburg merchant. "just imported from london and bristol," it proclaims and goes on to list literally scores of different types of textiles followed by goods such as these -- handsome wilton carpets, leather shoes, hats of all prices, table china, glass and earthenware, haberdashery of all kinds, gloves, prints, handsome looking glasses, dressing glasses, iron ware, cutlery of all sorts, handsome painted to boards, waiters and bread baskets, silverware of all sorts, jewelry, gold and silver laced, and the best of all -- a very great variety of almost every article that could be thought of suitable for this country. do not miss the visuals around the outside of this piece. the text is framed by a border bedecked with coffee pots, tea pots, candlesticks, t boards, gloves, stockings, shoes, hats, and more. and lest we think that such wares were available only in coastal towns like williamsburg, annapolis, and charleston, i can confirm that merchants in the mountains of western virginia and in the western carolinas offered many of these same goods long before the revolution. hook in merchant john bedford county, virginia, provided customers with backgammon boards, china cups, feather plumes, quilts, gowns, stoneware, cream ware, transfer printed teapots, and emil's sauce boats, fine table linen -- you name it, he had it for sale in 1772 4 years before the revolution. so much for current skin caps and deprivation on the frontier. perhaps not surprisingly, stylish attire topped the list of imported european goods for s.uthern household this 1750's gown was sold from london but a lot -- but belonged to elizabeth then dredge -- elizabeth dandridge. the similar example was worn by a charleston woman 20 years later. this gown made of cotton from east india belong to a woman called and breckenridge in the backcountry of virginia about 1810. married georgeon washington in these shoes in 1759. they came from a london shoemaker weary of caroline reid of subtle, virginia, carried this imported english fan about 20 years after the revolutionary war. despite the international origins of the various materials from which all of these things were made, all of these finished goods were imported to the south from britain. that was the law of the day. ceramics followed a similar course, coming to the region from potteries in england, scotland, and ireland in huge numbers. the range included cheap sleepwear like this dish excavated in williamsburg, and akin to this cup, excavated from the yard of a heyward washington house. to twore found its way places as her verbal as north carolina and is urbanized astra also in's broad street -- urbanized as charleston's broad street. this teacup made it all the way from england to tennessee's elk river valley by 1810. mind you, this was all long before the advent of neck and eyes to travel. transporting ceramics over the mountains -- very difficult in the 18th century. chinese export also arrived in quantity. we see this like this rare 18th-century service used by the first members of the drayton family to live a trade and hall. hall.live at drayton this was owned by the next generation of the family, and this service was used by the lear family and washington, d.c., in the 1790's. table wares appeared, too. among them, robert beverly's massive 1764 order for bland field plantation in virginia. and the macon family service, which was used in the virginia piedmont. and a particularly elegant and costly service from trait and hall. and there was ornamental china. this tall and colorful cottager inh details richly adorned gilding originally sat on a mantle at drayton hall beginning in the 1780's. it's one of the most ornate examples known from the early south. camer and silver plate from the mother country, too, far more than most people realize, as evidenced by this, virginia'sdewater, granberry family in 1771, and these outstanding silverplate andlesticks, ordered by virginian and his maryland wife in 1774. this is in the neoclassic taste was made for william and hannah insley in south carolina 1772, and this large english cup -- and it is about 15 inches tall -- was fashioned to commemorate a horse race run in north carolina in 1754. can you see the engraved horse and jockey on front? english's silver was pouring into the south in vast amounts. perhaps the least well understood of the british imports to the south's furniture. the diligent research over the last decade has turned up a wealth of well-documented pieces , and we are beginning to see a pattern. most of these goods were of a straightforward design, often termed the need in plain style consumers, like this clock made in glasgow, scotland, and used by the last royal governor of virginia at the palace of williamsburg, or this english sideboard table ,ith its italian marble top owned that a plantation in southern maryland. southern consumers, when ordering such pieces from britain, often used terms such as "good and well made of their kind." they were looking for quality but not usually ornament, except in some cases. these are the exceptions, perhaps none is remarkable for its expense and elegance as this bookcase main for john drayton and used by him at drayton hall. this has all editions from purely ornamental carving to exotic african veneer woods right down to fire go over coco hardware on the drawers. drayton was making a statement about his position and taste even with his imported furniture . southernersth early imported everything from fine art, furniture, to architectural andework to wallcoverings virtually all of it came from or through great britain, regardless of origin. obviously, such goods were outward symbols of the owner's wealth, but they also revealed cultural empathy's -- empathies. owners sought to all of the latest rich fashions by ordering goods that were trendy in the mother country. as i said earlier, looking at imports is instructive, but the clearest hallmarks of southern cultural affinities are seen in the goods actually made by other southerners. as in any society, artists and artisans produce objects that echo their own backgrounds, and often, those of their customers. not surprisingly, the dominant english presence observed with imported goods is also seen in much of the furniture, silver, and painted goods that were produced, especially in the coastal plain of the south. let's look at a few examples of those. the earliest southern ceramic production was limited to the coastal plain. utilitarian vessels akin to these were fashioned in very small quantities at a number of 