Here & Now Anytime 25 at 250: An antique gunboat and America's first mail-order record club
Feb 6, 2026
Jennifer Jones, a National Museum of American History curator, tells the story of the 1776 gunboat Philadelphia and its recovery and conservation. Maureen Loughran, director at Smithsonian Folkways, explores Young People’s Records, the midcentury mail-order club that made music for kids. They discuss restoration, historical context, musical creators, and cultural significance in short, lively conversations.
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The Philadelphia's Remarkable Recovery
- Jennifer Jones describes how the Philadelphia was built quickly in 1776 and raised intact in 1935 after sinking at Valcour Island.
- Lorenzo Haglund located and salvage-engineered the 53-foot gunboat's recovery, a rare intact raise from 60 feet deep.
Conservation On Public Display
- The Philadelphia's physical conservation is public and ongoing with Texas A&M conservators visible through a 30-foot window at the museum.
- The exhibit makes preservation itself part of the story visitors witness in real time.
Boat As Symbol Of Fragile Democracy
- Jones links preserving the fragile boat to the fragility of early American democracy in 1776.
- The vessel embodies how precarious the nation's founding experiment was and why preservation matters.