This program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Additional funding provided by George Landecker and Diane Wallach.

Is.

I mean, it's just one shot after another.

It's like nothing I've ever seen.

When I was a child, we couldn't wait to get out on our road trip.

That's where I first saw America with my great big eyes.

The back seat.

The whole back seat was mine.

And there was a miracle.

And that's really kind of where I became a nomad.

Somebody call me the other day.

She said, you're 79 and I'm still going on the road trips.

43 years.

I started documenting America.

And it's it's really hard to believe that here I stand.

And then in about three days, I'm going to be finished with my study.

Fascinated by everything from Canyon.

You should be in American history, because this is a moment I might have to take a photo.

Them so fascinated by where we live and how we live and and the terrain.

And how could I do something this interesting?

America for 43 years.

And stop.

There's no way this is the.

When I get on the road, I'm on the road trip that I've had on my life.

If I came out to burning out a problem, we're in Flagstaff, so we're three hours away.

If I came out today, could we need to get under cover?

We can't just go out there and it rains on us, and that's a problem.

We have some issues, but I think.

Well, look at it.

This must be pouring rain.

Okay, so just know we are coming.

I don't know how to get to you.

Once I get there.

Oh, my.

Out there tempers the orange face.

I don't see it here.

Oh.

Okay, so I need the orange phase back and the other way.

I see it here, and then I need the flash cards.

Oh, wait a minute.

Here it is.

Good, good, good.

Found it.

Yes!

Yay!

Okay, so we have two phase cameras.

We have one cannon, but I don't know where they.

The chargers are, so that's it.

We're just about ready.

Let me just think it through.

Oh, there he is.

Okay, let's do it.

Let's do it.

You feel better?

Okay.

You look like $1 million, I know.

Believe it snowed last night, isn't it?

I first learned about Carol Highsmith's work when I became the 14th Librarian of Congress in the Library of Congress.

Main cafeteria.

Carol's photographs that capture food and signs of restaurants from around the country are surrounding people.

There is a photograph that would always give me comfort, and it was a sign that just said Beautiful Color Cafe.

And it drew me because it's just striking visually.

And I finally one day went over there and it was a small town.

I thought, oh my goodness, I wonder what the cafe looked like.

Definitely what they were serving.

The understated beauty of people and places.

And you get that appreciation.

Wow, this is our country.

Look at that.

I already knew about the collections at the Library of Congress, mainly that they had the largest collection of this, the largest collection of that.

And I knew about the fact that they had the largest collection of photography in the United States and possibly the world.

What I didn't know was that they had copyright free, wonderful photographs for the public to use by Carol Highsmith.

Who is this person who would give such an archive to, really, the American people?

Ansel Adams planned the landscapes.

Others have claimed people or professions, but Carol's sheer ambition and the work ethic to approach reaching that ambition are unique.

Carol has been visually documenting the late 20th and early 21st century America on behalf of the Library of Congress.

Her archive at the library includes all of it people, small towns, urban sprawls, national parks, rural landscapes, and roadside curiosities.

You get the picture.

I worry that all the cell phones and the computers are going to the dumpster, and we don't have scrap shot albums, and it will be harder to know about American life.

Pictures find their audiences.

There will be people who are not interested in Carol's work.

She doesn't care about contemporary art esthetics.

They are documents.

They are not esthetic creations in the way that much of contemporary art is.

How pictures are optimistic.

There are negative aspects of America that she is simply not going to cover.

Other people are covering them.

If they weren't.

It would be a bigger problem.

She is preserving her perceptions of what the United States has been and is over a 40 year period, and historians will find that useful.

Now, the reason I did this.

Why did I go into photography?

Because that's me and my dad photographed me from the time I popped out.

I mean, it was constant 24 over seven super eight movies not to do everything you can imagine.

Look how proud he was of ourselves.

Look at the car in the background.

Oh.

I'm fine.

Oh, this is such a great.

It's such a great picture.

And I so remember dad this way.

You know, he had on his dress code and let us go.

He did?

And I have snow in Minneapolis.

Dad took photographs of me and my sister Sarah, from the time we were born.

We never moved without him taking our photograph.

Never.

Then the super eight movies of me with my mother and my mother playing the ukulele.

And me and my little cowboy outfit.

I was the black sheep because I had straight hair.

And I was at tomboy.

And I was always in trouble.

I listened to no one.

My sister was a movie star and I was a black sheep.