17th-century sites in the chesapeake, and most were directly modeled on contemporary english forms. that's true of this chamber pot and colander, both made in the in james cityund county, virginia. similarly, this bird nesting centuryade about a later looks exactly like its english counterparts. this sugar dish and teapot of excavated here in charleston are almost certainly english imports, but there's also a very slight chance that they were made by an english part of who -- an english potter who established a pottery in 1865 in charleston and make goods similar to these. if they are charleston-made, you can scarcely detect the difference between them and english examples, and that is what low country patrons wanted. english influence is also strong in several other media. this likeness was painted near williamsburg in 1722, and although the artist's name is not known to us, his technique is unmistakably english. depicted here in her teens, her loosely arranged at tyer is likely based on engraved images ratherish noble women than something that this teenage .irl actually wore and furniture, consider this well-known charleston library bookcase from the 1770's. the maker obviously lifted the design right out of thomas 's premier english cabinet maker book of the day. english influences even deeply reaching into the backcountry at an early date as evidenced by this clock from frankfort, kentucky. the case was made about 1800 by william lowry, whose molding profiles and overall composition directly pattern themselves on english norms. even the floral inlay on the pediment appears to be a british import. note that virtually identical floral inlays were used by his contemporaries here in charleston, also imported from britain. we could make the same observations about english influence with regard to silver and needlework and architectural details, but the pattern is very well-established. let's move on to look at other less apparent cultural influences in the early south. notngland -- and england is the only source of british influence we find in the region. irish artisans left their stamp as well. although fabricated on the shores of virginia's rappahannock river in the mid-18th century, a number of pieces of furniture including these two tea tables, exhibit all the hallmarks of contemporary irish furniture. the springy legs, pointed feet, heavily shaped rails -- they are all identical to furniture made in dublin and limerick and shannon. at least two still unidentified irish artisans settled near one river small towns on the and simply continued to make furniture just as they had learned to do it in ireland. only their virginia associations and execution in north american cabinet woods reveal their true origin. how do we account for this phenomena in? there was enormous growth in the chesapeake in wheat production during the third quarter of the 18th century, and surprisingly, more than half the annual tonnage was shipped not to england but to ireland. that coincided with a resurgence of indentured servitude -- indentured servitude in the chesapeake, and most of those newly arriving indentured servants were irish immigrants. their indentures were sold to planters and masters throughout the upper chesapeake. the welsh were here, too, and although physical evidence of their presence is more difficult to find, it is here nonetheless. by way of example, look at this chair made in anne arundel county, maryland, near annapolis . you have probably never seen another like it, but it is a dead ringer for contemporary chairs from rural wales. the seats were used in welsh farm kitchens to facilitate cooking and other hearth-oriented work. not the presently, the area around annapolis saw a hefty influx of welsh settlement in the second quarter of the 18th century. scottish influences are apparent as well and far more abundant, most often in furniture. scores -- and i mean scores of scottish cabinet maker's settled in both urban and rural areas in the chesapeake and the low country. one of them was robert walker, not to be confused with the cabinet maker of the same name here in charleston. this robert walker arrived in virginia in the 1740's having been raised and almost certainly trained near aberdeen in eastern scotland. his furniture exhibits a heavy, bold, and george and feel that was common in coastal scotland but rarely seen in american furniture of his day. you find it here in the scale of the individual ornaments and .lso in the floored carving scottish and scotch irish characteristics were abundant in the southern backcountry as well. emigrants carried the traits as they moved down the shenandoah valley from pennsylvania or across the mountains from southern coastal settlements. their presence in this robustly scaled wainscot chair, which dissented in the gilmore family. the scotch irish gilmore's settled in the shenandoah valley about 1750, having come from north of britain by way of pennsylvania. their chairs maker is not known to us, but it resembles eight teen century provincial scottish and irish chairs in both design and construction. ofleagues at the museum foundrn decorative arts these three pieces, likely the work of scotsman amos alexander, working near present-day charlotte, north carolina. looking at the bracket feet and wide inlays on these pieces, we see the same heavy georgian scale observed earlier in the furniture of robert walker along .he coast when the scots pursued other trades as well, peter cosmo alexander from aberdeen created these likenesses in williamsburg and the 1770's. his works have a softer focus that differs pretty sharply from most of the contemporary english painters working in the south. -- this scottish silversmith was a leading charleston metalsmith during the 1750's, fabricating some of the most ornate silver hollow or the coastal south in comparison with contemporary scottish silver like this edinburgh copy thought -- coffee pot reveals the direct transfer of both ornamental and structural details from coastal scotland to coastal south carolina. looking next that continental europe, we find that transplanted german cultures also thrived in the south. as tom savage demonstrated a number of years ago, the german cabinet maker martin furniture worked in charleston during the 1770's and early 1780's and handsomeparticularly goods. you see evidence of that in the robust baroque shaping on this bookcase and the shapely top on the chest of drawers from the same shop. but it is even more apparent in the market-rate -- market-rate -- marketry