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PROGRAM SUMMARIES





Make No Little Plans



Daniel Burnham



Chicago architect, Daniel Burnham takes you on a Keynote slide tour of several of his Chicago buildings: Montauk 1881, first building built all year round Rookery, 1888, state of the art building technology Monadnock 1891, tallest all masonry building in the world Reliance 1890, over 50% covered in glass, first to use terra cotta exterior Masonic Temple. 1892, at 20 stories the tallest building in the world. Burnham shows many photographs of the 1893 World's Columbian Exhibition build-ing construction, especially the Manu-factures Building, the largest enclosed building in the world at 5 city blocks long. And of course George Ferris's great wheel. Burnham concludes with his Chicago development Plan of 1909.



The Gold of Tutankamun



James Breasted



Egyptologist James Breasted of the Oriental Institute in Chicago, Illinois nar-rates a Keynote program that travels to Egypt to tell the story of Howard Carter's 6 year quest to find the Tomb of Tutankamon and he describes the dra-matic moment when the entrance was found. With many photographs of the artifacts discovered, Dr. Breasted relates their cultural and mystical significance. He also tells the Osiris myth with deities Osiris, Seth, Horus and Isis, a favorite of Egyptians. Of course a mention is made of the Curse of King Tut. It began with a canary.





World War I



GeN. Charles Dawes



Vice-President Charles Gates Dawes narrates a keynote review of WWI beginning with the history of Europe which resulted in the political alliances prior to the conflict. Of special interest is his look into the royal marriages which resulted in George V, King of England, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany and Czar Nicholas II of Russia all being cousins. Gen. Dawes then focuses on the assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and the resulting mobilization of Europe's armies. He continues with descriptions of the various major battles, use of poison gas, and horrors of trench warfare. He concludes with the arrival of the American army under General Pershing and its various major and vic-torious battles.



Journey of Discovery



Charles Darwin



Charles Darwin's journey from his youth to the publication of the Origin Of Species is documented in this Keynote slide pre-sentation. Charles Darwin narrates his story of a youth preparing to be an ordinary parish parson who was thrust towards his destiny by a voyage around South America aboard the HMS Beagle and travels within the continent. He documents his discoveries of dinosaur bones and petrified trees his experience with an earthquake and a volcanic eru-ption, and Tortoise shells and finches on the Galapagos Islands, and other dis-coveries which contributed to his writing the Origin of Species with its theory of Natural Selection, which now is the basis of modern medicine. The current pandemic of viral variants illustrates this perfectly.



Life Through the Lens of Kodak



George Eastman



The founder of Kodak, George Eastman, narrates a Keynote slide program as he describes the progressive culture of of his home town, Rochester N.Y. He explains the three events that changed his life and world photography forever. The founding and rise of the Eastman Kodak Company is an amazing story. In 1895, Eastman Kodak was producing 90% of all the film in the world. The little yellow box could be found in stores from California, to Russia, France, Wales, Australia, Egypt and Tasmania. Eastman shows photographs of several distinctive Kodak cameras from 1896-1936 with demonstrations of their features. The Brownie camera made snapshots possible by anyone any where.



A Life of Invention



Thomas Edison



Thomas Edison, who invented the Twentieth Century, narrates a keynote program detailing his life in invention. His family was Canadian but his father par-ticipated in the Canadian rebellion which failed and he ran for his life and crossed over at Port Huron, Michigan. As a newspaper boy for the Detroit Free Press, Edison raised sales along the railroad from 2 - 10 per stop to 100 - 300. He became an itinerant telegrapher for four years. Often getting fired. He describes his work on three major inventions: the practical light bulb, the phonograph and the motion picture camera and projector. He does mention the concrete house but it never proved popular.





America's Poet



Marshall Field



The program begins with a video of Walt Whitman interviewing Marshall Field. Field then then begins his keynote presentation in the year 1785 when fur trader Jean Baptiste Du Sable began Chicago's hist-ory. Other familiar names flash across the screen: fur trader John Kinzie Fort Dear-born territorial legislator Ninian Edwards Gurdon Hubbard, the first meat packer, banker, state legislator William Ogden, the first mayor who had booming real estate and railroad businesses. Field then outlines the business innovations of he and Potter Palmer. He describes the Great Fire of 1871 and his dramatic attempts to save his store. Fields talks about two of his great managers Harry Selfridge and John G. Shedd. At the fairgrounds of the 1893 World's Colum-bian Exhibition, a video of the Fair's Director of Works, Danial Burnham, shows Burnham and Field in conversa-tion. The program ends with a glowing testimonial from Millie the store shop lifter.



Printer, Inventor, Revolutionary



Ben Franklin



Ben Franklin has much to say. And one time when Johns Adams was listening, John fell asleep. Ben's keynote slide pre-sentation traces his youth as a young printer who eventually becomes the larg-est paper wholesaler in the colonies the Royal Deputy Postmaster publisher of the Pennsylvania Gazette which earned him half his business profits and publisher of Poor Richard's Almanac with its wise sayings such as "Keep you eyes wide open before marriage and half shut after." Ben describes his electricity experiments and his invention of the lightning rod. Ben's discussion of the revolution begins with the French and Indian war of 1753 which sets the stage for the American Revolution. He relates his troubles with the British government as Pennsylvania's representative to England. Along the way he studies and names the Gulf Current and formulates a geologic theory that is the precursor to Plate Tectonics. Then he relates his work as Ambassador to France bringing the French to our side.