I love to play cowboys and Indians, but Carol was the wanted to always be the cowboy.

My parents would give me the shadow of the doubt because I was older, and then Carol would do it, and she just would be the kid.

And my parents didn't let her grow up.

Maybe Carol was always the underdog.

I think she dealt with that all through her years.

I didn't want to be like my sister.

I was just this little carefree oddball.

My dad sold bus systems to cities.

One time he had this bus that he brought home, and they took me to Billings, Montana, in the bus, and I had the entire back seat.

It was Utopia.

I loved it.

We went to Mount Rushmore and Wall Drug.

The scenery and the excitement of leaving Minneapolis and then all that we saw along the way.

I would look out over America into me.

It was a dream.

I was just hooked.

I was a nomad from the moment.

Go!

I've been doing this 42 year study of America for Library Congress.

There is no question that this project needs to be done.

We're lucky to be Americans, and we need to have a record of our times.

And.

Oh, thank you.

But I think the story needs to be told that it was a it was not just this little kid just, oh, I'm going to go out into America.

And it all worked.

It didn't.

I was absolutely a child of the 60s.

No question.

Never interested in school.

Are you kidding me?

Out.

Boring.

It was going to be hopeless for me to get into college.

So I kind of applied myself a little bit my senior year, and we got me in.

Now, the problem was that the school.

I went to, the college.

Only the wettest and wildest school in America at the time.

Life magazine did an article about it, but it was wonderful.

Mark I met at Parsons College.

He was an artist, and I think he loved me because I was so fearfully.

And about two years later, we married.

Mark went to Vietnam, I believe, in 1967, 1968.

He regretted it.

It never really should have gone, and we probably could have gotten out of it.

We toyed with going to Canada.

So it was a very difficult decision.

There was a terrible thing.

I think there were things that Vietnam veterans saw that changed them.

They were never the same.

They never were.

I got a letter from him saying, I'm confused.

I don't know what to do.

I'm not sure where to turn, but I will always love you.

And I knew from that letter that he was.

He was in trouble.

And.

So when I heard the news.

I knew.

I said.

Mark Highsmith committed suicide at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

She called me and she just was broke down and told me about it, and it was just so sad.

He was a child of the 60s, and he went to the Vietnam War and it destroyed him.

I could have just taken my own life that day and just said, okay, it's over.

My dad said, you can come home.

I'll put you through college.

I don't want to do that.

I wanted to be my own person.

A polite tour, but I don't want anybody else but the two of us in the helicopter.

It's going to be a documentary about me photographing America.

We are in Hana on Maui.

Saying things from the ground is one thing, but then seeing it, especially with an island this war 90% surrounded by the ocean.

There's just a whole other thing.

Up 10,000ft.

It was unbelievable.

So many more waterfalls than I've seen anywhere else.

And they were all just passing.

I love it, and I don't care if I'm 150 years old.

I'm going to go on.

I know I get all this.

So what do you see?

Oh.

Maybe.

I love my.

Everybody.

Love.

I'm out shooting and I forget why this all came to be.

But then I get in front of the Willard Hotel, and all of this comes back to me, and I think, oh, my, of course.

How could I not be here?

I was pulled in.

I was sucked in.

I couldn't leave it alone.

All I thought about it was Francis Benjamin Johnson, the Willard Hotel, Washington, D.C.. The importance of this.

Finally, I started dating this man, and he was going to move to Washington, D.C., and I thought, well, I'll go and see if I can find a job down there.

I started working in sales.

I did so well because I was a little personality and I was always on the sunny side.

I won trips to China, to Russia.

This was in the 70s, so it had just opened up.

It's so different than anything I'd ever seen.

And a client when I went to Russia gave me a camera.

Pentax K 1000, kind of a the basics.

I didn't know anything about the camera.

You know, I just clicked, you know, there were no techniques.

Of course you couldn't see what you were shooting.

You had no idea.

I came home a changed person.

I just thought, okay, this is it.

This is what I want to do forever.

I went to the Corcoran School of Photography at night, and they gave us an assignment.

Come in with some interesting project that you've done and submit it.

So I thought, oh, what about getting into the Willard Hotel?

That's what I'll do.

The Willard Hotel is located about two blocks in the white House, and it was originally the Hotel of presidents.

Various presidents have stayed there before their inaugural Lincoln stayed there.

I knew that it had fallen into disrepair.

So I asked Elizabeth, my pretty friend, to go in with me, and she just kind of hidden crevices.

