Revolution 250 Podcast
Revolution 250 Podcast
Brooks Lyles & the Sons of the American Revolution
Since 1889 the Sons of the American Revolution have been working to preserve the memories of those who fought and supported the American Revolution. While the national headquarters is in Louisville, Kentucky, there are over 550 chapters world-wide, dedicated to commemorating the service and sacrifice of the men and women who fought to establish an independent United States of America. Join Revolution 250 Executive Director in conversation with T. Brooks Lyles, current Registrar General and former Historian General of the SAR on the work of the Sons of the American Revolution and their plans for a new museum and educational center at the national headquarters.
WEBVTT
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Morning, everyone,
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and welcome to the
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Revolution 250 podcast.
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I'm Jonathan Lane.
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I am the executive director
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of Revolution 250.
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Revolution 250 is a
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consortium of organizations
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working on the 250th
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anniversary of the American
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Revolution here in Massachusetts.
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And normally, of course,
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you'd have the eminent Bob
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Allison in your hosting chair today, but
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technological opportunities
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have given me the chair today.
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And actually,
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I'm really excited to talk
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with Brooks Lyle,
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who is the Registrar
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General of the Sons of the
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American Revolution,
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an organization which, just to be open,
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of which I am a member.
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But Brooks also spent
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several years as the Historian General
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for the Sons of the American Revolution.
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And this is a good
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opportunity to remind
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ourselves of the great work
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that has been done by
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heritage societies and the
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role they're going to play in the coming,
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and actually we're already
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in the middle of the semi-quincentennial.
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So Brooks,
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thanks for joining us today on
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the Revolution 250 podcast.
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Thank you, Jonathan.
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I am very,
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very happy to be here with you today.
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And
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I have enjoyed getting to
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know you over the last
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couple of years with the
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America's Founding Era
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Forum or the Education
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Forum and was happy to be
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there when you were
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inducted into the SAR back
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at the Boston Tea Party in December.
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yeah I want to get to the
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education forum in a minute
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because I i do think that
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is a really important piece
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of work that the sons of
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the american revolution and
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other organizations are
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working on together but
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let's start with a little
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bit of background
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information on on the sar
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uh how their founding came
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about and what their
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purpose is all right um
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Yeah,
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the National Society Sons of the
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American Revolution was founded in 1889,
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and our headquarters is in Louisville,
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Kentucky.
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The SAR is one of the
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largest male lineage-based
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organizations in the world,
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and one with what we feel
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is a very important mission,
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and that is preserving
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nonpartisan patriotism,
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providing services to our communities,
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and preserving America's
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history by educating and
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inspiring future generations.
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So that is sort of the broad picture.
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How do we do this?
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Well,
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we have one of the nation's premier
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genealogical libraries
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located right there at our
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headquarters in Louisville.
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We're in the process of
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construction on a museum.
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I believe when you were
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there back in March,
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you got a tour of the facility.
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You wouldn't recognize it
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now as the walls are up and we are...
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We're well into phase one of
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the construction.
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The National Society was
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actually chartered by an
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act of Congress on June 9th in 1906.
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And that charter was signed
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by President Theodore Roosevelt.
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Roosevelt was a member as
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his cousin Franklin were
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members of the Empire State
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Society of the SAR.
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And the charter authorized
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the granting of charters to
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societies in various states
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and territories
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and authorize the state
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level societies to charter chapters.
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So that's basically how we're constructed.
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Our conduit to the local
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community is the chapter.
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Chapters work under the
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directive of a state
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society and the state
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societies work within the national.
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So we have somewhere around
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584 chapters nationally.
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We have 57 state level societies.
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including several international.
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We have an English, a French, Canadian,
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and Spanish societies.
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I can go on a little bit on this.
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No, no.
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I mean, so let me ask you this.
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Why do people join?
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I mean, for me,
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I can say a little bit
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about my own personal journey, which is,
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yeah,
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I always knew this heritage was there.
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And as I came to work on the 250th,
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I realized more and more the
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obligation my generation
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owes to those who served
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and sacrificed so much so
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that we could have an
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independent United States.
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And it is very much for me a
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sense of obligation that
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inspired me to become a
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member of the SAR.
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And similarly,
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with the Society of the Cincinnati,
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I really do think there is
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a duty to recognize
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that generation that brought
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about independence.
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Well, I couldn't agree with you more.
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And I think the,
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the process of honoring our
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Patriot ancestors is what
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the SAR is all about.
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And we honor them through
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different programs and in different ways,
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you know,
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membership is membership is
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different things to different people.
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We have,
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We have people who join the
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organization simply because
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they wanna have the certificate.
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They would like to be able
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to put up on their wall or
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somewhere in their study a
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certificate that says I'm
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descended from a hero or a
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patriot of the American Revolution.
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We have others who look at
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it as you and I do as being
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more of a calling at an
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opportunity to reach out
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into our communities and
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into the schools and to
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perpetuate that memory
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And the principles of the
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founding of the nation.
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I think it's an obligation
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of citizenship to know
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where we came from.
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And you can't know the
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future unless you know
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where you've been and how
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you got where you are as a nation.
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And I think that's something
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we're losing touch with.
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You know,
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one of the things Revolution 250
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has worked on pretty much
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since our founding is the
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idea of giving people a
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broader understanding of
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the society that built the United States.
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you know looking at
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particularly previously
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underrepresented voices so
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people of color both freed
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and enslaved indigenous
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people women children I
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know you've done some work
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on women in the revolution
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as well I saw a youtube
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video you did on on road
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watchers which I think is
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really interesting so how
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is the society looking at
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this opportunity to to show
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a broader perspective on on the
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service of those who 250 years ago?
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Well, the, um,
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the nation was not fine
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founded by just George
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Washington and the continental army.
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John Adams would have you believe that.
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And, uh, there's some, some jealous.
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He's and Thomas Jefferson
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also had his own issues with, uh,
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with George and the, and the, uh,
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cult of personality that
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kind of grew around our first president.
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But, um,
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You know,
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the British subjects that made up
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the American colonies were
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for the most part, you know,
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very loyal British subjects.
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They loved their king and
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they didn't have a big desire to leave.
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But the situation that we all know,
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you know,
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occurred and how we started to
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self-identify as Americans versus British,
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North American British subjects,
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but then we became Americans.
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Um,
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that was not just the former British
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colonies, uh, colonists.
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There were Dutch, there were German,
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there were Irish.
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We had a lot of immigrants.
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There was the, uh, slave population,
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the indentured servants.
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Uh, we, you know, we had native Americans,
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uh, many of which, uh, fought
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with the colonies,
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many of which fought with
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England against the
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colonies and against the
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expansion of westward
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expansion of the original 13 states.
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We recognize all that contributed.
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So it's not just uniformed
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continental soldiers,
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but local militiamen,
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government officials,
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people who served as you're
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talking about one of my
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ancestors was a woman
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that basically got paid to
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sit on her front porch and
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report on what her neighbors were doing.
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We called it sort of an
00:09:16.008 --> 00:09:16.969
early neighborhood watch.
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But she reported on who was
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going up the street and who
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was going down the street
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and what they had in their
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wagons or horses.
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Which she was probably doing anyway,
00:09:27.294 --> 00:09:28.235
but it was probably nice to
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get the money.
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Yeah,
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so she worked and reported to the
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local committee of safety.
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And they collected and
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compiled intelligence
00:09:39.924 --> 00:09:40.745
reports about what was
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going on and sent that up to the state.
00:09:42.806 --> 00:09:45.467
So the sort of network of
00:09:45.528 --> 00:09:46.868
watchers were out there.
00:09:47.609 --> 00:09:51.010
But if you, you know,
00:09:51.051 --> 00:09:52.150
one of our new members of
00:09:52.211 --> 00:09:53.532
the SAR is Rob Lowe.
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And if you ever watch the
00:09:57.913 --> 00:09:58.774
Who Do You Think You Are?
00:09:58.794 --> 00:10:00.735
I think it was one of those
00:10:00.816 --> 00:10:02.076
episodes where Rob Lowe's
00:10:02.196 --> 00:10:03.397
genealogy was researched.
00:10:04.157 --> 00:10:05.298
And Rob was raised,
00:10:05.700 --> 00:10:06.880
with the impression that he
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was descended from a
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patriot who fought in the war.
00:10:11.202 --> 00:10:12.663
The reality was Rob Lowe was
00:10:12.702 --> 00:10:13.803
descended from a Hessian.
00:10:15.605 --> 00:10:17.144
And that Hessian was
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captured early in the war,
00:10:18.666 --> 00:10:20.947
was sent to a farm.
00:10:21.986 --> 00:10:23.347
As he was working on the farm,
00:10:23.408 --> 00:10:25.808
he eventually developed a
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relationship with the farmer's daughter.
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He got married and stayed in the States.
00:10:29.931 --> 00:10:31.552
And as a farmer,
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he was providing supplies to the
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colonist to the Army.
00:10:37.845 --> 00:10:40.006
And under that contribution,
00:10:40.086 --> 00:10:41.868
he became a member of the SAR.
00:10:43.009 --> 00:10:43.830
That's remarkable.
