Travel back to April 15, 1865—and the manhunt for Abraham Lincoln’s assassin. We visit the Center for Education and Leadership which opened this month across from Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC. It was there that John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln as he enjoyed the play “Our American Cousin.” We see the 35-foot tower of Lincoln books symbolizing one of the most documented lives in human history, and walk through exhibits that contemplate Lincoln’s life, death and legacy.

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In this second American Artifacts featuring the Pabst Mansion, historian John Eastberg continues his tour of the Milwaukee beer baron's gilded-age home.  We'll visit the servants' dining room, Frederick Pabts' germanic study, a recently restored bedroom, and a tera cotta pavilion that is one of the few structures remaining from the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition.

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We tour the restored 1892 mansion of Captain Frederick Pabst in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The sea captain not only founded the world famous Pabst Brewery, he was a philanthropist and real estate developer and had a great influence on the growth of this Midwestern city on Lake Michigan. Historian John Eastberg shows us examples of craftsmanship, original furnishings and art which teach us about Pabst’s German heritage, Milwaukee’s history, and America’s Gilded Age.

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Button Farm Living History Center is a work-in-progress dedicated to depicting 19th-century slave plantation life. Through their programs and activities they strive to give visitors the experience of working as a slave, and also experiencing the perils of escaping to freedom on the Underground Railroad.  American History TV traveled 30 miles northwest of the nation's Capitol to visit the farm and learn about the non-profit Menare Foundation.

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Smithsonian political curators Harry Rubenstein and Larry Bird give a behind-the-scenes look at the buttons, signs, hats, and novelties in the presidential campaign memorabilia collection of the National Museum of American History.

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Clara Barton died 100 years ago on April 12, 1912. Between 1861 and 1868, she lived in a Washington, DC boarding house and employed as many as twelve clerks in her "Missing Soldiers Office."  In 1996 the General Services Administration was preparing the building for demolition when they discovered artifacts eventually proving that this was the lost office of the founder of the American Red Cross. 

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Between 1861 and 1868, Clara Barton, known as the Angel of the Battlefield and founder of the American Red Cross, lived in a Washington, DC boarding house on 7th street, NW. She employed twelve clerks on the third floor in her "Missing Soldiers Office," where they received over 60,000 letters from families searching for lost sons and husbands.

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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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