And I took photos of her in the rubble.

I didn't know how bad it was until I got in there.

We were shocked.

All natural light.

I brought in no lights.

It was learning how to bleed something in.

I got that A+ professor.

Just couldn't stop talking about it.

So I thought, well, why don't I just ask if I can continue on in here and teach myself the lessons of photography, light and dark and art.

Teaching myself how to see.

I go there every weekend, and then I'd come home and I'd look at everything.

I was all on film.

Then I would go into the dark room and I would develop.

So I learned all about the darkroom.

I'd spent, I don't know, two years before I saw a soul in there.

One day I saw this man walk through John Mariano's, and he said, well, I'm going to restore the Willard Hotel.

And he was, as he's full of prints in his hand.

That was very unusual, that there were any interiors because interiors were difficult and not really taken very often back then.

And there they were.

All they had to put the Willard Hotel back together again was Francis Benjamin Johnston's images.

He said, you know, these photographs are done at the Library of Congress.

Well, I knew very little about the Library of Congress.

He said, why don't you and I meet tomorrow morning and we'll go and see these photographs?

Francis Benjamin Johnston was an American original.

She was born in 1864, and she went to the Academy Julian in Paris to learn painting.

It was one of the few schools that accepted women.

Frances got her first camera from George Eastman.

One of her big moments was Chicago Exposition.

She made these beautiful photographs, and her presidential portraits were important.

Johnston photographed McKinley just before he was shot.

Assassinated.

Her portrait of Mark Twain with his hair kind of looking like a halo.

Incredible.

It's true that there was a subculture, especially in photography, of women who were gay.

It was a scene Johnston was very familiar with.

She's in partnership with Mattie Hewitt.

She defied all norms.

That's what Francis Benjamin Johnston did.

No woman was carrying around an eight by ten camera.

A woman smoking, a woman drinking.

The self-portrait that Johnston made.

I used it for the cover of my biography of her because it's so iconic.

She's got her beer stein.

She's got a cigarette.

In the other hand, she was a big smoker.

You know, if you don't like, it's your problem, not mine.

I think that's a wonderful summary of how she wanted to live her life.

One thing about Johnston is that she needed to make a business out of everything.

She says she has to hustle.

Most of the men.

They were wealthy.

She's always finding a way to make a living at it.

Johnston wasn't making an archive.

She was making a business and creating wonderful photographs.

But Carroll, in retrospect, could see the legacy she left.

I remember Carroll coming in looking for the Willard Hotel photographs.

I remember her expressing, I want to do what Francis Benjamin Johnston did.

That's what really grabbed her.

Johnston did architecture, interiors.

She did gardens.

She did people as well.

She was a portraitist.

I looked at her photographs and I realized what she had captured of her time in America was what we needed to learn all over again, how valuable all of that was.

The light in her eyes was clear and bright that this was where she wanted to head.

Hi everyone, I'm Charlie.

I am so happy to be welcoming you into the LPB Studios alongside LPB executive producer Lynda midget, who is also co-producer on this wonderful film, Capturing America The Carol Highsmith Story.

Linda, this is a remarkable look at a remarkable lady.

Thank you so much.

Carol is truly an amazing individual in her story is one that I knew LPB should share with Louisiana.

We're going to be joined in a few minutes by co-producer and director filmmaker Kristen Acres, and she has so many great insights to share about her experience filming with Carol, I cannot wait.

Sharing meaningful stories is what LPB does best, and it's why viewers like you have supported the work that we do.

Show us that your public television network matters to you.

You make the difference.

So call us or a text.

Give to 87695.

Make your pledge online at LPB or scan the QR code on your screen.

And when you do, you'll receive the gift of another year of the films and programs that you and your community value.

Plus, this is LPB, so we have very special gifts selected for you as our way to thank you for your support.

Let's take a look.

Become a member to support the programs you love on LPB and choose from these commemorative gifts.

Support LPB at $30 a month and receive the Capturing America combo that includes the limited edition signed photographic print collection by Carol Highsmith, including Monument Valley, the Lincoln Memorial, Idaho Farm, catch Bay, Alaska, and Creole Wild West Mardi Gras Indian Chief, plus the Ain't Mississippi hardcover book signed by Carol Highsmith and Jay Darden, the Capturing America Mug, and a DVD of this film for $10 a month.