00:10:44.890 --> 00:10:46.471
Yeah, you don't have to just be a soldier.
00:10:46.491 --> 00:10:49.534
You can be somebody who
00:10:49.595 --> 00:10:51.895
served in any of a variety
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of different positions and posts.
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Well,
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and there's so many stories like that.
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There was a story a couple
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of years ago that the DAR
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were granting admittance to
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descendants of a Spanish
00:11:09.285 --> 00:11:10.927
uh garrison out in
00:11:11.006 --> 00:11:12.947
california who had
00:11:13.028 --> 00:11:14.389
contributed money to
00:11:14.448 --> 00:11:15.669
support the continental
00:11:15.730 --> 00:11:16.669
congress and you know they
00:11:16.710 --> 00:11:18.071
had this whole muster role
00:11:18.671 --> 00:11:21.033
of all these these men in
00:11:21.072 --> 00:11:24.413
the pueblo or or or um you
00:11:24.453 --> 00:11:25.794
know the wherever they were
00:11:26.115 --> 00:11:27.755
and uh the essentially
00:11:27.796 --> 00:11:29.297
assigning a certain portion
00:11:29.336 --> 00:11:30.778
of their their pay
00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:33.441
to be sent on to just
00:11:33.581 --> 00:11:35.341
remarkable stories like that.
00:11:35.422 --> 00:11:36.543
And as you point out,
00:11:36.602 --> 00:11:38.464
the indigenous peoples,
00:11:39.085 --> 00:11:40.445
so many great stories of
00:11:40.485 --> 00:11:41.625
service and sacrifice.
00:11:41.686 --> 00:11:43.886
And it's great that the SAR
00:11:44.248 --> 00:11:47.229
is engaging with them to
00:11:47.850 --> 00:11:49.410
bolster both their heritage
00:11:49.770 --> 00:11:50.991
and the heritage of the
00:11:51.052 --> 00:11:53.293
revolutionary generation in general.
00:11:54.421 --> 00:11:54.881
You know,
00:11:55.022 --> 00:11:57.943
education is obviously a key
00:11:58.063 --> 00:12:00.885
component of not just the work of the SAR,
00:12:00.966 --> 00:12:01.606
but really the
00:12:02.227 --> 00:12:03.609
responsibility of all of us
00:12:03.649 --> 00:12:04.769
working on the 250th.
00:12:04.789 --> 00:12:06.431
So let's talk about the
00:12:07.172 --> 00:12:08.793
educational forum that the
00:12:08.952 --> 00:12:09.833
SAR has been putting
00:12:09.874 --> 00:12:11.634
together and what your
00:12:11.674 --> 00:12:12.956
hopes and aspirations are
00:12:13.035 --> 00:12:14.378
for that project.
00:12:15.798 --> 00:12:16.099
All right.
00:12:16.259 --> 00:12:17.860
Well, a couple of years ago,
00:12:19.181 --> 00:12:21.383
the Society of Cincinnati and the
00:12:23.264 --> 00:12:25.025
the Research Institute,
00:12:28.067 --> 00:12:33.390
sent out invitations to the SAR, the DAR,
00:12:33.811 --> 00:12:35.812
a variety of like-minded organizations.
00:12:36.653 --> 00:12:37.153
The list,
00:12:37.854 --> 00:12:38.974
I think right now we're up to
00:12:39.033 --> 00:12:40.654
around 40 different members,
00:12:40.855 --> 00:12:42.636
but Museum of the
00:12:42.657 --> 00:12:44.437
Revolution of Philadelphia,
00:12:44.597 --> 00:12:47.759
the George Washington's Mount Vernon,
00:12:48.940 --> 00:12:51.902
through the ladies of Mount Vernon,
00:12:52.716 --> 00:12:54.817
William and Mary, Williamsburg,
00:12:55.619 --> 00:12:57.078
the American Village in Alabama,
00:12:58.860 --> 00:13:01.802
the Civil Rights, it goes on and on.
00:13:02.581 --> 00:13:06.423
But we're all out here doing
00:13:06.543 --> 00:13:09.846
our own version of an education mission.
00:13:09.905 --> 00:13:11.647
We, you know, in the SAR,
00:13:11.687 --> 00:13:12.707
we have an education
00:13:12.727 --> 00:13:15.369
director and we have
00:13:15.469 --> 00:13:17.990
developed some videos and
00:13:18.030 --> 00:13:18.770
some other programs.
00:13:19.298 --> 00:13:20.337
And they're on our website.
00:13:20.599 --> 00:13:21.479
And each of these different
00:13:21.499 --> 00:13:23.600
organizations has done similar things.
00:13:25.379 --> 00:13:27.941
The thought was we are
00:13:28.020 --> 00:13:30.201
almost working against each
00:13:30.302 --> 00:13:33.583
other and providing too
00:13:33.624 --> 00:13:34.984
many different single
00:13:35.104 --> 00:13:38.024
points for any teachers or
00:13:38.105 --> 00:13:39.306
educators to go out and
00:13:39.405 --> 00:13:41.466
find what they need.
00:13:42.886 --> 00:13:44.567
So the idea or the concept
00:13:44.628 --> 00:13:47.109
was that we get together
00:13:48.395 --> 00:13:50.476
We collaboratively work on
00:13:50.517 --> 00:13:52.317
developing a single site
00:13:53.619 --> 00:13:56.080
where teachers can go and
00:13:56.240 --> 00:13:58.380
find links to all of the
00:13:58.421 --> 00:14:00.702
different organizational products.
00:14:02.744 --> 00:14:05.725
And rather than,
00:14:05.745 --> 00:14:08.366
so there's several things
00:14:08.386 --> 00:14:09.047
we're trying to do,
00:14:09.407 --> 00:14:11.148
one to put together a master calendar,
00:14:11.268 --> 00:14:13.469
one to put that we can put
00:14:13.509 --> 00:14:14.549
all of our activities on.
00:14:15.441 --> 00:14:16.500
So we de-conflict.
00:14:16.841 --> 00:14:18.442
We don't end up competing
00:14:18.501 --> 00:14:19.302
against each other.
00:14:19.423 --> 00:14:21.423
We can contribute to each
00:14:21.503 --> 00:14:22.344
other's activities.
00:14:24.684 --> 00:14:24.804
One,
00:14:24.825 --> 00:14:26.365
that we don't have three groups
00:14:26.445 --> 00:14:28.326
working on one lesson plan
00:14:28.385 --> 00:14:29.527
for a particular event.
00:14:30.667 --> 00:14:32.888
If one already has a very good lesson plan,
00:14:32.908 --> 00:14:35.288
then let's look at that,
00:14:35.389 --> 00:14:38.009
make that the thing that's
00:14:38.049 --> 00:14:38.990
available on the site.
00:14:41.376 --> 00:14:41.756
Yeah,
00:14:42.057 --> 00:14:44.360
the eventual vision is to have
00:14:44.659 --> 00:14:45.821
something similar to a
00:14:45.900 --> 00:14:49.144
Netflix landing page where
00:14:49.163 --> 00:14:51.186
you can go in where any
00:14:51.225 --> 00:14:52.466
teacher across the country
00:14:52.527 --> 00:14:53.408
or around the world
00:14:53.687 --> 00:14:55.710
actually could go in and say,
00:14:55.789 --> 00:14:57.730
I need to know something
00:14:57.770 --> 00:14:59.552
about the shot heard around the world.
00:15:00.894 --> 00:15:02.615
And they type that in and all of a sudden,
00:15:03.115 --> 00:15:08.380
boom, you get a list of 10 programs,
00:15:09.376 --> 00:15:10.636
that are available from 10
00:15:10.636 --> 00:15:11.336
different sites.
00:15:11.817 --> 00:15:14.258
And so you want to narrow
00:15:14.298 --> 00:15:14.998
your search and say,
00:15:15.038 --> 00:15:16.678
I need it for elementary school kids.
00:15:16.938 --> 00:15:17.698
So all of a sudden, boom,
00:15:17.719 --> 00:15:20.678
now you got three instead of 10.
00:15:20.678 --> 00:15:23.559
So that's sort of the ultimate objective,
00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:26.441
but yeah, like eating the elephant,
00:15:26.461 --> 00:15:27.961
you got to do it one bite at a time.
00:15:28.780 --> 00:15:29.740
And we,
00:15:29.841 --> 00:15:32.522
we are looking to establish some
00:15:32.581 --> 00:15:33.341
initial gates.
