Videos

This event was a book launch and discussion with the three co-authors, editor, and mapmaker of the book, Creating Capitol Hill: Place, Proprietors, and People. Published by the U.S. Capitol …

Ralph Eshelman spoke at a symposium commemorating the 200th anniversary of the British invasion and burning of Washington, D.C., in August 1814. “American Under Fire: Mr. Madison’s war a…

Donald Hickey spoke at a symposium commemorating the 200th anniversary of the British invasion and burning of Washington, D.C., in August 1814. “American Under Fire: Mr. Madison’s war and…

Holly Shulman spoke at a symposium commemorating the 200th anniversary of the British invasion and burning of Washington, D.C., in August 1814. “American Under Fire: Mr. Madison’s war and…

Steve Vogel spoke at a symposium commemorating the 200th anniversary of the British invasion and burning of Washington, D.C., in August 1814. “American Under Fire: Mr. Madison’s war and t…

Washington, D.C. architectural historian and U.S. Capitol Historical Society Fellowship recipient Don Alexander Hawkins talked about his research on the evolution of the Capitol design from …

U.S. Capitol Historical Society associate historian William diGiacomantonio led a virtual tour of National Statuary Hall. He spoke about the process by which statues enter the collection and…

U.S. Senate Historian Don Ritchie talked about changes in the Senate since the 1960s. He displayed a picture taken in the Senate chamber on September 24, 1963, which he said represents a sit…

Historian and researcher John McCavitt looks at the British perspective of the burning of Washington during the War of 1812. Major General Robert Ross led British troops into Washington in 1…

Guy Gugliotta recounts the construction of the United States Capitol building. Mr. Gugliotta examines the creation of the Capitol amongst the social and political landscape of the time, as g…

A group of former Capitol pages talk about their time spent in Washington. They reflect on the various assignments and duties they carried out for members of Congress, and discuss the benefi…

Tom Fontana detailed the history of the construction of the Capitol Visitor Center, the largest addition to the Capitol in its 218-year history. The Visitor Center was built entirely below g…

Abolitionist John Willis Menard was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1868, and although he was never seated, he was the first African American to address the House chamber. Next, we hear mor…

Owen Muelder talked about Owen Lovejoy, a Republican U.S. Congressman from Illinois who served from 1857 until his death in 1864. He was an abolitionist who openly used his home in Princeton…

Maurine Beasley recalls Eleanor Roosevelt’s years as first lady. The author details Mrs. Roosevelt’s ideological background, her engagement in politics, and her transformation of the positio…

From the origins of the page system in 1774 through the period in the 1940s when Congress demonstrated an indifference towards the needs of providing the boys with supervised living arrangem…

Paul Finkelman talked about the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. He talked about the position that Lincoln continues to have in the national consciousness, his role in the creation o…

During the Society’s annual symposium, three speakers examined different periods in the development of the Capitol grounds. Using photographs and sketches, the participants individually spok…

Professor Denton Watson talked about Clarence Mitchell, Jr. and his legacy in civil rights laws. He said that Mitchell worked with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, earned a re…

Independent scholar Andrew Dodge talked about “History of a Publication: The Story of the Biographical Directory.” He talked about reasons for the creation of the Biographical Directory of m…