Choose the Wild Ain't Mississippi signed book with over 250 pages of Carol's photographs of Louisiana, or for just $9 a month, receive Capturing America The Carol Highsmith Story DVD, as well as the mug exclusive to LPB viewers and featuring Carol's photographs.

Plus, at any level, LPB program guide visions arrives each month with the full schedule and program highlights, and you'll also receive passport for streaming your LPB and PBS favorites.

This show is a remarkable documentary looking into a fascinating woman, Carol Highsmith.

I'll tell you one thing before I ask you, how did you meet her?

I got a chance to meet her a few years before LPB did because Louisiana Office of Tourism.

I got to drive her around and she was doing her work for Library of Congress.

I did a quick Wikipedia search.

I looked at the credits that she had.

I was immediately intimidated because I'm thinking I'm driving around the fifth Beatle here and just going to see what else is going to happen.

And I was a little nervous.

She could have been more down to earth and so fun to work with, just on a professional level.

And also as a friend.

How did you get a chance to meet her?

Well, first of all, she has like a beetle.

You know, her nickname is America's photographer.

Yeah.

And I was introduced to her by Kristen, who were about to meet in just a minute, who's a filmmaker?

When I joined LPB in 2021, Kristen came to me and said, I have this project that has a Louisiana tie in.

I was smitten with Carol immediately, but in between where we are now and then there was the way Louisiana, Mississippi, or any place else project, and we realized, wait, we should ask Carol to shoot the photographs for the Why Louisiana book.

So in between all of this, we really developed a special relationship with her.

And what a wonderful keepsake that whole project has been for LPB, and wonderful collaboration between the Office of Tourism and LPB.

And it continues to grow and prosper.

And the viewers are the winners.

So what?

Another winners.

You, the viewer.

Your pledge is going to be worth twice as much because friends of the LPB Board of Directors offering this member challenge, they will match dollar for dollar the first $1,500 during this program only.

So it effectively, effectively rather doubles your donation to Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

So let's definitely hear from you there.

And we also have wonderful thank you gifts like only LPB can show you.

Become a member to support the programs you love on LPB and choose from these commemorative gifts.

Support LPB at $30 a month and receive the Capturing America combo that includes the limited edition signed photographic print collection by Carol Highsmith, including Monument Valley, the Lincoln Memorial, Idaho Farm, catch Bay, Alaska, and Creole Wild West Mardi Gras Indian Chief, plus the Wild Ain't Mississippi hardcover book signed by Carol Highsmith and Jay Dardenne, the Capturing America mug, and a DVD of this film for $10 a month.

Choose the Wild Ain't Mississippi signed book with over 250 pages of Carol's photographs of Louisiana, or for just $9 a month, receive Capturing America The Carol Highsmith Story DVD, as well as the mug exclusive to LPB viewers and featuring Carol's photographs.

Plus, at any level, LPB program guide visions arrives each month with the full schedule and program highlights, and you'll also receive passport for streaming your LPB and PBS favorites.

We are so excited to now introduce to you the filmmaker Kristin Akers Dickey, to talk more about this documentary, how you even were able to meet Carol, and a little bit about the project.

Hi, Kristen.

Hi, Charlie.

So in 2015, I was doing a sort of a career pivot.

I had done a lot of nine over 11 and war and difficult subjects, so I was looking for something lighter.

My co-producer, Joan Rupert, and I went looking for someone we could profile, and we came across Carol's Wikipedia page and we were like, you so impressed?

She really is like a beetle in that she's done so much over time.

And so we reached out to her and she got back right away, and we started talking about the idea of doing a documentary.

She was very receptive.

And so in September of 2015, my director of photography and I, Paul Jacobson, we went to film with Carol in Colorado.

And fun fact, the blue capture that she's sitting in in the interview you'll see in the film, I bought that at Walmart 20 minutes before we started filming.

Oh stuff.

So it was a shoestring production for sure, I love it.

Plus it was also a years long project.

This took many, many years to put it all together.

Yeah, it really did.

You know, for the first seven years I self-funded, I had a lot of corporate work that involved a lot of travel, so that enabled me to plow free hotel nights and air miles and what have you back into this project, you know, and then, of course, from the get go, I wanted this to be on PBS, but I really didn't know about that process.

So, as Linda mentioned, you know, in 2021, I think I was monitoring LinkedIn and I saw that Linda had joined LPB, and I had always admired Linda as a producer in Chicago, where we both worked on and reached out and just hoped that she would respond, well, I'm glad you reached out, Kristen.