00:15:34.581 --> 00:15:35.923
So Roger Williams out of the
00:15:35.962 --> 00:15:36.982
New Jersey society,
00:15:37.043 --> 00:15:38.082
who is the chair of our
00:15:38.860 --> 00:15:40.280
education outreach to
00:15:40.321 --> 00:15:41.522
schools committee is
00:15:41.562 --> 00:15:44.344
developing a website that
00:15:44.403 --> 00:15:46.044
is going to have links to
00:15:46.144 --> 00:15:46.825
each of our different
00:15:46.845 --> 00:15:49.586
organizations and those
00:15:49.687 --> 00:15:50.768
links will take you to the
00:15:50.807 --> 00:15:52.428
education page of that of
00:15:52.448 --> 00:15:55.390
those different groups so
00:15:55.410 --> 00:15:56.412
we think we can be stronger
00:15:56.432 --> 00:15:57.692
and more efficient working
00:15:57.731 --> 00:15:58.832
together than working
00:15:58.873 --> 00:16:00.033
independently or separately
00:16:00.702 --> 00:16:01.563
Well, that's, you know,
00:16:01.783 --> 00:16:03.184
every time you talk to any
00:16:03.225 --> 00:16:04.065
group of teachers,
00:16:04.144 --> 00:16:05.765
that's really what they
00:16:05.806 --> 00:16:06.986
come back at you at is that
00:16:08.227 --> 00:16:11.229
they need modules that are
00:16:11.349 --> 00:16:15.192
customizable but finished so that,
00:16:15.731 --> 00:16:15.971
you know,
00:16:16.011 --> 00:16:18.094
they can really... The amount of
00:16:18.173 --> 00:16:21.596
time that teachers have to teach history,
00:16:22.216 --> 00:16:24.216
and if we narrow it down to
00:16:24.297 --> 00:16:25.077
specifically...
00:16:26.292 --> 00:16:29.097
American Revolution history
00:16:29.118 --> 00:16:31.744
is ridiculous when you consider
00:16:32.687 --> 00:16:35.448
how deep and complex the story is.
00:16:35.908 --> 00:16:36.688
And, you know,
00:16:36.808 --> 00:16:38.188
giving teachers a week or
00:16:38.288 --> 00:16:40.710
maybe 10 days to teach the
00:16:40.769 --> 00:16:42.029
entirety of the American
00:16:42.070 --> 00:16:44.029
Revolution really borders
00:16:44.169 --> 00:16:44.870
on the criminal.
00:16:44.971 --> 00:16:50.631
It is a disservice to future citizens,
00:16:51.172 --> 00:16:53.511
which we have to look at our children as,
00:16:54.712 --> 00:16:56.873
to provide them with so
00:16:56.993 --> 00:16:58.953
flimsy a foundation of the
00:16:59.033 --> 00:17:00.193
understanding of how their
00:17:00.234 --> 00:17:01.094
country came to be.
00:17:03.344 --> 00:17:04.664
You're very correct there.
00:17:04.704 --> 00:17:05.265
You're so right.
00:17:06.346 --> 00:17:07.586
And I think if you get 10 days,
00:17:07.606 --> 00:17:08.807
you're actually doing pretty well.
00:17:10.347 --> 00:17:13.329
Yes, I agree.
00:17:13.430 --> 00:17:14.750
The further west you go,
00:17:14.871 --> 00:17:18.472
the less interest there is
00:17:18.553 --> 00:17:20.653
in the first hundred years of the nation,
00:17:21.555 --> 00:17:23.155
particularly the founding.
00:17:23.875 --> 00:17:24.997
So it's kind of a challenge
00:17:25.037 --> 00:17:25.557
in that regard.
00:17:27.050 --> 00:17:27.270
You know,
00:17:27.330 --> 00:17:28.531
one of the things that I tell
00:17:28.592 --> 00:17:30.653
people a lot about the
00:17:30.752 --> 00:17:32.113
Massachusetts story,
00:17:32.333 --> 00:17:35.134
and I will admit to
00:17:35.174 --> 00:17:37.296
becoming much more vocal
00:17:37.395 --> 00:17:38.915
about Massachusetts' role
00:17:38.955 --> 00:17:39.856
in the revolution.
00:17:39.876 --> 00:17:42.137
I don't want to take away
00:17:42.218 --> 00:17:43.137
anything from what our
00:17:43.218 --> 00:17:46.420
peers in Pennsylvania or
00:17:46.940 --> 00:17:48.059
South Carolina or any of
00:17:48.099 --> 00:17:49.240
these places have done, but
00:17:50.459 --> 00:17:52.259
There's so many of the
00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:55.102
ideals that we as a nation
00:17:55.222 --> 00:17:59.525
hold dear come to us from the 10,
00:17:59.525 --> 00:18:01.686
15 year experience of the
00:18:01.747 --> 00:18:02.827
American Revolution.
00:18:06.269 --> 00:18:07.611
We talk about the World War
00:18:07.651 --> 00:18:09.031
II generation being the
00:18:09.071 --> 00:18:10.512
greatest generation because
00:18:10.933 --> 00:18:12.674
they've defeated fascism
00:18:13.394 --> 00:18:15.016
and I would never take
00:18:15.096 --> 00:18:16.356
anything away from that
00:18:16.436 --> 00:18:19.500
success and honor their service.
00:18:21.319 --> 00:18:22.740
But when you look at the
00:18:22.800 --> 00:18:24.641
revolutionary generation, you know,
00:18:24.681 --> 00:18:26.461
you look at the hyperinflation,
00:18:26.500 --> 00:18:28.701
you look at eight years of
00:18:28.842 --> 00:18:33.103
war in your community felt, you know,
00:18:33.222 --> 00:18:36.462
almost every day by family
00:18:36.522 --> 00:18:38.923
members being gone or killed.
00:18:40.604 --> 00:18:42.345
It really is a remarkable
00:18:42.505 --> 00:18:45.105
group of people that the
00:18:45.305 --> 00:18:48.705
SAR is looking to recognize and honor.
00:18:51.273 --> 00:18:51.773
Well, it is.
00:18:52.055 --> 00:18:52.434
It is.
00:18:52.855 --> 00:18:58.278
And I'm going to go and read
00:18:58.318 --> 00:19:01.641
you a little bit about what the mission,
00:19:02.622 --> 00:19:03.922
sort of a specific or
00:19:04.903 --> 00:19:06.243
specifically what the Sons
00:19:06.263 --> 00:19:07.904
of the American Revolution strive to do.
00:19:09.125 --> 00:19:10.446
It kind of ties back into
00:19:10.467 --> 00:19:11.287
what you're talking about.
00:19:11.587 --> 00:19:13.328
But it's to perpetuate the
00:19:13.388 --> 00:19:14.750
memory of the men and women who,
00:19:14.789 --> 00:19:15.789
by their service or
00:19:15.869 --> 00:19:18.092
sacrifice during the war of
00:19:18.112 --> 00:19:19.093
the American Revolution,
00:19:19.153 --> 00:19:20.232
achieved the independence
00:19:20.272 --> 00:19:21.193
of the American people.
00:19:22.167 --> 00:19:23.508
It is to unite and promote
00:19:23.628 --> 00:19:25.388
fellowship among their descendants,
00:19:26.148 --> 00:19:27.569
to inspire them and the
00:19:27.630 --> 00:19:29.130
community at large with the
00:19:29.170 --> 00:19:31.411
more profound reverence for
00:19:31.431 --> 00:19:32.211
the principles of the
00:19:32.250 --> 00:19:34.192
government founded by our forefathers,
00:19:35.071 --> 00:19:36.573
to encourage historical
00:19:36.653 --> 00:19:39.834
research in relations to
00:19:39.854 --> 00:19:40.933
the American Revolution,
00:19:41.394 --> 00:19:43.115
to acquire and preserve the
00:19:43.174 --> 00:19:44.375
records of the individual
00:19:44.455 --> 00:19:46.056
services of the Patriots of the War,
00:19:46.195 --> 00:19:47.737
as well as documents, relics,
00:19:47.916 --> 00:19:48.557
and landmarks.
00:19:49.530 --> 00:19:50.672
to mark the scenes of the
00:19:50.711 --> 00:19:51.811
American Revolution by
00:19:51.852 --> 00:19:52.913
appropriate memorials,
00:19:53.772 --> 00:19:54.492
to celebrate the
00:19:54.512 --> 00:19:55.394
anniversaries of the
00:19:55.433 --> 00:19:56.773
prominent events of the war
00:19:57.474 --> 00:19:59.055
and of the Revolutionary period,
00:20:00.076 --> 00:20:02.096
to foster true patriotism,
00:20:02.876 --> 00:20:04.157
to maintain and extend the
00:20:04.198 --> 00:20:06.058
institutions of American freedom,
00:20:07.098 --> 00:20:08.099
and to carry out the
00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:09.519
purposes expressed in the
00:20:09.579 --> 00:20:10.240
preamble of the
00:20:10.280 --> 00:20:11.760
Constitution of our country
00:20:12.362 --> 00:20:13.241
and the injunctions of
00:20:13.281 --> 00:20:14.583
President George Washington
00:20:15.182 --> 00:20:16.364
in his farewell address to
00:20:16.384 --> 00:20:17.144
the American people.
00:20:19.432 --> 00:20:22.633
So that kind of lays it out.
00:20:22.712 --> 00:20:26.034
That's where we are focused.
00:20:27.493 --> 00:20:29.835
And I think that encompasses
00:20:30.015 --> 00:20:31.355
the things that you were
00:20:31.375 --> 00:20:32.515
just mentioning there.