decorating the book case. it would be difficult to find another piece of pre-revolutionary american-made furniture that matches the quality of this bookcase that you can see today, of course, at the washington house. german traditions were even more pronounced and more tenacious where somekcountry communities spoke german exclusively as late as the .840's' artisans in these areas may distinct and sometimes like thisned goods clock from shenandoah valley, virginia. this bombay-based together with the arched hood, a cluster of life finials on top, and a case door with the round window are all typical of dutch and german baroque aesthetics from the middle of the 18th century, but the virginia case was made about 1800 when most of these details were long out of fashion in europe. there's a strong conservative streak in many backcountry .ermanic communities the relationship between the earlier continental traditions caseadily apparent in the of this german clock made about 1750. note the subtle bombay base appearing once again on this clock attributed to johannes krause working in the moravian town of salem, north carolina. he, too, was of german birth and brought his ideas with him. of course, painted blanket chests often signify germanic cultures, and the backcountry produce them in numbers. german immigrants and their offspring moved out of pennsylvania and down the great wagon road in huge numbers beginning in the 1720's. their progress can be traced by various schools of chest decoration found along the way. here are just three examples -- this work is found in the northern end of the shenandoah valley. at the southern end, a striking group of chests including this the line in east tennessee, we find this example from greene county. each of these groups exhibits its own combination of details, techniques, and pallets, but note the continuing thread of germanic symbolism -- tulips, vines, abstract lines and shapes and so on. each of these details was fraught with meaning for those .n sync with german culture similar cultural transfer is seen with germanic daughters, who worked in several backcountry locales, including the north carolina piedmont. pots,ns fabricated sugar tankards, and a variety of other vessel forms that clearly expressed their makers' germanic heritage. were interrelated and interdependent. the decorative traditions that they brought from germany to and eventually to north carolina were little influenced by outside forces and remained constant over a long time, and that has much to do with the relatively close nature of many germanic communities. newddition to fabricating objects, backcountry germans were also adept at putting their stamp on imported goods from other cultures. in 1782, a germanic artisan covered the rim of this in ported english pewter dish -- this imported english pewter dish with an array of ornament. originally a plane serving vessel of inexpensive material, the dish was utterly transformed for it was boldly decorated hand official of shepherdstown, west virginia -- four hannah l of shepherdstown, west virginia. the french let their mark as well although often in district -- different districts and different times. the first wave came about the turn of the 18th century with the revocation of the unitive notch and 66i-5. french protestants or hugo note franceenots fled from and settled in virginia. their cultural legacy is apparent in early virginia turned chairs, a number of which have been recovered in southeastern virginia at adjacent areas of north carolina. all have the act rails that are square or rectangular in cross sections rather than round. ins technique was unknown british chair making circles until the 19th century, but it was common on french chairs and other furniture forms beginning in the 17th century. also played a significant role here, and we find a futures with construction details and other elements that are quite different from those encountered in contemporary british turn enjoying chairs. this one was found here in coastal south carolina in the late 1920's. rathertion to its square than turn structural elements, the chair features an open back frame that was designed to be used with a title and back cushion, another french detail we almost never -- almost never .ee in britain from the georgia piedmont, consider this chair, one of a very large group springing from a highly focused chair making tradition. as shown with their arched and closed back slaps and turnings, they closely resemble contemporary examples from continental europe. is one of the earliest known versions of the pattern, and one that was widely produced in the georgia piedmont from the 1780's through the early 20th century, and the design, so unlike that on most early american letter back chairs, probably owes its presence in georgia to the establishment of french and german settlements along the south carolina side of the savanna river during the 18th century. over time, these cultures moved southwest into the georgia piedmont and simply took their craft traditions with them. the similar pattern appears in early louisiana chairs. like the georgia examples, they feature arched and spurred slats, but they also differ from american and british chairs in other ways. georgia chairs are made of hickory and similar woods intended to be painted. louisiana versions are almost always made of red mulberry or black walnut and were stained and finished like more formal furniture, very much in the french fashion. mode is thefrench presence of curbside seat rails on the shares. american and british ladder backs have straight seat rails. the curved versions -- typically french -- provide a more generous seating area. no commentary there. [laughter] course, that louisiana was part of the territory that traded back and forth between france and spain several times. hence the fully developed french culture that survives there in many ways to this day. the strength of french traditions was not dampened even with the transfer of the territory to the united states with the louisiana purchase. while on the subject of louisiana, i think there are a few better examples -- few better examples of french influence in the south than this new orleans are more -- armoire. inhabitants of the lower mississippi valley preferred the french armoire. chairs, just-described the concept first arrived in louisiana when they were imported directly from france by french immigrants. migrating french and french cabinet makers later produced creole versions of the form in new orleans and other