Civil War Medicine



GEN. William Hammond



"Science changes the way we see the natural world. We have to be open to change our view." (William Hammond). Union Surgeon General, Dr. William Hammond, in a Keynote slide program reviews the courageous individuals in the past who challenged medical beliefs of their day 16th Century Amboise Pare replacing cauterization with ligation 17th Century William Harvey discovering the circulation of the blood 19th Century Rene Laennec inventing the listening tube, the precursor to the stethoscope. Hammond outlines the medical challen-ges and advancements during the Civil War and shares stories of courageous nurses who stood up to the generals and surgeons to get the best medical care to the wounded. Photos of the instruments in a surgeon's basic kit are shown and their uses explained



The Man of the Hour



Abraham Lincoln



President Lincoln naturally begins with some of his humorous stories. He then reviews his childhood, attendance in a blab school, and his desire for books. He was elected to Congress in 1846 and then ran for the Senate in 1858 against Stephen A. Douglas. In the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates, Lincoln puts forth his strong views on slavery. He proceeds to the riots in Maryland and his sending in the Union army and the first battle of Bull Run, a disaster for the Union forces. Examination is made of Generals McClellan, Grant and Lee. Comment is made that "We cannot have a free government without elections." He visits a battlefield hospital and relates a touching visit with a confederate soldier who said, "There should be no enemies in this place." He concludes with a statement made as he raised the flag in front of theTreasury building "The part assigned to me is to raise the flag, which if there is no fault in the machinery, I will do and when it is up it will be for the American people to keep it up."



Bikes, Gas Buggies and Burma Shave



Ransom Olds



The founder of Oldsmobile, R.E. Olds, narrates a Keynote slide program with stories about early auto inventors: Benz, Olds, Winton, Ford, Dodge and auto racing at Evanston, Illinois and Cleveland Ohio with Barney Oldfield and Bad Luck Baker and especially the first cross country trips from San Francisco to New York City. There were only 141 miles of rural roads that were paved, so it’s dirt, sand, mud in 1903. Three teams raced across the country. Dr. H. Nelson Jackson with Sewall Crocker and Bud the bulldog in a Winton (63 days). Bud didn't drive. Tom Fetch and journalist Marius Krarup in a Packard (61 days). Lester Whitman and Eugene Hammond in an Olds Curved Dash (72 days). In 1909 Alice Ramsey and three other women drove from New York City to San Francisco in a Maxwell (59 days). The three teams are followed up mountains, across deserts, in rain-storms and broken auto parts.



Travels to the National Parks



Stephen Mather



​National Park Director, Stephen Mather, the creator of the Twenty Mule Team Borax ad campaign, takes you on a Keynote slide tour of the national parks. From the first park Yellow-stone to Glacier, Lassen Volcanic, Mauna Loa, and Yosemite. Mather speaks of influentials who campaigned for the establishment of Rocky Mountain Park: Enos Mills (the Father of Rocky Mountain Park), F.O. Stanley of Stanley Steamer auto company, Mary Belle King Sherman (the Park Lady), she was essential to Rocky Mountain, Grand Canyon, Mount Olympus, Sequoia and the Everglades parks. He also takes you on a Mather Mountain Party, a ten day camping trip with editors, writers, and congressman and other influentials showing them the natural wonders that needed new parks to preserve them for all generations. During his tenure the park system doubled in size and more Americans visited than ever before.





Voice of the Revolution



Thomas Paine



America's first best selling author tells the story of his rising from working class roots to the pinnacle of world fame. His phamplet "Common Sense" inspired people to support independency. His words "These are the times that try men's souls" inspired Washington's army to continune the fight.

Paine dramatically describes the Battle of Trenton where George Washington, against all odds, defeated the Hessian mercenaries after crossing the Del-aware River. Paine speaks of his writings: "Common Sense," "The Rights of Man," and the controversial "Age of Reason."

His belief in abolishing monarchy and establishing republican government earned him a British death sentence and French citizenship during their revolution. The first person to use the words, "the United States of America," Thomas Paine helped create the modern world.



A Fireside Chat



Franklin D. Roosevelt



"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." The President outlines the major jobs and infrastructure programs put into place in the first 100 days. He reads touching letters from adults and children asking for help, He speaks of the young people riding box cars across the country in search of work to send money back home. He tells stories about his misses, Eleanor Roosevelt, having her own press conferences, no male journalists allowed. and her work to help Americans in need. Also incidents with the King and Queen of England at the hot dog lunch, Mrs. Lou Hoover, Alice Roosevelt, Clare Booth Luce, and Admiral King. The President speaks of WWII's beginning, the uniting of North and South American republics to stand against the Nazis, Pearl Harbor, and the home front. He concludes by saying, "What is the use in living if it be not to make this world a better place for those who live in it after we are gone."



Stories Aboard the Titanic



The New York Times



N.Y. Times Managing Editor, Carr Van Anda, narrates a slide program detailing the building of the Titanic with its safety features, luxury accommodations and errors in construction. He then follows the ship hour by hour on its fateful voyage describing several on board passengers: Mystery writer Jacques Futrelle, fashion designer Lady Duff Gordon, John Jacob Astor, stewardess Violet Jessup, orches-tra leader Wallace Hartley, fashion correspondent Edith Russell, Chief Engi-neer Joseph Bell who were they? Why were they on board (for some an accident of Fate) and what happened to them. Van Anda relates the dramatic and dangerous voyage of the rescue ship Carpathia and its superb captain, Arthur Henry Rostron. At the conclusion a series of passenger photos of those lost to the sea crosses the screen as" Nearer My God to Thee" plays in the background.



RJ Lindsey 3320 W Foster Ave #175 Chicago, IL 60625



Living History Theater