00:20:33.355 --> 00:20:34.056
So, you know,
00:20:34.096 --> 00:20:35.236
you talk about this new
00:20:35.296 --> 00:20:36.855
museum and education center
00:20:36.875 --> 00:20:38.116
that's being built in Louisville,
00:20:38.156 --> 00:20:39.277
Kentucky, obviously.
00:20:41.103 --> 00:20:41.804
In this period,
00:20:41.844 --> 00:20:43.005
two of the newest museums
00:20:43.045 --> 00:20:43.905
that have opened in this
00:20:43.965 --> 00:20:45.807
country center around the
00:20:46.147 --> 00:20:47.048
American Revolution.
00:20:47.068 --> 00:20:47.410
Of course,
00:20:47.450 --> 00:20:48.490
the Museum of the American
00:20:48.530 --> 00:20:50.573
Revolution in Philadelphia, which is...
00:20:51.811 --> 00:20:54.054
really beyond compare as far
00:20:54.315 --> 00:20:56.376
as their collecting efforts.
00:20:56.436 --> 00:20:56.656
I mean,
00:20:56.676 --> 00:20:57.657
they've been all over the news
00:20:57.718 --> 00:20:58.618
recently with new
00:20:58.659 --> 00:21:01.142
discoveries and opportunities.
00:21:01.162 --> 00:21:03.584
And then of course, the Yorktown,
00:21:03.844 --> 00:21:04.684
what used to be known as
00:21:04.724 --> 00:21:06.186
the Yorktown Victory Center
00:21:06.247 --> 00:21:10.230
has sort of morphed over the last,
00:21:10.431 --> 00:21:10.852
oh gosh,
00:21:10.892 --> 00:21:12.854
it's gotta be almost 15 years now.
00:21:14.013 --> 00:21:15.294
into a museum of the
00:21:15.354 --> 00:21:16.855
American Revolution as well.
00:21:16.914 --> 00:21:19.894
So do you see as there's
00:21:20.015 --> 00:21:23.276
more room for such museums?
00:21:23.355 --> 00:21:24.615
I mean, obviously,
00:21:24.635 --> 00:21:26.516
and I want to talk
00:21:26.556 --> 00:21:27.557
specifically about one
00:21:27.596 --> 00:21:29.136
particular artifact that
00:21:29.217 --> 00:21:30.436
you're going to be exhibiting.
00:21:31.457 --> 00:21:33.038
But in laying out the case
00:21:33.097 --> 00:21:37.397
for a museum that's run by
00:21:37.438 --> 00:21:38.838
the Sons of the American Revolution,
00:21:38.898 --> 00:21:40.298
what do you see as...
00:21:41.394 --> 00:21:42.977
uh the the thing that's
00:21:43.017 --> 00:21:45.920
going to set it apart well
00:21:46.320 --> 00:21:47.721
there's several aspects of
00:21:47.781 --> 00:21:48.643
our museum that are going
00:21:48.663 --> 00:21:50.003
to be different than the
00:21:50.424 --> 00:21:52.207
the others uh first off
00:21:52.907 --> 00:21:53.567
we're in louisville
00:21:53.587 --> 00:21:57.432
kentucky so we are in what
00:21:57.491 --> 00:21:59.473
was at the time a portion
00:21:59.634 --> 00:22:02.718
of the state of virginia
00:22:04.070 --> 00:22:06.511
It was the jumping off point for, uh,
00:22:07.051 --> 00:22:07.892
general George Rogers
00:22:07.991 --> 00:22:09.692
Clark's expedition up into
00:22:09.751 --> 00:22:11.633
Indiana to the Vincennes.
00:22:12.792 --> 00:22:16.114
And, uh, it became a, um,
00:22:17.273 --> 00:22:20.034
a forward base and,
00:22:20.134 --> 00:22:21.755
and everybody was still looking for that.
00:22:22.015 --> 00:22:23.095
Uh, yeah, it was on the,
00:22:23.335 --> 00:22:24.634
on the Ohio river.
00:22:25.415 --> 00:22:26.415
So it had, uh,
00:22:27.615 --> 00:22:29.635
flow to the Mississippi and
00:22:29.756 --> 00:22:30.596
then north through the
00:22:30.616 --> 00:22:31.636
great lakes and south to
00:22:31.656 --> 00:22:32.396
the Gulf of Mexico.
00:22:33.330 --> 00:22:34.311
So on the,
00:22:34.791 --> 00:22:36.854
what was the colonial American
00:22:37.653 --> 00:22:39.375
highway system of rivers,
00:22:40.155 --> 00:22:41.116
it was a key point.
00:22:43.638 --> 00:22:45.861
What we are bringing is not
00:22:46.060 --> 00:22:51.986
only an overview of the entire revolution,
00:22:52.226 --> 00:22:54.567
but a focus on the Western
00:22:54.627 --> 00:22:55.788
theater of the revolution.
00:22:57.289 --> 00:22:58.750
And before our
00:22:59.708 --> 00:23:01.989
SAR membership, you know,
00:23:01.989 --> 00:23:03.088
37,000 members of the SAR,
00:23:03.189 --> 00:23:04.390
and they're looking at, uh,
00:23:05.970 --> 00:23:07.671
how their money is spent,
00:23:08.070 --> 00:23:09.310
how the national is, uh,
00:23:09.510 --> 00:23:10.571
given that what what's the
00:23:10.632 --> 00:23:11.692
return on their investment
00:23:11.711 --> 00:23:12.571
in the organization.
00:23:13.833 --> 00:23:15.073
They were a little concerned
00:23:15.353 --> 00:23:16.334
across the board about
00:23:16.413 --> 00:23:18.493
building another brick and mortar museum.
00:23:19.434 --> 00:23:20.134
What's going to make our
00:23:20.174 --> 00:23:23.016
museum a little different is all of the,
00:23:23.195 --> 00:23:23.355
uh,
00:23:24.556 --> 00:23:27.436
technology that computerized interactive,
00:23:28.137 --> 00:23:28.897
uh, graphics.
00:23:30.180 --> 00:23:32.582
and stations are going to be
00:23:32.701 --> 00:23:36.265
accessible to the public in
00:23:36.325 --> 00:23:39.307
that if you're a teacher in
00:23:39.508 --> 00:23:41.950
upstate Washington or in
00:23:42.009 --> 00:23:45.511
New Mexico or you're
00:23:45.531 --> 00:23:47.273
teaching American classes
00:23:47.874 --> 00:23:50.836
for the Department of Defense in Germany,
00:23:52.137 --> 00:23:56.800
you can access our programs
00:23:56.942 --> 00:23:58.682
and displays remotely
00:24:00.103 --> 00:24:01.924
So you can participate in
00:24:02.424 --> 00:24:04.426
learning through the museum that way.
00:24:06.347 --> 00:24:07.909
I think actually that's one
00:24:07.929 --> 00:24:08.869
of the most exciting
00:24:09.049 --> 00:24:10.590
opportunities to come along
00:24:10.731 --> 00:24:13.653
in sort of museum culture generally.
00:24:14.365 --> 00:24:16.086
is this idea of you have
00:24:16.147 --> 00:24:17.848
these on-site experiences
00:24:18.009 --> 00:24:19.410
but through digital
00:24:19.470 --> 00:24:22.553
technology uh you can now
00:24:23.192 --> 00:24:24.173
share them with people
00:24:24.253 --> 00:24:25.795
around the world and in
00:24:25.894 --> 00:24:27.636
looking at some of the
00:24:27.717 --> 00:24:29.018
projects that I've seen
00:24:29.097 --> 00:24:30.259
proposed you know the sort
00:24:30.878 --> 00:24:32.800
of decision-based can you
00:24:32.881 --> 00:24:34.682
get to an independent
00:24:34.741 --> 00:24:36.663
america by making good
00:24:36.743 --> 00:24:39.026
choices you know it is very much about
00:24:39.846 --> 00:24:43.528
choices and response and outcomes.
00:24:43.608 --> 00:24:45.911
And I think that's really, again,
00:24:45.971 --> 00:24:48.113
it's a tool that we don't
00:24:48.232 --> 00:24:50.795
use much with children these days.
00:24:50.815 --> 00:24:51.895
And I think it's potentially
00:24:51.935 --> 00:24:54.038
really powerful to see how
00:24:54.117 --> 00:24:57.980
we got from A to B. You know,
00:24:58.040 --> 00:24:59.461
if you can put a student in
00:24:59.481 --> 00:25:01.542
the position of having to make a decision,
00:25:02.663 --> 00:25:05.405
giving choices, A, B, and C, and say,
00:25:05.446 --> 00:25:06.748
okay, based on what you know,
00:25:08.009 --> 00:25:08.548
what would you do?
00:25:09.335 --> 00:25:10.276
And then you can show them
00:25:10.336 --> 00:25:12.478
what the third and fourth
00:25:12.557 --> 00:25:14.199
order effects of those decisions are.
00:25:14.920 --> 00:25:16.661
That's real experiential learning.
00:25:17.122 --> 00:25:18.762
And the hardest part for anything,
00:25:19.023 --> 00:25:20.204
any student to understand
00:25:20.265 --> 00:25:21.486
is the idea that they went
00:25:21.526 --> 00:25:23.847
into this not knowing the outcome.