lower mississippi centers. res follow thei french form with large double doors, abandoned interior those short square section cap real legs and foot-long brass hinges. in the early 19th century with the integration of non-french artisans into new orleans, some cabinet makers began to decorate their french wares with anglo declaration. that trend is seen here, for example, because the case, though french and form, is completely covered with anglo american inlay designs. this object and others like it illustrate the melding of french storage forms with anglo american aesthetics. ofring in mind the shape those french legs we were just looking at, we will move up the to the ohioriver and up the ohio into mason county in northeastern kentucky, where we find the very same legs on local case furniture. a variety of influences shaped mason county cabinet wares. settlers from northern virginia, maryland, and pennsylvania brought mid-atlantic craft traditions to that area when they migrated down the ohio from pittsburgh, but at the same time, boats filled with kentucky produce were traveling down the ohio and down the mississippi to the gulf coast and then returning from new orleans with goods and new ideas. these outstanding objects illustrate the disparate forces at work even in the backcountry. it leads to very similar examples from the mid-atlantic coast and probably came to kentucky when a family of cabinet makers from prince william county, virginia, but those short, square cap real legs on both of these chests are quite clearly french. the idea must certainly can to northeastern kentucky by way of the river trade from french controlled new orleans. before leaving the subject of french influence, let's look briefly at painting. french immigration slowed to a trickle during last decades of the colonial period, but that changed after the revolution. with the french is our wartime ally of can's the british, the -- with theod french as our wartime ally against the british. you see here the murray sisters .f annapolis on the left so far, we have looked mainly at national holistic groups, but religious communities also left queer physical evidence of their presence in the objects that they made. among the most fascinating and my mind are the so-called salts burgers, a group of protestant christians who were expelled from modern-day austria by the catholic church, the archdiocese of salzburg. seeking a home that would allow them to worship in their own way, many fled to other european countries, but one group landed in the new colony of georgia in 1734, having negotiated for land with the colony founder, james oglethorpe. they planted a town called ebenezer. two years later, they moved to a more desirable site on the bluffs of the savanna river. new ebenezer, as the community was called, was essentially an austro german village in georgia. their language, their worship, and all their craft traditions were strictly german, and they naturally continue to make german goods like this table. this table could easily be mistaken for a piece of continental woodworking, was it not for the fact that the table is made entirely of north byrican woods and was owned a salzburger family a new ebenezer. also moved and resided in groups. that facilitated the movement of traditions from one place to another in tax. the group of interrelated quaker families from the delaware valley moved to the north carolina piedmont in the 1750's, landing in guilford, randolph, and chatham counties. they continued to make the very same kinds of goods that they had fabricated in their prior homes. this striking issue dresser is a case in point. found in the jason alamance county about 75 years ago, it is part of a tightly structured wiedemann, carolina, group. -- todd abased tightly structured piedmont carolina group. dennis or his son thomas made this earth and where dish. the quakers whose ancestors came from ireland to new jersey and pennsylvania before moving to north carolina -- among a number -- inker partners general, quaker craftsman trained their own children or apprenticed them to members of their own faith, and that kept all of these traditions compact and intact for long periods of time. certainly no discussion of southern religious communities would be complete without reference to the moravians of the north carolina piedmont. in fact, this is a subject that deserves its own lecture. the church established new communities as it branched out from its north american base in pennsylvania. the most successful was its salem, north carolina, which grew from an outpost into a thriving and commercially successful town. in the process, craft positions were transported almost without alteration from europe to the backcountry. for example, this desk and bookcase is the work of johannes krause, who trained in germany before emigrating to north carolina with other more moravians. it could easily pass for a piece of furniture from the hanover region in germany. this chair looks exactly like contemporary beta meyer furniture because peterson was born and probably trained on the german-danish border where similar goods were the norm. and then there is the arabian pottery, which is laden with meaningful and also beautiful detailing -- moravian pottery, which is laden with meaningful and also beautiful detailing which springs from german traditions. less well-known is the broad array of goods made in the south by enslaved men and women, although people of african descent at counter for a sizable portion of the southern workforce. it is often impossible to document their productions with any precision. but that does not mean the objects do not exist. signed anpence munro indenture with a virginia cabinet maker, robert walker, whose products we discussed earlier. walker promised to teach both monroe and his slave "the trade and mystery of a joiner." when looking at objects like this tea table, we must assume that someone like muddy had a hand in the production. the same is true of goods from charleston silversmith alexander petrie. when he died in 1768, his estate included an enslaved silversmith called abraham, who was then sold to another charleston silversmith. again, when looking at objects like this, we should assume that an enslaved hand like that of abraham had something to do with its production somewhere along the way. there are thousands of similar examples of enslaved artisans working throughout the south. also ately, there are few better documented instances of the work of african. one is an armchair made in