American History TV visited the Jamestown Rediscovery project's archaeology and conservation labs to learn how history is revealed through artifacts. The original 1607 English fort was discovered in 1994, and over a million objects have been unearthed and catalogued since then.  In a related American Artifacts program, we took a tour of the current excavation sites. Part two of a three-part series.

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The original 1607 English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia had long been considered lost under the James River. Then, in 1994, archaeologist and historian Bill Kelso found evidence of the site. Since then, the Jamestown Rediscovery Project has unearthed more than a million artifacts, including many complete skeletons of the settlers. American History TV visited Jamestown for an “in the trenches” archaeology tour with Mr. Kelso, the project director. Part one of a three-part series.

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Metropolitan State University professor Douglas Rossinow teaches a class on the Iran-Contra affair, which took place in the mid-1980s during the Reagan Administration. The Iran-Contra affair stems from Reagan administration officials funding the Contras - who were fighting against the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua - with money from the sale of arms to Iran. The arms were being sold to Iran in the hope of gaining the release of American hostages held in Lebanon - hence the reason the affair is sometimes called as the “arm-for-hostages” scandal. Metropolitan State University is in St. Paul, Minnesota.

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Forty years ago, in May 1973, a U.S. Senate Select Committee began its nationally televised hearings on Watergate. James McCord was one of the five men arrested a year earlier attempting to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate complex in Washington, DC. McCord was security director for the 1972 Committee to Re-elect President Nixon, and was convicted of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping in January 1973. In this portion, Committee Chair Sam Ervin questioned McCord about his January 1973 conversation with Jack Caulfield, a former White House aide.

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Mary Elizabeth Bowser was a former slave who became a Union spy in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. She was part of a pro-Union underground spy ring run by Elizabeth Van Lew, the daughter of a prominent Richmond citizen. In this program, authors Elizabeth Varon and Lois Leveen talk about the life and story of Ms. Bowser, as well as her relationship with Ms. Van Lew. The two authors also discuss how they wrote and researched their books. The event took place at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond.

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Saul Cornell discusses his book "A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America."  He explores the opposing sides of the gun control debate, arguing that both base their opinions on a flawed understanding of the second amendment.

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“Operation Gold” was a 1950s project conducted by the CIA and the British Intelligence Service to tap into Soviet communications by tunneling from West Berlin into East Berlin, Germany. Known as “Operation Stopwatch” by the British, the 1,500 foot tunnel was active for eleven months, and netted about 40,000 hours of East German telephone conversations - even though the KGB knew about the tunnel before it was built. Retired CIA officer Lou Mehrer tells the story of the Berlin Tunnel at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum in West Branch, Iowa.

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Harvard Law School history professor Annette Gordon-Reed is the author of two books exploring the story of Sally Hemings and her family’s ties to Thomas Jefferson. Her 2009 book, “The Hemingses of Monticello,” won a Pulitzer Prize. At the National Council for History Education National Conference in Richmond, Virginia, professor Gordon-Reed discusses teaching about slavery, as well as the research that led to her books.

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These are unedited excerpts from a 1992 conversation with former President Gerald Ford. He remembers Dwight D. Eisenhower from the perspective of the Michigan congressman that he was in the 1950s. Topics include the 1952 election and the GOP’s domestic agenda, McCarthyism, civil rights, and Ike’s legacy for the Republican party. He also discusses the day he took his young sons to visit Eisenhower at his Gettysburg farm, and the impromptu lesson the former World War II general gave the Ford boys on one of this nation’s most storied battles.   

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C-SPAN's "First Ladies: Influence & Image" follows the life of Lucy Hayes and her influence on the 19th president, Rutherford B. Hayes.

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