00:25:24.208 --> 00:25:26.069
I mean, we know the outcome,
00:25:26.690 --> 00:25:30.012
but for people 250 years ago,
00:25:30.413 --> 00:25:31.374
they didn't know how this
00:25:31.433 --> 00:25:32.234
was going to end up.
00:25:33.455 --> 00:25:33.695
Yeah.
00:25:34.076 --> 00:25:34.176
And
00:25:34.909 --> 00:25:36.190
Let's always refer back to
00:25:36.210 --> 00:25:37.611
whether it was actually true or not,
00:25:37.691 --> 00:25:39.332
but to the accredited
00:25:39.771 --> 00:25:41.153
statement from Benjamin Franklin,
00:25:42.413 --> 00:25:44.935
that if we do not all hang together,
00:25:44.955 --> 00:25:46.076
we will most certainly all
00:25:46.116 --> 00:25:46.797
hang separately.
00:25:47.317 --> 00:25:49.219
Well, in talking about hanging together,
00:25:49.479 --> 00:25:51.840
one of the objects that
00:25:51.861 --> 00:25:52.401
you're going to be
00:25:52.441 --> 00:25:54.502
featuring in the new museum is, of course,
00:25:55.864 --> 00:25:57.865
the articles of the
00:25:57.904 --> 00:26:00.326
Continental Association document,
00:26:00.567 --> 00:26:01.907
which was signed by
00:26:03.881 --> 00:26:04.840
all the sort of,
00:26:05.501 --> 00:26:07.864
shall we call them the
00:26:08.124 --> 00:26:10.526
A-list political
00:26:10.665 --> 00:26:13.627
celebrities of the American
00:26:13.647 --> 00:26:14.588
Revolutionary period.
00:26:15.869 --> 00:26:17.830
How did the society get
00:26:17.871 --> 00:26:18.811
their hands on that?
00:26:20.472 --> 00:26:24.596
Well, we have an outstanding curator,
00:26:24.615 --> 00:26:26.457
a young fellow named Zach Distel.
00:26:27.077 --> 00:26:30.740
You met Zach at Louisville
00:26:30.941 --> 00:26:32.461
when we were hosts for the
00:26:33.307 --> 00:26:34.888
forum back in the spring.
00:26:36.431 --> 00:26:39.093
And he keeps an ear to the
00:26:39.133 --> 00:26:41.253
ground on what's going on
00:26:41.334 --> 00:26:42.015
and has a lot of
00:26:42.035 --> 00:26:44.457
connections through other
00:26:44.497 --> 00:26:45.857
curators and other museums.
00:26:46.838 --> 00:26:48.160
We also have a bunch of guys
00:26:49.201 --> 00:26:51.321
like us who are out there
00:26:51.342 --> 00:26:53.904
ear to the ground watching
00:26:53.924 --> 00:26:55.185
and sniffing around and
00:26:55.205 --> 00:26:56.266
going to auctions and
00:26:56.507 --> 00:26:57.487
auction houses and
00:26:58.888 --> 00:27:00.068
interviewing people or
00:27:00.430 --> 00:27:01.750
going to see private collections.
00:27:02.948 --> 00:27:06.410
And when something like that comes up,
00:27:08.451 --> 00:27:10.592
it is proposed to the museum board.
00:27:10.612 --> 00:27:13.574
The museum board will review
00:27:16.275 --> 00:27:17.154
what we have in the
00:27:17.214 --> 00:27:18.296
accounts as far as our
00:27:18.336 --> 00:27:19.636
ability to purchase something,
00:27:21.176 --> 00:27:23.659
or we go out to members of
00:27:23.679 --> 00:27:25.380
the SAR with deep pockets
00:27:25.440 --> 00:27:26.940
who might be interested in
00:27:27.861 --> 00:27:28.740
purchasing and then
00:27:28.780 --> 00:27:30.041
becoming the donor of that
00:27:30.617 --> 00:27:31.398
where they will be
00:27:31.479 --> 00:27:32.898
perpetually linked to it in
00:27:32.919 --> 00:27:36.040
the museum as the donor or
00:27:36.141 --> 00:27:37.781
provider of the funds for
00:27:37.842 --> 00:27:39.663
the purchase of this item or that item.
00:27:40.763 --> 00:27:43.685
So it's people who are
00:27:43.806 --> 00:27:46.166
concerned about preserving those items,
00:27:46.647 --> 00:27:48.909
bringing them to the SAR
00:27:48.949 --> 00:27:53.451
museum and having a stake
00:27:54.992 --> 00:27:58.335
in that item and saving
00:27:58.355 --> 00:28:00.195
that item for perpetuity.
00:28:01.240 --> 00:28:02.961
it never ceases to amaze me
00:28:03.061 --> 00:28:04.542
the things that, uh,
00:28:04.703 --> 00:28:06.404
pop up in auctions or
00:28:06.505 --> 00:28:08.405
auction houses or in private collections.
00:28:08.546 --> 00:28:10.548
I'm, I am, uh,
00:28:10.708 --> 00:28:12.469
an optimist when it comes to, uh,
00:28:13.329 --> 00:28:14.349
expecting that there are
00:28:14.390 --> 00:28:15.510
still great things that
00:28:15.530 --> 00:28:16.571
will make their appearance.
00:28:17.311 --> 00:28:18.712
Uh, on that topic,
00:28:18.833 --> 00:28:21.154
how many members of the SAR
00:28:21.335 --> 00:28:22.875
are there in the United States?
00:28:24.317 --> 00:28:27.159
Right now we're right around 37,000.
00:28:27.199 --> 00:28:27.278
Um,
00:28:30.795 --> 00:28:32.336
They said 37,000 members.
00:28:33.435 --> 00:28:34.836
We are on a, um,
00:28:37.136 --> 00:28:38.637
we've sort of flatlined in
00:28:38.698 --> 00:28:40.357
growth over the last couple of years.
00:28:41.078 --> 00:28:44.299
We're bringing in about 3,800 members,
00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:45.480
new members a year,
00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:49.082
and we're losing about
00:28:49.082 --> 00:28:50.721
3,700 new members a year.
00:28:51.682 --> 00:28:52.063
So our,
00:28:52.482 --> 00:28:55.644
our growth rate has flatlined since, uh,
00:28:56.324 --> 00:28:58.785
COVID and
00:29:00.502 --> 00:29:01.282
You know,
00:29:01.364 --> 00:29:02.923
we're an organization
00:29:02.984 --> 00:29:05.526
predominantly of old men.
00:29:05.546 --> 00:29:09.367
And we are one of the
00:29:09.429 --> 00:29:11.910
objectives for my term as
00:29:11.970 --> 00:29:12.830
Registrar General.
00:29:12.851 --> 00:29:14.030
One of the things President
00:29:14.050 --> 00:29:16.873
General Addington put me in
00:29:16.913 --> 00:29:19.974
charge of is recruiting and retention.
00:29:21.556 --> 00:29:25.258
So we are looking at trying
00:29:25.298 --> 00:29:26.179
to lower the bar
00:29:26.798 --> 00:29:29.540
demographically to get our average age
00:29:30.625 --> 00:29:35.589
down to something below 70
00:29:35.589 --> 00:29:39.332
and to improve our retention.
00:29:40.292 --> 00:29:41.834
So in order to do that, you know,
00:29:41.854 --> 00:29:43.494
we have to provide our new
00:29:43.535 --> 00:29:46.817
members with a return on their investment,
00:29:48.459 --> 00:29:49.940
something quantifiable in
00:29:49.960 --> 00:29:50.940
their mind that makes it
00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:51.881
worth staying for.
00:29:52.521 --> 00:29:53.182
Do you think that's what's
00:29:53.221 --> 00:29:53.942
holding a younger
00:29:53.982 --> 00:29:55.584
generation from getting
00:29:56.163 --> 00:29:58.586
engaging with heritage societies?
00:30:00.250 --> 00:30:00.410
Well,
00:30:00.509 --> 00:30:02.811
I think there are two challenges when
00:30:02.852 --> 00:30:05.493
you look at guys who are
00:30:05.513 --> 00:30:08.115
under the age of 40.
00:30:08.115 --> 00:30:12.657
And the biggest is time.
00:30:12.678 --> 00:30:15.599
If you're raising a family,
00:30:16.500 --> 00:30:17.682
if you are working,
00:30:17.981 --> 00:30:21.084
if you are working and have a hobby,
00:30:22.444 --> 00:30:24.046
say you're a golfer or you
00:30:24.066 --> 00:30:25.586
play softball or your kids
00:30:25.646 --> 00:30:26.386
are in Little League or
00:30:26.406 --> 00:30:27.468
soccer or this or that,
00:30:28.989 --> 00:30:30.049
you don't have a lot of time.
00:30:31.247 --> 00:30:31.928
that is your own.
00:30:33.969 --> 00:30:35.611
The secondary portion of
00:30:35.671 --> 00:30:38.613
that is you don't have the
00:30:39.253 --> 00:30:41.734
disposable income to do the
00:30:41.796 --> 00:30:43.757
travel or to do investing
00:30:44.498 --> 00:30:46.019
unless your hobby is reenacting.