the joinery at thomas jefferson's monticello in the virginia piedmont under the direction of an enslaved woodworker. the chair is clearly based on seating furniture that jefferson himself saw and recorded during his travels to france, but it was made in virginia and likely by african hands. we have a high degree of confidence that this stoneware storage jar was made by a formerly enslaved part are working for huge smith in alexandria, virginia, in the 1820's. he saved up enough money to buy his own freedom and eventually that of his wife. useful to consider images like this one by john rose of south carolina. he depicts in slave men and women on his plantation in joining free time. they are performing a west african stick dance to music provided by several african musical instruments. including a ban jar, the ancestor of the banjo, and a which is ainstrument cord filled with seeds and encased in a long net that looks like a scarf. both of these instruments were likely produced by the people who were using them. few of the objects made by native americans in the early south have been identified, but the story of their interactions with european settlers is richly depicted in contemporary likenesses by british artisans. the most notable is james thethorpe presenting yarmulke indians to the trustees. when you're after he established the georgia colony, he returned with a delegation of indians. this scene illustrates his presentation of them to 25 of the georgia trustees in london. oglethorpe's transported native american delegation was one of several attempts by bush colonists to strengthen the bonds between the two cultures, mainly by introducing the indians to the splendors of england. english newspaper reports of the day recorded their activities on a daily basis, often noting that they were "naked except that the wste -- except at the aist." hischief is pictured with hand extended here to the left. a single indian woman is totrayed in english dress provide more modest covering. the pink gown reportedly came back with her to georgia and was worn on special occasions for years afterwards. travel tofter they london, a cherokee delegation was escorted i henry timberlake to the english capital. one of the three natives was the chief thierry in this engraving, the subject's combination of european and native attire was meant to suggest harmony between the cultures. those around medals he wore at his neck date to 1761 and commemorate the marriage of king crescenti, and that shape at his chest is engraved for kinginitials gr3 george iii, and the most striking aspect is his grip on a scalping knife, a visual reminder of the tenuous relationship between the cherokee and the colonists living in the south. later in the early 19th century, efforts to fold southern indians into the mainstream society produced objects like this distinctly non-indian sampler. christinecribed, " baker, choctaw mission school, mayhew, june 9, 1830." foreign missions established schools in the rural south to the education and civilization of native american children in the early 19th century. one was set up with the choctaw in 1821 at mayhew, mississippi. parents were to leave their children at the boarding school where they were to be taught to read, to write, and to practice a trade. young christine baker was 13 years old when she made her american-style sampler at the choctaw mission school and had been there for two years. like all the pupils, she had been required to relinquish her indian name upon taking up residency in the school. for as apparently named donor from boston. the passage of time and the dispersal of ethnic groups in the south brought many changes to the region. some visible in images of the land. the early 18th century english compulsion to control the landscape by rigorously surveying the terrain is perhaps best illustrated here in a view of savannah as it stood on the .9th of march, 1734 therein, the town is laid out by oglethorpe reflects his military background and e gala terry and approach. the extreme contrast between the limitless balance of the front tier stretching to the horizon and the regimented layout of the town itself illustrates england's desire to impose order on nature. george beck's 1805 depiction stands in sharp contrast to this approach almost a century later. as southerners and other americans strove to differentiate themselves from the mother country in the early 19th century, he embraced the ruggedness of the front tier. englishmen beck painted a view of the kentucky river that romanticized the beauty of america's wild open spaces. in similar fashion, while earlier generations of artisans in the south firmly tied their products to specific british and european cultural roots, he receded as the population moved west and southwest in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. backcountry products gradually took on a look that was more american and less european. fancys of the american movement appeared in visually compelling objects like this painted chest from greene county, georgia. as vibrant as it is now, consider that when it was new, the red you see here was salmon mentalnd this polychrome from virginia also speaks to the pension for goods in the so-called fancy style. southern craftsmen began to develop forms and motifs in direct response to the available resources and new american cultural trends. sullivan county, tennessee, potter leonard came fashion wears that exploited his region's unusual orange clay and forure abstract manganese the product then being made in american coast. fabricated wears with equally abstract ornaments, in greene made county, tennessee, offers an excellent example of the emerging american aesthetic. the object's exterior is generic and suggests little to us about its origin. but the interior is intricately inlaid with ornaments grouped engaging and somewhat naive interpretation of the , so whatspread eagle do we take away from this review? i think we need a new focus. since the 1950's, students of southern material culture have spent a great deal of time and published a great many books and articles trying to persuade the rest of the record of arts world at remarkable furniture, silver, firearms, ceramics, and other goods were made in the south, something that most folks were,e the region frankly, unwilling to believe. we don't need to do that anymore. from the scholars tonight and 65 to the newest engines in the field have made the case on a thousand fronts. the research is solid, and the question is settled -- this