And the respect was absolutely mutual.

I think one of the things you've done so brilliantly in this film is Capture Carol's very vibrant and unique personality and her heart for the country.

So I'm wondering for you, as you were filming with her, did you feel like you saw the country through new eyes?

Absolutely.

You know, in 2015, I was in my early 40s and I really had not traveled through, particularly the western part of the U.S.

I had flown out of Denver, but I'd never been in the Colorado Rockies and so on.

That first shoot, we wound up on the million dollar highway, actually, which is a very twisty turny mountain road.

That made me very anxious.

I have a lot of travel anxiety, but we got into a clearing and you'll see the shot in the film where Carol is walking across a road with her tripod, and the aspens are all golden in the background.

And it was during that shot in a clearing where it was.

The road was a little bit safer that I looked up and saw that the mountains were actually purple, and it took my breath away because I always thought that that was a line and a song, you know, Purple Mountains, Majesty.

But then I realized that that that's actually true.

And so it gave me a deeper appreciation.

It gave me a deeper appreciation for this country, which I felt was something necessary as a citizen.

I felt like it was my my duty to really learn this country better.

Chris, I wanted to talk with you a little bit more during this show.

We're going to before we go back to Capturing America, the Carol Highsmith story.

Once again, we need to hear from you.

Make a donation, make a pledge.

We have some wonderful thank you gifts you're going to take a look at right now.

Become a member to support the programs you love on LPB and choose from these commemorative gifts.

Support LPB at $30 a month and receive the Capturing America combo that includes the limited edition signed photographic print collection by Carol Highsmith, including Monument Valley, the Lincoln Memorial, Idaho Farm, Ketchum Bay, Alaska, and Creole Wild West Mardi Gras Indian Chief, plus the Wild Ain't Mississippi hardcover book signed by Carol Highsmith and Jay Dardenne, the Capturing America mug, and a DVD of this film for $10 a month.

Choose the Wild Ain't Mississippi signed book with over 250 pages of Carol's photographs of Louisiana, or for just $9 a month, receive Capturing America The Carol Highsmith Story DVD, as well as the mug exclusive to LPB viewers and featuring Carol's photographs.

Plus, at any level, LBJ's program guide visions arrives each month with the full schedule and program highlights, and you'll also receive passport for streaming your LPB and PBS favorites.

For in Orleans and the French Quarter on Martin Street.

A love of 32 were Francis, Benjamin.

Johnston.

Luke.

Listen here.

Oh, there's no cars.

None.

Okay.

I'm ready.

About three blocks off, maybe two.

Or go where?

She hung out.

Every day I come to New Orleans, and because it still looks the same as when she was here.

I'm close.

If I need to, Johnson, I really am.

Just a minute.

I hit this city.

I'm here.

Francis would love the way Carroll has this can do attitude.

I'll get that photograph.

Okay, guys, we got full clearance from Newark to do everything we need.

One of the most remarkable stories is her funding herself.

Hiring a helicopter and photographing lower Manhattan.

A month or so before nine over 11.

Absolutely pristine view of lower Manhattan.

And the most perfect day in the history of the world.

And a month or so later, it's gone.

Is this not something Library of Congress should have?

I don't think Francis Benjamin Johnston ever set out to create an archive for the nation.

That came very late in her life when she was trying to decide what to do with her life's work, but that provided a good model for Carroll.

Once we got the foothold in the library of her collection and the acceptance that her archive was going to come there, and the key thing in that was that it was rights free, which was absolutely unprecedented.

That made it doable with the library, which does have limited resources.

There were no photographers around that I had ever encountered who were willing to give up their rights.

He rubbed the little lamp 18 times and the genie never comes out.

And then the genie walks into your office.

This is her gift to the nation.

We do prioritize rights free because as a library, our purpose is share the pictures.

We also understand that for most contemporary living photographers, their copyright matters.

It's how they make their living.

Along comes Carol Highsmith in her mission in life is to find funders and sponsors who will support her work, but make it possible for the pictures to come straight into the public domain.

By documenting the present, she's making sure that people can know the past in a way that only photography can communicate, because it freezes time.

People aren't telling you what to think.

They're showing you how it looked and let you make your own conclusions.

Somebody the other day said, you really shouldn't have done that.

You know, you should have kept all your images.

I said to her, what would that have brought me?

Money?

Probably not.

Because, you know, images are great, but thousands of people are taking them.