00:30:48.500 --> 00:30:50.102
And we have a, yeah,
00:30:50.122 --> 00:30:51.383
that's a big target for us
00:30:51.803 --> 00:30:53.183
is the reenactor community.
00:30:54.546 --> 00:30:55.807
Reenactors don't have money
00:30:55.866 --> 00:30:56.987
that I know for sure.
00:30:57.007 --> 00:30:57.107
Right.
00:30:58.635 --> 00:31:00.457
Once you buy your kit and
00:31:00.497 --> 00:31:03.557
you start traveling to the shows,
00:31:03.577 --> 00:31:05.358
you don't have a lot of money or time,
00:31:05.719 --> 00:31:07.779
but we target those guys
00:31:07.799 --> 00:31:08.660
because at least they're
00:31:08.700 --> 00:31:10.500
partway there for being a
00:31:10.540 --> 00:31:11.201
color guardsman.
00:31:11.662 --> 00:31:12.481
I mean, you have,
00:31:13.942 --> 00:31:17.124
there are opportunities for the society,
00:31:17.203 --> 00:31:18.203
the sons of the American
00:31:18.265 --> 00:31:22.026
Revolution to engage with students.
00:31:22.066 --> 00:31:24.027
I mean, you have student programs that,
00:31:25.323 --> 00:31:27.503
out there that scholarships
00:31:27.564 --> 00:31:29.204
are available and all kinds
00:31:29.285 --> 00:31:31.007
of opportunities.
00:31:31.146 --> 00:31:32.607
And I will agree with you.
00:31:32.907 --> 00:31:34.749
I think that in the list of
00:31:34.848 --> 00:31:36.150
free time activities,
00:31:36.210 --> 00:31:39.011
history is pretty low down
00:31:39.192 --> 00:31:43.035
on the list for young men in particular.
00:31:43.055 --> 00:31:47.557
I was going to say,
00:31:47.597 --> 00:31:48.459
we think the target
00:31:48.499 --> 00:31:49.880
demographic for us is going
00:31:49.900 --> 00:31:50.921
to be the 50 to 60-year-olds.
00:31:53.847 --> 00:31:56.009
Because you get to that point in your life,
00:31:56.669 --> 00:31:58.029
mostly your kids are out of school.
00:31:58.670 --> 00:31:59.490
They've moved on.
00:31:59.651 --> 00:32:01.852
You are getting into the
00:32:01.991 --> 00:32:03.952
upper levels of your career field,
00:32:04.653 --> 00:32:06.074
starting to contemplate retirement.
00:32:06.213 --> 00:32:07.454
You have a little bit of spare time.
00:32:08.795 --> 00:32:09.955
And, you know,
00:32:09.996 --> 00:32:11.656
if you do the meetings and stuff right,
00:32:11.957 --> 00:32:12.997
we provide both
00:32:13.057 --> 00:32:14.718
entertainment and a night out.
00:32:15.358 --> 00:32:18.599
So we hope that you get a speaker,
00:32:18.700 --> 00:32:20.141
you get a little bit of
00:32:20.161 --> 00:32:22.061
history if you're interested in that.
00:32:23.172 --> 00:32:24.031
And as you were saying,
00:32:24.071 --> 00:32:25.173
the programs we offer,
00:32:25.732 --> 00:32:29.653
we offer a elementary
00:32:29.693 --> 00:32:31.515
school poster contest,
00:32:31.654 --> 00:32:33.535
a middle school brochure
00:32:33.674 --> 00:32:34.836
and essay contest.
00:32:34.915 --> 00:32:37.276
We have a high school orations contest.
00:32:38.116 --> 00:32:39.176
We have a new program,
00:32:39.217 --> 00:32:42.117
which is a historical video contest.
00:32:43.038 --> 00:32:44.178
A lot of TikTokers and
00:32:44.218 --> 00:32:45.259
videographers out there
00:32:45.778 --> 00:32:47.598
that would be able to put
00:32:47.638 --> 00:32:48.319
something together.
00:32:49.279 --> 00:32:51.059
We sponsor Eagle Scout and
00:32:51.240 --> 00:32:52.681
JROTC scholarships.
00:32:53.868 --> 00:32:57.250
And we sponsor a history teacher program.
00:32:57.329 --> 00:32:58.451
So it's the Dr. Tom and
00:32:58.490 --> 00:32:59.990
Betty Lawrence American
00:33:00.010 --> 00:33:01.971
History Teacher Program.
00:33:02.011 --> 00:33:03.071
And we have two categories,
00:33:03.173 --> 00:33:04.313
one for high school and one
00:33:04.373 --> 00:33:05.653
for elementary and middle school.
00:33:06.753 --> 00:33:07.874
And those are scholarships
00:33:07.993 --> 00:33:08.815
where we take those
00:33:08.875 --> 00:33:11.115
teachers and offer them a sabbatical,
00:33:11.256 --> 00:33:11.655
the winners.
00:33:12.296 --> 00:33:14.057
So there's winners at chapter, state,
00:33:14.176 --> 00:33:14.997
and national level.
00:33:15.737 --> 00:33:16.938
The national level winners
00:33:17.038 --> 00:33:20.898
get a session either at Valley Forge,
00:33:21.219 --> 00:33:23.140
Williamsburg, or Mount Vernon
00:33:24.008 --> 00:33:25.749
where they can go and spend
00:33:25.788 --> 00:33:28.070
a week being trained on
00:33:28.151 --> 00:33:31.333
site with these different organizations,
00:33:31.393 --> 00:33:32.334
which they can then take
00:33:32.374 --> 00:33:35.135
back to their schools.
00:33:36.195 --> 00:33:37.656
The other thing we do as
00:33:38.458 --> 00:33:40.759
compatriots is the living
00:33:40.798 --> 00:33:42.440
history guys in our traveling trunks.
00:33:43.901 --> 00:33:46.323
So we have a lot of replica.
00:33:47.564 --> 00:33:49.065
We have guys who will dress up.
00:33:49.125 --> 00:33:50.445
They have all the clothing,
00:33:50.486 --> 00:33:52.007
the various uniforms.
00:33:52.951 --> 00:33:54.951
from civilian to militia to, uh,
00:33:55.432 --> 00:33:55.972
continentals.
00:33:56.873 --> 00:33:58.472
Uh, we have, uh, out in California,
00:33:58.492 --> 00:34:00.932
we have large contingent of Marines who,
00:34:01.192 --> 00:34:01.292
uh,
00:34:01.634 --> 00:34:03.273
would not wear anything but the Marine
00:34:03.314 --> 00:34:06.894
greens, uh, of the early, uh,
00:34:06.953 --> 00:34:07.775
seagoing Marines.
00:34:08.934 --> 00:34:09.635
They, um,
00:34:10.335 --> 00:34:11.855
but the traveling trunks are a
00:34:13.215 --> 00:34:15.056
variety of replica items
00:34:15.135 --> 00:34:16.735
that we take into the classroom.
00:34:16.755 --> 00:34:17.076
So we,
00:34:17.215 --> 00:34:19.036
we call it or refer to it as a field
00:34:19.056 --> 00:34:21.556
trip in a box where we come to you.
00:34:22.646 --> 00:34:24.146
And we can go to your classroom.
00:34:24.186 --> 00:34:28.030
We'll do scout troops, uh, uh, different,
00:34:28.411 --> 00:34:29.931
uh, youth programs.
00:34:30.512 --> 00:34:32.054
Uh, we've gone to churches, uh,
00:34:33.414 --> 00:34:35.195
and go in there and talk
00:34:35.235 --> 00:34:36.036
about it and let the kids
00:34:36.056 --> 00:34:37.378
handle the artifacts or
00:34:37.617 --> 00:34:38.579
some of them are artifacts.
00:34:38.699 --> 00:34:39.820
Most of them are replicas,
00:34:40.179 --> 00:34:42.402
but give an idea of what, uh,
00:34:44.204 --> 00:34:45.445
what they would do in the evening.
00:34:45.525 --> 00:34:46.965
Since you don't have electricity,
00:34:47.005 --> 00:34:47.927
you don't have light,
00:34:48.106 --> 00:34:49.387
you don't have TV and,
00:34:49.847 --> 00:34:50.668
and all of those things.
00:34:52.050 --> 00:34:52.090
Um,
00:34:54.976 --> 00:34:55.197
Look,
00:34:55.277 --> 00:34:58.498
I've spent 30 years in public history.
00:34:58.577 --> 00:35:01.139
Nobody knows better the
00:35:01.199 --> 00:35:03.960
power of being able to give
00:35:04.021 --> 00:35:06.061
the kids something to touch,
00:35:06.161 --> 00:35:07.043
something to smell,
00:35:07.103 --> 00:35:10.565
something to see that is
00:35:10.844 --> 00:35:12.224
out of the ordinary for them.
00:35:12.244 --> 00:35:14.847
It really can be a powerful
00:35:14.927 --> 00:35:16.487
source of inspiration for them.