culture produced extraordinary things. look likeods do not those from boston and philadelphia and new york, but that is as it should be. man-made objects are always a reflection of the time and place in which they were produced. feel thewe no longer need to prove the existence of southern material culture, it is what thesein asking objects tell us about the peoples, the places, and the cultures that produced them. with our partners at drayton hall, charleston museum, historic trust and sunday should and two dozen other public and private collections, colonial williamsburg recently brought together some 400 50 examples of outstanding objects made and .sed in the early south they have come together in a five-your exhibition at the art museums of colonial williamsburg , and our goal was to see that as a group, they serve as a springboard for further research and examination. talkedening, we have about ethnic influences, which shaped these objects, but there are so many other topics waiting to be explored. a chance toill have visit and see these compelling pieces of the southern past first hand and take part in that conversation. thank you very much. [applause] >> you are watching american history tv. 48 hours of programming on american history every weekend on c-span3. follow us on twitter at c-span history for information on our schedule, upcoming programs, and to keep up with the latest history news. weekend, american history tv is featuring green bay, wisconsin. beginning in the 1650's, the wisconsin for a trade drove the local economy. the huge demand for leave her for her, waterproof, sturdy, and ideal for hats, meant the ferc trade around green bay thrived for over two centuries.
WilliamsburgNew-yorkUnited-statesCharlestonSouth-carolinaLouisianaBristolCity-ofUnited-kingdomAlexandriaAl-iskandariyahEgypt josh westin. the wallic family. bernard and irene. corporate funding provided by mutual of america designing customized, individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support is provided by -- and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tish wnu studios, hari sreenivasan. u.s. army sergeant bowe bergdahl is recuperating today in germany held captive for five years the nation's last known prisoner of the afghan war was released saturday in exchange for five prisoners. traveling to afghanistan defense secretary chuck hagel said u.s. officials had to act quickly to rescue bergdahl. >> we had information that his health could be deteriorating rapidly. there was a question about his safety. we found an opportunity. we took that opportunity. i'll stand by that decision. i signed off on the decision. the president made the ultimate decision. >> republicans said president obama violated u.s. law by approving a prisoner exchange without notifying congress in advance. speaking on cbs's "face the nation" john mccain criticized the decision to release high level detainees. >> i think there is questions about these individuals who are being released and the conditions under which they will be released. these are the hardest of the hard core. these are the highest high risk people. >> meanwhile in bergdahl's hometown of haley, idaho people wait for his return. >> we haven't talked to bowe yet. we haven't called him on the phone. there is reason for that and that is because bowe has been gone so long that it's going to be very difficult to come back. >> and in iraq may was the deadliest month so far this year according to the united nations. violence claimed the lives of 799 iraqis. more than 600 were civilians. terrorist attacks by al qaeda militants has intensified. the israeli prime minister urged the international community not to recognize a unified palestinian government. benjamin netanyahu said a cabinet would jeopardize peace talks. >> translator: it is a terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of israel. this will not strengthen peace. it will strengthen terror. >> palestinian president said an announcement will come tomorrow. an update on the case of the mother convicted in sudan. on saturday government officials told the bbc her release was imminent. lawyers say only a court could authorize their client's release and this is just a political statement. she and her 20-month-old child has been in the women's prison since february. this past week she gave birth to a baby girl. a coalition of religious leaders in pakistan have issued a statement about honor killings. this comes after the gruesome honor killing on tuesday which sparked outrage and con demnation in pakistan. the pakistani human rights commission estimates there were nearly 900 honor killings last year, mostly in rural areas. six climbers in washington are presumed dead after searchers found climbing equipment on the mountain believed to be theirs. the four climbers and two guides were last heard from on wednesday when the men failed to return to base rescue crews were alerted. an official said today the search has been suspended and there are no plans to recover the bodies of the climbers as conditions on many parts of the mountain are too dangerous for rescuers. lewis katz was killed on saturday night along with six other people on board when the private jet he was on caught fire as it tried to take off at a small airport near boston enroute to atlantic city. a few weeks earlier he gained control of a media company. katz's son will take his place on the board. the national transportation safety board will investigate the crash. returning now to the release of bowe bergdahl. we are joined once again from washington, d.c. by adamant s. let's talk about some of the critiques that you saw on the sunday morning talk shows. you had senator mccain and others wondering what assurance that we have that the five individuals we traded for bowe bergdahl don't go back on the battlefield against us in the future? >> well, this was a big effort on the part of the u.s. negotiating team in the months leading up to this transfer and exchange where they were working out with the government of qatar to get the assurances which includes a one-year travel ban for the five detainees returned to qatar where they will be monitored by security forces and the national security agency of the united states to make sure that they don't start communicating tactically with the taliban in the field. >> some members of congress have been concerned that this puts big bulls eye on the back of every american solder that one u.s. soldier is worth five high valued prisoners that we have. >> american officials