You know what?

So what do I have?

And this wonderful little plate of goodies.

The library of Congress.

Hello.

I have a way to get across America.

A fascinating job.

Could anybody have done this?

Probably.

Maybe.

But you better damn well be ready to really push.

I'll do something.

I'll.

I'll researcher to see if I can bring in something that's going to give me some boost, some real boost.

It's been a constant up and down for Carol to get the funding to.

To watch her dream develop.

Ted's just been an absolute wonderful, wonderful soulmate for Carol.

I think Carol's where she is today, having Ted hold her hand as she's done it.

I had an opportunity to work at the Voice of America.

I was the Americana reporter and a friend.

Mutual friend said, well, you ought to have a drink with a friend of mine, Carol Highsmith.

And we sat across from each other, and she was at a point at her life where she also was looking for someone to spend her life with.

It was a match made in heaven because we complement each other so much, and we knew that instantly.

He is God sent.

What would I do without him?

He goes everywhere with me.

We've been married about 30 years.

He's fabulous.

He drives the car because if I drove the car, we'd still be back in Washington, D.C.. Waiting for the light to change.

We spend 2 to 300 nights a year in hotels in our lives together.

We've had some real valleys.

We've come near bankruptcy.

We've come near and lost our home.

The librarian has found money to help support this effort, but it's not assured.

We lose some sleep and the bills keep coming.

An easy life.

I mean, that's the American dream.

It's Carol's nightmare.

You have to be bold and believe in yourself.

I'm going to make it work.

If it's over my dead body.

Those who doubt me, those who don't think that my work is significant.

By God, I'm going to show it to you.

It is much like climbing the mountain behind me.

You go a little bit of a time.

You're not going to just go, okay, I'll just run up it and everything will be great.

Well, no.

It's complex.

Life is complex.

Curls photographs help you love the country in its complexity.

Because you get an understanding when you see native people in Arizona next to a photograph of people in Washington, D.C.

at the restaurant, and you start looking at the fact that this is a big country but a diverse country.

And she captures that.

And there's a beauty in that.

I love this country, and this is my very favorite part because it's still run by the animals.

I just ignore it.

We are so lucky we still have this.

I mean, this is where they filmed most of the Westerns.

When you get something like this and you're very favorite part, you can't describe it.

There's no you can't.

There's no description for this.

I mean, here I am in my very favorite place in the United States, and it's magnificent.

And it's not raining.

That's incredible.

It was supposed to rain all day.

Now instead, we have shafts of light.

We have magnificent clouds that gave.

They give the image great dimension.

So let's get a little closer to the edge.

Kind of go to where you need to go to get this sunset place.

Up, up.

Look how beautiful this is.

000.

And your board is too.

This is fabulous.

Thank you for waiting for us.

Look at you.

Oh, I'm indebted to you for this.

How beautiful.

You say?

I know I'm going to have my photo taken for his sake.

Now, let's hope the light stays on, y'all.

Where's the light?

Yeah.

It's gonna be okay.

It's gonna come back out.

I go home.

Oh.

You baby.

Yeah.

No.

You have to be this way.

And over here originally.

And you're still here.

And it's not owned by the Park Service, and you still own it.

And to me, that is fabulous.

I love that that's the whole reason that it's so emotional for me to be here is that that it's still the longs to you.

And that's huge to me.

Maybe not to everybody, but to me it does.

Ted always drives.

I'm in the back seat, working on the computer, looking out the window, and I see just the shot.

And it's maybe just one shot, but it's the best shot on Earth, and I have to get there.

I was told that there was a fire station and Ridgeway, Colorado, that John Wayne.

They made a movie there, and he put a little girl on top.

I thought, oh, I have to go photograph that.

Well, I did, and they said, there's a man down the street.

He makes Grammy Awards in his basement.

I thought, well, that'll be kind of fascinating.

I'll go see what he does.

Just beautiful.

I sure your face.

Yeah.

Your face is getting totally lit.

It's a white cloth.

Is that coming back to reflect on your face?

So just gorgeous.

How long have you been making these friends going on?

Well, it's been 40 years.

I've been 40 years.

And you, I believe, over apprentice, was apprenticed to a very rich and unfriendly painter.

Isn't that something?

I got shot for way.

But my question is, do you have an apprentice?

What I do.

There is no more need for.

I mean, seriously, I'm a master.

Yes, and I just made a mold for the Dragon V2 space capsule that will carry astronauts to the space station.