00:35:18.969 --> 00:35:21.389
My wife does this with me and
00:35:24.237 --> 00:35:25.980
She has put together like a
00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:28.501
15-minute program just
00:35:28.581 --> 00:35:30.423
based on a block of beeswax
00:35:31.565 --> 00:35:36.648
and a horn-made spoon or a
00:35:36.668 --> 00:35:37.690
spoon-made horn.
00:35:38.851 --> 00:35:39.931
Yeah,
00:35:40.052 --> 00:35:43.876
it's amazing the work you can do with
00:35:43.936 --> 00:35:44.775
artifacts like that.
00:35:47.248 --> 00:35:48.469
Let's say there are people
00:35:48.548 --> 00:35:49.929
out there who are tuning in
00:35:49.989 --> 00:35:51.911
for the first time and are
00:35:52.010 --> 00:35:53.452
interested in looking into
00:35:53.512 --> 00:35:55.233
being a member of the SAR.
00:35:55.313 --> 00:35:56.293
How do they start?
00:35:58.454 --> 00:35:59.835
Well, as we said,
00:35:59.856 --> 00:36:02.217
we have chapters all around the country.
00:36:03.257 --> 00:36:06.400
So the first step I would
00:36:06.420 --> 00:36:08.762
suggest would be to go to SAR.org,
00:36:09.663 --> 00:36:11.244
which is our national website.
00:36:12.443 --> 00:36:14.925
And on SAR.org,
00:36:14.985 --> 00:36:16.507
on the public-facing side of it,
00:36:18.237 --> 00:36:18.757
Yeah, thank you.
00:36:19.458 --> 00:36:23.121
You can, there's a tab,
00:36:23.141 --> 00:36:25.222
there are a variety of tabs.
00:36:25.762 --> 00:36:27.724
One of my favorite is the education tab,
00:36:27.764 --> 00:36:29.686
which takes you to all the
00:36:29.726 --> 00:36:30.967
various things we offer in
00:36:30.987 --> 00:36:31.947
the education arena.
00:36:32.728 --> 00:36:35.590
But there's also a membership tab.
00:36:35.650 --> 00:36:37.112
So if you go to that,
00:36:37.431 --> 00:36:40.494
it will take you to the,
00:36:40.994 --> 00:36:42.356
a link to all of the
00:36:42.936 --> 00:36:44.657
different state websites.
00:36:45.942 --> 00:36:48.184
and you can go to your state website.
00:36:48.503 --> 00:36:50.485
And at most of the state websites,
00:36:50.625 --> 00:36:53.668
there is a feature that
00:36:53.688 --> 00:36:54.929
allows you to either put in
00:36:54.969 --> 00:36:59.972
your zip code or just your town,
00:37:00.271 --> 00:37:03.233
and it will give you the closest chapter.
00:37:04.876 --> 00:37:05.996
You can then contact the
00:37:06.036 --> 00:37:07.257
chapter and initiate the
00:37:07.297 --> 00:37:08.797
process where you'll get a
00:37:09.298 --> 00:37:11.280
coach or mentor assigned to
00:37:11.320 --> 00:37:12.201
you that will help you with
00:37:12.240 --> 00:37:13.762
your application.
00:37:14.516 --> 00:37:15.777
There's also an online
00:37:15.817 --> 00:37:17.038
version of the application
00:37:17.097 --> 00:37:19.298
available to you on SAR.org,
00:37:19.958 --> 00:37:21.619
where you can go in and
00:37:23.500 --> 00:37:26.380
contact our staff registrar.
00:37:26.400 --> 00:37:27.581
It's a guy named Jonathan Toon.
00:37:29.061 --> 00:37:31.163
Contact Jonathan by starting
00:37:31.262 --> 00:37:32.163
your application.
00:37:32.402 --> 00:37:37.025
He will link you up with the local,
00:37:37.985 --> 00:37:39.206
the guy closest to you that
00:37:39.246 --> 00:37:40.485
can help you with your application.
00:37:42.554 --> 00:37:43.695
The biggest thing that we
00:37:43.735 --> 00:37:45.835
need on the applications is
00:37:46.056 --> 00:37:47.556
primary source documentation.
00:37:49.197 --> 00:37:50.539
And we'll help you figure
00:37:50.579 --> 00:37:51.960
out where to get that.
00:37:53.541 --> 00:37:55.041
There is so much stuff now
00:37:55.262 --> 00:37:58.123
online where you can access
00:37:58.164 --> 00:37:59.384
the actual primary source
00:38:00.065 --> 00:38:01.806
that it's a lot easier than
00:38:01.846 --> 00:38:02.385
it used to be.
00:38:03.086 --> 00:38:03.806
Yeah.
00:38:04.067 --> 00:38:05.188
As somebody who's been a
00:38:05.248 --> 00:38:07.088
genealogist for a long time,
00:38:07.108 --> 00:38:10.271
I am constantly amazed at
00:38:10.311 --> 00:38:11.612
the data that's available.
00:38:12.637 --> 00:38:14.438
through primary source materials online,
00:38:14.498 --> 00:38:15.179
not just through
00:38:15.619 --> 00:38:19.342
organizations like the SAR and the DAR,
00:38:19.382 --> 00:38:20.402
who have an outstanding
00:38:20.442 --> 00:38:21.882
genealogical library as well.
00:38:21.963 --> 00:38:23.483
But here in New England, of course,
00:38:23.563 --> 00:38:25.025
we have New England
00:38:25.045 --> 00:38:26.806
Historic Genealogic Society,
00:38:26.885 --> 00:38:28.947
the Massachusetts Historical Society,
00:38:28.967 --> 00:38:30.947
the American Antiquarian Society,
00:38:31.688 --> 00:38:32.829
and so many others.
00:38:32.889 --> 00:38:33.750
All of which, by the way,
00:38:33.809 --> 00:38:34.969
are partners of Revolution 250.
00:38:34.969 --> 00:38:36.231
So that's kind of the
00:38:36.610 --> 00:38:40.532
advertising part of the
00:38:40.592 --> 00:38:41.693
program out of the way.
00:38:43.786 --> 00:38:46.166
So what are the main goals
00:38:46.246 --> 00:38:47.806
for the SAR and the 250th?
00:38:48.086 --> 00:38:50.327
Do you see aside from the museum?
00:38:51.387 --> 00:38:52.947
Well, the, they,
00:38:52.967 --> 00:38:54.088
we talked about the museum.
00:38:54.128 --> 00:38:54.788
That's going to be,
00:38:55.507 --> 00:38:56.648
we consider that our gift
00:38:56.668 --> 00:38:57.869
to the nation and we're
00:38:57.909 --> 00:38:59.929
looking for soft opening in
00:38:59.949 --> 00:39:01.009
the spring of 2026.
00:39:01.009 --> 00:39:03.889
So that's the timeline we're working on.
00:39:04.650 --> 00:39:05.670
The one thing that we have
00:39:05.710 --> 00:39:09.331
decided to do with the SAR is we're
00:39:11.047 --> 00:39:12.007
Everybody and their brother
00:39:12.068 --> 00:39:14.309
is focused on 4 July 2026.
00:39:14.309 --> 00:39:23.894
We think that is just a part of S.A.R.
00:39:24.474 --> 00:39:24.954
of America 250.
00:39:25.436 --> 00:39:26.016
Yeah.
00:39:26.376 --> 00:39:28.177
So we we have we have
00:39:29.657 --> 00:39:32.420
announced or deemed a
00:39:33.360 --> 00:39:34.440
decade of revolution.
00:39:35.380 --> 00:39:36.262
So the S.A.R.
00:39:36.541 --> 00:39:37.523
is acknowledging
00:39:38.849 --> 00:39:39.570
uh, 11 years.
00:39:40.150 --> 00:39:41.391
So we started with,
00:39:42.913 --> 00:39:43.693
now we've been running a
00:39:43.733 --> 00:39:45.213
series of two 50 articles
00:39:45.273 --> 00:39:46.795
and stuff in our magazine and,
00:39:47.054 --> 00:39:49.396
and celebration since the, uh,
00:39:50.277 --> 00:39:51.438
back to the stamp act and
00:39:51.478 --> 00:39:53.478
some of the other dates that, uh,
00:39:53.719 --> 00:39:54.400
preceded us,
00:39:55.019 --> 00:39:56.340
but our decade of revolution
00:39:56.420 --> 00:39:57.722
started with the Boston tea
00:39:57.782 --> 00:39:59.242
party in December.
00:39:59.262 --> 00:40:03.005
Uh, we had tea parties across the country.
00:40:03.304 --> 00:40:04.266
It wasn't just Boston.
00:40:04.306 --> 00:40:06.827
There's tea parties in Charleston.
00:40:06.847 --> 00:40:06.887
Um,
00:40:09.005 --> 00:40:10.324
Halifax, uh,
00:40:10.525 --> 00:40:13.146
different little cities in New York,
00:40:13.306 --> 00:40:14.985
Maryland, North Carolina.
00:40:15.025 --> 00:40:16.025
These are all communities
00:40:16.045 --> 00:40:16.927
that had tea parties.