who defend this exchange point out that obama has set a policy of trying to close down the guantanamo bay prison in cuba anyways. so at least down the road there was this intent to have to transfer them at some point. you know, there is definitely an argument to be made that this exchange gives a boost to the taliban just at a time when the u.s. is winding down its forces there. at the same time, you know, i think for american officials this was in some ways something of a test of concept that they can negotiate something very complex with taliban negotiators and according to the negotiators at the american side that i have spoken to they were rather impressed by the straightforwardness of the taliban negotiating team and the command and control that they were able to exercise to carry out this very complex, highly choreographed exchange. >> is this something that can happen in the future? what is the diplomatic end game? >> this could be one of. it is unclear where this leads. the taliban were clear that these negotiations were only about bergdahl and the five detainees. that said, for the american side at least there is sort of a sense of potential hope that there might be common ground that could be used going forward now that the americans see that there is a partner on the other side that they can have a conversation with. that can be expanded down the road if there is an effort for a broader effort to try to reconcile in afghanistan. >> joining us from washington, thanks so much. >> thank you. and now to our signature segment. tonight the growth of high tech entrepreneurship in india. instead of fleeing for silicon valley or new york many indian tech entrepreneurs including those who are educated and worked in the u.s. are deciding to build businesses in india. they are focusing on the growing indian domestic market and looking to compete globally and some americans are following there. i reported from india and we initially aired this report in february. this city of more than 10 million people long has been known as silicon valley in india, a place where leading companies export jobs. that lesson has not been lost on indian high tech entrepreneurs, many of whom have faced visa hurdles in the u.s. despite dealing with rolling power outages, rampant congestion and corruption of a developing country many of these indians are returning home after being educated in the united states. they are benefitting from a culture change around startups and convinced that india presents a unique set of opportunities. >> they are really going after moon sharks. >> reporter: an entrepreneur and investor in early stage startups who has a think tank devoted to helping software product companies in india. >> the culture here is inherently risk overse. when people say get a job in a fantastic big company that is what we have prepared you for and poured love and affection and money and schooling into you. what has changed in india so people are turning towards startups? >> there will be at least one company worth a billion dollars. that is changing the perception. you can go from a zero to a hero in the startup and there are examples of that. since there are examples of that there are really smart people beginning to do that. >> reporter: we met? entrepreneurs taking that chance. the co-founder and ceo of a travel startup that allows users to browse itineraries taken by people, customize them and book their own trips. >> we are going after being the world's destination for planning. essentially a billion dollar plus business. >> reporter: left a job at google in new york to launch in bangalor. >> i thought it was a large complex problem that i didn't think would be solved in three months time. it is human intensive and engineering intensive. it made sense to be in the geography i could think of where it comes together. >> reporter: the money raised has gone a lot further in india. instead of affording a small team in the u.s. he has a staff of 17 including ten engineers. he says thanks in part to silicon valley-like perks he hasn't lost a single engineer in three years. he says when it comes to developing a software product it is truly a flat world. location is almost irrelevant. >> we are not focused on the indian market alone. indian market is a quarter of our traffic. being in india allows you to take on global markets much more effectively. >> reporter: marketing especially when competing with price line and expedia it isn't as easy. >> travel is exceptionally hard. i wish someone had told me that when i started this company. but here we are. >> reporter: so after more than four years in india he and his family are planning on moving back to the united states. he thinks more people will discover his business once he is able to build partnerships. >> i love being in india and the u.s., as well. as personal needs arise i see myself going back and forth to the two countries. i see india as a trade destination and see companies coming out of the area much more often. >> other entrepreneurs who did his graduate work at columbia university in new york say india's rapidly growing middle class is too tempting a target to resist. by some estimates the middle class will more than quadruple. >> i think it is an exciting time to be in young business in india. the ceo of online market place conceived by his brother who worked for amazon in seattle. the company allows indians to compare and obtain mortgages, car loans, insurance online. >> when the opportunity came up i hadn't planned it or timed it that way. but it was a great idea. and i decided to make the jump. and that's how i ended back in india. >> the company has grown to 200 employees with offices in three cities. he says being in a developing economy means the ability to innovate rapidly. >> in six months we have launched a product with a large bank. could we do this in america? can i go to a citi bank office in new york and say i have this platform. might have been a little more difficult. >> the decision means he can be close to family members he might otherwise see once a year. he says he wants to be part of his generation's growing awareness and embrace entrepreneurship. >> the feeling that i can get a job with a bank or insurance company or microsoft or google if i wanted to. the reason i am doing this is because i have done that and i want something more challenging. >> a small community of young american entrepreneurs moved to india, as well. they met as under graduates at the university of pennsylvania. he attended harvard law