American History Museum

Been a busy week with a friend visiting for a work meeting. We squeezed in a quick look at the Smithsonian American History Museum and it was as always, fantastic. Definitely need another day to look around but I saw some wonderful history. The museum included sections on American Presidents and one for First Ladies (can't wait to see Bill be the First Man - yes I"m optimistic Trump will NOT win). A huge section on African Americans and civil rights progress and of course, sections on the civil war and later wars.

   

Some of classics I saw above were:

• Mohammed Ali's gloves and shoes - how timely given his death last week.
• Dorothy's 1939 Red Shoes from Wizard of Oz - did you know the shoes were silver in the book and only changed to red at the last minute when the movie was to be made?
• Lincoln's Hat from the night he was assassinated (Love Lincoln). See more detail below and a bitter picture off the web.

Lincoln acquired this silk hat from J. Y. Davis, a Washington hat maker, whose label appears inside the crown. The hat, approximately a modern size 7 1/8, is trimmed with two bands, a thin 3/8" ribbon with a small metal buckle and a 3" grosgrain black mourning band. 

The stitching on the second band indicates that it had been added after the hat had been purchased and signaled Lincoln's ongoing mourning for his son Willie, who died of typhoid fever on February 20, 1862. In a very public way, Lincoln was linking his loss with the losses of so many during the war. We do not know when he purchased the hat, or how often he wore it. We do know that the last time he put it on was to attend the play, Our American Cousin, at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865 - the night he was assassinated.

This statue is of George Washington. Hmm, not quite the older distinguished war hero President you usually see. Well, In 1832 the U.S. Congress commissioned sculptor Horatio Greenough to create a statue of George Washington on the occasion of the centennial of the first president’s birthday. Installed in the Capitol Rotunda after its completion, Greenough envisioned the statue to be a symbolic representation of Washington as a great exemplar of liberty.

The completed 12-ton marble statue atop a granite pedestal and base depicted the first president wearing a chest-baring toga. While many viewers appreciated the artist’s attempt to create a timeless masterpiece, others saw only an inappropriately dressed Washington. A friend of the artist noted: “This magnificent production of genius does not seem to be appreciated at its full value in this metropolis.”

The statue was on display in the Capitol Rotunda from 1841 to 1843 when it was relocated to the east lawn. In 1908 Congress transferred the statue to the Smithsonian Institution where it was exhibited in the Smithsonian Castle until its relocation to the new National Museum of American History in 1964.

And I couldn't resist a photo at the Presidents podium. "....Yes, yes, yes we can have dogs everywhere, bikes own the roads, Batman is the best and sossy rolls, pizza and coffee will become the new food triangle...".

We met up for dinner with a ladies running group. While there are several chapters across DC, this one is city based and quite small. They are keen for us to encourage ladies to run through the week before work and for us to start a Saturday morning run followed by brekky/coffee (sound familiar you FIT girls?). So we have to do some exploring to find suitable routes/tracks and coffee shops. They were a wonderful group of ladies and we are keen to run with them and grow this little chapter.

I've also got myself involved with the social club at Deb's work. Trying to encourage regular Friday happy hours and I have offered to do the catering - just hot snacks and also run raffles. Should be fun. I also encouraged them to give the drinks an identity - Skippy's - so hopefully this will catch on, be successful and provide a great social meeting point at the end of the week. 

Stay tuned for the next post as we are heading to Detroit, Michigan to leave our footprint.