00:40:16.967 --> 00:40:19.967
We actually did a, a great, uh, combined,
00:40:19.987 --> 00:40:20.027
uh,
00:40:21.047 --> 00:40:22.927
presentation with the Virginia two 50
00:40:22.927 --> 00:40:24.807
folks on all of the tea
00:40:24.847 --> 00:40:27.088
parties that we were able to share, uh,
00:40:27.168 --> 00:40:28.929
with all of the media we
00:40:28.969 --> 00:40:29.949
came into contact with
00:40:30.009 --> 00:40:31.590
during the tea party two 50th.
00:40:32.610 --> 00:40:33.590
Well, one of our, uh,
00:40:33.769 --> 00:40:35.050
one of our chapters out in
00:40:35.110 --> 00:40:38.090
Colorado had a tea party, uh,
00:40:38.695 --> 00:40:39.795
but they did it on a lake.
00:40:41.077 --> 00:40:44.340
And because the folks out
00:40:44.360 --> 00:40:45.001
there didn't want them
00:40:45.041 --> 00:40:46.181
pouring tea into the lake,
00:40:46.262 --> 00:40:48.704
they collected leaves and
00:40:48.744 --> 00:40:49.844
crushed the leaves and put
00:40:49.864 --> 00:40:51.126
them in boxes and they did
00:40:51.146 --> 00:40:52.327
a reenactment of a tea party.
00:40:52.407 --> 00:40:55.929
It's the spirit that matters, right?
00:40:56.610 --> 00:40:56.951
It is.
00:40:57.391 --> 00:40:59.914
And we are fully on board
00:40:59.954 --> 00:41:01.255
with the decade of revolution.
00:41:01.795 --> 00:41:04.137
This year's primary event
00:41:04.217 --> 00:41:05.599
was the first Continental Congress.
00:41:06.938 --> 00:41:08.679
The secondary event was the
00:41:08.798 --> 00:41:10.320
signing of the Fairfax Resolves.
00:41:10.981 --> 00:41:11.201
Right.
00:41:11.701 --> 00:41:14.262
So we have identified two events,
00:41:14.543 --> 00:41:17.264
one tied to a location primarily,
00:41:17.284 --> 00:41:17.664
you know,
00:41:18.326 --> 00:41:20.907
because of the nature of the country,
00:41:20.927 --> 00:41:21.947
they're all on the East Coast.
00:41:22.708 --> 00:41:25.710
But we are encouraging people to,
00:41:25.791 --> 00:41:27.431
if they can't come to the
00:41:27.532 --> 00:41:29.693
site of the event and celebrate it,
00:41:30.454 --> 00:41:31.894
to reenact it in some way,
00:41:31.934 --> 00:41:33.275
shape or form where they live.
00:41:34.016 --> 00:41:35.536
So take that event and take it
00:41:36.021 --> 00:41:37.141
to their hometown and make
00:41:37.181 --> 00:41:39.443
it relevant to their communities.
00:41:41.103 --> 00:41:41.824
Next year, of course,
00:41:42.244 --> 00:41:44.726
is the Battles of Lexington
00:41:44.746 --> 00:41:47.067
and Concord as the primary.
00:41:47.146 --> 00:41:48.148
But going forward,
00:41:48.788 --> 00:41:50.108
we are projecting events
00:41:50.148 --> 00:41:52.789
all the way out through the
00:41:53.150 --> 00:41:54.210
Battle of Saratoga.
00:41:54.271 --> 00:41:58.193
We've got the Winter Valley Forge,
00:42:00.735 --> 00:42:03.835
Battle of Vincennes and
00:42:03.896 --> 00:42:04.976
Blue Licks out west.
00:42:06.288 --> 00:42:07.608
and all the way out to the
00:42:08.449 --> 00:42:09.708
anniversary of the Paris
00:42:09.768 --> 00:42:12.050
Peace Treaty in 1933.
00:42:12.050 --> 00:42:13.710
Right.
00:42:14.550 --> 00:42:14.771
Well,
00:42:14.871 --> 00:42:16.490
and I know that the Massachusetts
00:42:16.510 --> 00:42:17.291
Sons of the American
00:42:17.331 --> 00:42:18.672
Revolution do an annual
00:42:19.052 --> 00:42:21.853
Yorktown commemoration every October,
00:42:21.913 --> 00:42:23.592
which we always look forward to as well.
00:42:23.632 --> 00:42:26.173
So there is much more to this story,
00:42:26.213 --> 00:42:27.074
and I know people are
00:42:27.114 --> 00:42:29.335
excited about July 4, 2026.
00:42:29.335 --> 00:42:31.974
Of course, for us here in Massachusetts,
00:42:32.376 --> 00:42:33.235
for March 17th,
00:42:33.235 --> 00:42:36.221
2026 is our big,
00:42:37.101 --> 00:42:38.282
we drive the British out of
00:42:38.342 --> 00:42:41.585
Boston evacuation day is
00:42:41.625 --> 00:42:42.865
what it's come to be known as.
00:42:43.786 --> 00:42:46.427
So that'll be a big day for us as well.
00:42:47.148 --> 00:42:48.389
But you're right, beyond that,
00:42:48.449 --> 00:42:51.952
it's all about how the war
00:42:52.012 --> 00:42:54.353
progresses and all the work
00:42:54.393 --> 00:42:56.275
that people do to help us secure liberty.
00:42:59.534 --> 00:43:00.835
brooks thanks very much for
00:43:00.855 --> 00:43:01.614
being a guest on the
00:43:01.655 --> 00:43:03.356
revolution 250 podcast this
00:43:03.396 --> 00:43:05.217
has been tremendous I know
00:43:05.237 --> 00:43:05.896
we're going to have you
00:43:05.936 --> 00:43:08.458
back uh maybe when you uh
00:43:08.619 --> 00:43:10.619
achieve the high office uh
00:43:10.880 --> 00:43:13.161
of of the society uh the
00:43:13.181 --> 00:43:13.961
sons of the american
00:43:14.001 --> 00:43:16.402
revolution we can um we can
00:43:16.443 --> 00:43:17.804
have a conversation from
00:43:17.884 --> 00:43:19.784
the sar oval officer or
00:43:19.864 --> 00:43:21.925
something of that elk um
00:43:22.753 --> 00:43:24.315
uh you know when we started
00:43:24.355 --> 00:43:26.516
the podcast uh which is
00:43:26.597 --> 00:43:27.797
normally hosted by bob
00:43:27.898 --> 00:43:28.978
allison who sends his
00:43:29.039 --> 00:43:31.440
regrets to everybody uh we
00:43:31.481 --> 00:43:32.702
thought that this would be
00:43:33.222 --> 00:43:34.222
something that people here
00:43:34.262 --> 00:43:35.563
in boston or in the local
00:43:35.623 --> 00:43:36.625
community would listen to
00:43:36.664 --> 00:43:37.606
and of course now where
00:43:38.445 --> 00:43:40.889
well over 100,000 downloads,
00:43:41.329 --> 00:43:46.054
over 210 programs or so.
00:43:46.074 --> 00:43:47.958
And we have listeners from
00:43:48.277 --> 00:43:48.958
all over the world.
00:43:48.998 --> 00:43:51.001
We're heard in over 94
00:43:51.001 --> 00:43:52.623
countries at this point and
00:43:53.083 --> 00:43:54.985
thousands and thousands of locations.
00:43:55.005 --> 00:43:56.007
And we like to thank a few
00:43:56.047 --> 00:43:56.688
of them every week.
00:43:57.347 --> 00:43:58.510
So, you know,
00:43:58.550 --> 00:44:00.012
if you've been listening and
00:44:00.532 --> 00:44:02.054
your community is mentioned,
00:44:02.135 --> 00:44:03.255
just feel free to send me
00:44:03.275 --> 00:44:07.342
an email at jlane at revolution250.org.
00:44:07.382 --> 00:44:08.322
We'll send you a little
00:44:08.402 --> 00:44:10.126
Revolution 250 swag.
00:44:11.067 --> 00:44:12.449
So today we'd like to thank
00:44:12.548 --> 00:44:14.231
our listeners in Washington, D.C.
00:44:15.052 --> 00:44:18.034
Hamilton, New Jersey, Acton, Massachusetts,
00:44:18.153 --> 00:44:20.615
Santa Rosa, California, Chicago, Illinois,
00:44:20.675 --> 00:44:23.237
Houston, Texas, High Springs, Florida,
00:44:23.777 --> 00:44:25.699
Edinburgh, Scotland, God bless you,
00:44:25.938 --> 00:44:27.219
and Rio de Janeiro.
00:44:28.481 --> 00:44:31.023
Thank you to all of you and
00:44:31.063 --> 00:44:32.362
those locations and all the
00:44:32.423 --> 00:44:33.304
places in between.
00:44:33.324 --> 00:44:34.065
Thanks very much.
00:44:34.965 --> 00:44:36.525
And we look forward to
00:44:36.585 --> 00:44:37.666
seeing you next week on the
00:44:37.706 --> 00:44:39.248
Revolution 250 podcast.
00:44:40.028 --> 00:44:42.070
So stay tuned while we pipe
00:44:42.110 --> 00:44:43.731
you out on the road to Boston.