Smart Talk from Museum of American Revolution

What to look for on Smart Talk Thursday, May 4, 2017:

Thursday’s Smart Talk is from the new Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.

Located just two blocks from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, the museum opened it’s doors two weeks ago to thousands of huzzahs.  OK, that means those people who have visited the museum really like it.

Surprisingly, it’s taken 234 years for a museum to open that tells the whole story of the American Revolution.  The museum’s exhibits and artifacts follow chronologically from the end of the French and Indian War in America through the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783.  Along the way, there are stories of the grievances the American Colonists had with Great Britain, with mention of the Stamp Act and the Boston Tea Party. 

There’s an actual piece of the North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts where some of the first shots were fired.  Continental Army Commander Gen. George Washington obviously plays a big role throughout the war and the museum.

One of the marquee exhibits is the tent that Washington used for his headquarters at Valley Forge and throughout the war.

Appearing on Smart Talk to tell stories of the museum and the war are Michael Quinn, President and CEO of the Museum of the American Revolution, Assistant Curator Matt Skic and Textile Conservator Virginia Whelan discuss Washington’s tent, and Dr. Gregory J.W. Urwin, a military historian, author and professor of history at Temple University.