school and both dropped out of business school to start zoom, a zip car style car sharing business in india. >> it was sort of like a no brainer. the size of the opportunity is staggering. >> urban density is the single biggest predictor of car sharing success. if you are looking at large, dense cities that don't own cars the fact that car sharing has not been done is shocking. >> it is estimated 68 cities with a million people or more by 2030. since launching more than a year ago zoom has been sold out every weekend. the company is hoping to expand to a second city. >> aside from the business you have made personal sacrifices to be here. you could be making money possibly on wall street, possibly in the u.s. is it a risk worth taking? >> well, there is no question that it is worth taking. sure, we would be making much higher salary in the u.s. but it is personal being separated from my girlfriend for a year and a half. that is the real cost. it is still worth it. the skill and opportunity is a once in a lifetime opportunity. >> no question. it helps we are still young, both under 30. we are not married. we were very fortunate in the fact that for us it was a perfect time in our lives. >> they are committed to being in india for at least the next couple of years. >> it is crazy how ambitious it is. if you come back to us in five years there is a chance we could be a billion dollar company and we could be hugely disrupting the way that people in india cities get around. >> besides challenges sometimes unreliable electricity, corruption, says the biggest worries are the same ones startups face no matter where they are based. >> most startups fail. the numbers are stacked against you when you decide to take on a venture like this. is there anything different about the entrepreneurship climate here? >> it is higher. >> in 2012 only one indian company among 500 firms acquired by some of the biggest tech companies in the world. >> as the wave of entrepreneurship in india increases what does the u.s. stand to lose? >> there are irritants like these visa issues. i think in some sense u.s. has positioned itself as a fountain head of tech entrepreneurship. >> in many from silicon valley venture capital firms to international tech giants like microsoft are betting on indian entrepreneurs and on india itself emerging as a huge center for innovation. meet an entrepreneur in india using cell phones to find people better jobs. visit newshour.pbs.org. plant and animal extinctions are happening at a rate 1,000 times quicker. the planet has been through five major extinctions before. scientists think we are on the cusp of a sixth. i spoke with stewart pim. >> an enormous asteroid plowed into the yucatan peninsula in mexico. it sterilized much of north america and eliminated the dinosaurs. that kind of catastrophe will be what will happen over the next 100 years if we don't do something about the species extinction crisis. we will leave to our children and grandchildren a much depleted planet. >> how do we know about the rate of extinction since humans have only been on the planet for a certain period of time? >> there are two parts of it, one is what is happening now or at least over the last 50 to 100 years. we can follow species from when we first learned about them to the present and see what fraction of them are dying off. and they are dying off a pretty hefty rate. working out what happened before humans came along is a little more difficult. the fossil record can tell us a lot about that. we also learn a lot from their dna, from the molecular evidence of how fast species are born and how fast they die off. and it's comparing those two things, what is happening to species now with what happened in the geological past that has allowed us to come up with the statement of how fast species are going extinct. >> help us put this startling extinction number in perspective a bit. >> extinction is a death rate. we used to think of human beings dying off the rate per year. species often die off but the rate of 1 species in ten million a year. species are going extinct the rate of 100 to 1,000 species extinctions per million species. and that is a rate that is very, very much higher than we thought it was. >> and what is causing these extinctions? is it humans? is it climate? >> we are the ultimate problem. there are 7 billion people on the planet. we tend to destroy critical habitats where species live. we tend to be warming the planet. we tend to be careless about moving species around the planet to places where they don't belong and where they can. >> people are assisting in conservation efforts with technology in their hands today. >> absolutely. there are millions of people around the world who are passionate about orchids and frogs and birds and dragon flies. and that crowd sourcing is giving us an enormous amount of detailed information about where species are. and we can use that detailed information to send very precise, very crisp conservation priorities. it helps us know where we need to act, where we need to invest our scarce conservation dollars. >> thanks so much. >> thank you so much for having me on the program. that's it for this edition of "pbs newshour weekend". i'm hari sreenivasan. thanks for watching. "pbs newshour weekend" is made possible by -- corporate funding is provided by mutual of america, designing customized, individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support is provided by -- and by corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions from viewers like you. thank you. announcer: funding for "the address" was provided by the anne ray charitable trust; by members of the better angels society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating americans about their history through documentary film-- members include the pfeil foundation and robert & beverly grappone-- by the corporation for public broadcasting as part of american graduate: let's make it happen, a public media education initiative to help communities address the national high-school dropout crisis and help keep more students on a successful path to college and career; and by contributions to this pbs station from... "four score and seven years ago... " second boy: "our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation..." third boy: "conceived in liberty "and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." announcer: in just 272 words, abraham lincoln managed to consecrate a battlefield, heal a nation,
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