And I've used 200 year old techniques to make this back to the future space capsule.

Oh, the rocket engines on this space capsule are 3D printed.

That they weren't cast.

They weren't machined.

They were printed.

I see there's there's not going to be a need for it.

Okay, that's even more reason why you should be in American history.

Because this is a moment that's going to be gone.

Yes.

Just like so many things, you and I have those same because we're the same age in our lifetime.

But at least, at least in a place of preservation like the Library of Congress, it will be able to see.

Yeah.

And people can look at this and say, oh, that's what they look like.

Oh, oh just beautiful.

It is gorgeous.

You get people that can work with their hands and show you where they come from, and they're proud of their heritage.

And we are proud that they're proud because we are And welcome back.

I'm Charlie Wenham, joining you with my friend, LPB executive producer and co-producer of this film, Linda Mitchell.

Thank you.

Charlie, it's very special to finally be able to share this documentary about such an incredible person and the gift Carole Highsmith's giving the entire nation over 100,000 images of America that are being preserved for future generations by the Library of Congress.

You and LPB are the perfect producing partners to team up with filmmaker Kristen Akers for this PBS project, and it is viewers like you who joined as members who continue to make important projects like this possible.

Let's keep this remarkable partnership going, shall we?

We need to hear from you for your call of support right now.

That's right.

Call us or text give to 888769 5000.

Pledge online at or scan the QR code on your screen with your smart device.

And when you do, we have thank you gifts for you.

A little enough to show you how much we value your support.

Become a member to support the programs you love on LPB and choose from these commemorative gifts.

Support LPB at $30 a month and receive the Capturing America combo that includes the limited edition signed photographic print collection by Carol Highsmith, including Monument Valley, the Lincoln Memorial, Idaho farm catcher Mack Bay, Alaska, and Creole dueled West Mardi Gras Indian Chief, plus the Wild Ain't Mississippi hardcover book signed by Carol Highsmith and Jay Darden, the Capturing America mug, and a DVD of this film for $10 a month.

Choose the Wild Ain't Mississippi signed book with over 250 pages of Carol's photographs of Louisiana, or for just $9 a month, receive Capturing America The Carol Highsmith Story DVD, as well as the mug exclusive to LPB viewers and featuring Carol's photographs.

Linda, this is such a remarkable story that Carol is preserving moments in our nation's history for future generations.

Pretty amazing.

It is amazing, and it's really important.

Charlie.

You know, one of the things that I've thought about a lot while doing this project is just how many of our images are now stored on our phones, right?

And we don't always download them because that takes time.

You forget about it, and then your kids are grown and you don't know where.

You know you don't have to print it out scrapbook anymore, right?

Like we grew up with.

So so Carol's work is so important for truly preserving what our country looks like now, what has what it has looked like over the past 40 years, so that these future generations of historians can know what we what we look like, what we dressed in, you know, what kind of foods we ate.

All of those things matter because it's all changing and it can go away on a moment's notice.

It's a Library of Congress we're talking about not just one generation, but multiple generations, hundreds of years from now looking at these images.

So I talked to Carol recently to get some of her thoughts on that.

And I'm so happy to share some of that interview right now.

These former librarians of Congress that were always there for me, who let me do what I needed to do for us.

We need to show off who we are.

Can you imagine?

I'm in the top six collections out of 15 million images in the largest library in the world.

The Library of Congress.

I can't fathom it.

I can't even begin to imagine it.

So they've been wonderful.

They've helped me along and cared about my collection, and recently did a map that shows every dot of every place I've been.

Every one of our states has its own uniqueness.

I see all of our states and the mountains and the hills and the this and that.

But I met Americans and I talked to them, and I love them.

We are all Americans.

That's what we are.

That's what I've always been.

And I'm so proud of that.

I don't know what to do with myself.

Linda, I think it's truly amazing that, you know, Carol was able to maintain this singular project for 40 years.

I know the focus that it took for her for four decades to get through this.

That's a long time to be focused on something and to actually achieve it, without a doubt.

Hey, we're going to achieve some gift giving right now, so take advantage of the wonderful thank you gifts we have to offer right now.

Support LPB at $30 a month and receive the Capturing America combo that includes the limited edition signed photographic print collection by Carol Highsmith, including Monument Valley, the Lincoln Memorial, Idaho Farm, catch Bay, Alaska, and Creole Wild West Mardi Gras Indian Chief, plus the Wild Ain't Mississippi hardcover book signed by Carol Highsmith and Jay Darden, the Capturing America mug, and a DVD of this film for $10 a month.

Choose the Wild Ain't Mississippi signed book with over 250 pages of Carol's photographs of Louisiana, or for just $9 a month, receive Capturing America The Carol Highsmith Story DVD, as well as the mug exclusive to LPB viewers and featuring Carol's photographs.

Plus, at any level, LPB program guide visions arrives each month with the full schedule and program highlights, and you'll also receive passport for streaming your LPB and PBS favorites.

Linda and everyone out there, this is the member challenge.

The friends of LPB Board of Directors is going to match dollar for dollar the first $1,500 during this program only.

So please, we need to hear from you right now.

Linda.

Carol was such a fan of Louisiana for doing the documentary Why Louisiana, Mississippi, or anywhere else?

But she clearly she loves Louisiana.

She's she's a super fan.

That is how that is how I describe Carol.

And it's a very genuine and earnest love of the state.

She sends the people here.

She really, truly has a deep appreciation of the culture, and she has a lot to say about it.

So I asked her recently in our interview just to talk a little bit about where her heart is for Louisiana.

Well, first of all.

So of course, I've been to Louisiana many times.

And luckily then on the press stand to photograph all sorts of very interesting people coming down for Mardi Gras.

So one day you all called and said, would you ever consider coming down and doing a book on Louisiana, the screech marks in the highway we were on the way to Montana are still there.

The thought, the thought that we could go to Louisiana, there were some things I hadn't done.

I hadn't done Jazz Fest.

I hadn't done 4 to 5 hours of aerials of New Orleans, the swamps, Mississippi River, all sorts of things, all of that.

You come here and you just have a fabulous time because there's it's so has so many pieces to it.

There's no so many twists and turns and all the towns are interesting and.

How could you not just go on and on about Louisiana?

I don't know, you.

You can and I and I certainly could if you just let me go to three hours.

Well, Carol loves Louisiana, and there's no doubt that Louisiana loves Carol as well.

Hey, in our next break, filmmaker Kristen Acres Dickey will rejoin us and tell us more wonderful behind the scenes stories.

But until then, please, we need to hear from you right now.

And we have some wonderful thank you gifts for your support.

Become a member to support the programs you love on LPB and choose from these commemorative gifts.

Support LPB at $30 a month and receive the Capturing America combo that includes the limited edition signed photographic print collection by Carol Highsmith, including Monument Valley, the Lincoln Memorial, Idaho farm catcher Mack Bay, Alaska, and Creole Wild West Mardi Gras Indian chief, plus the eight Mississippi hardcover book signed by Carol Highsmith and Jay Darden, the Capturing America Mug, and a DVD of this film for $10 a month.

Choose the Wild Ain't Mississippi signed book with over 250 pages of Carol's photographs of Louisiana, or for just $9 a month, receive Capturing America The Carol Highsmith Story DVD, as well as the mug exclusive to LPB viewers and featuring Carol's photographs.

Plus, at any level, program guide visions arrives each month with the full schedule and program highlights, and you'll also receive passport for streaming your LPB and PBS favorites.

We're all Americans.

How are you doing?

I'm Carol, pleased to meet you.

I'm chief Howard Miller.

Yes, I was modifying the track.

Well, this is one of them.

Might have said we have here.

Right.

It took nine months to a year to make one of these suits.

And every beat you see on here, every rhinestone you see on here, goes on.

And Neil it one at a time.

What does this cave stand for?

Puka claims.

Oh, you know, here's what's happened here, is that these dogs were sent out for some runaway slave that ran away.

And as you can see, this one here is defending his lady.

And you also see the tears coming out of her eyes from her crying, from being hunted down.

So how many of these outfits have you made over time?

Let's say about 52.

I've been massing since 1969 and part of the culture since I was a kid.

So you even did them when you were young?

When I first went, I made it didn't look like this, but I was about 13 years old.

Would you mind putting on the suit for us?

Oh, that's a lot to ask, but it would mean a lot.

Okay, I mind, but I'm going to do it.

Look at this.

Oh, they're all and respect their stopping.

Oh.

Oh.

It's gorgeous.

Oh, look at that.

I'm just floored.

I like that.

Oh, I like that a lot.

Let's take 2 or 3 eyes and little smiles.

Old Lord, look at this.

Man.

His amazing neighborhood.

Yes.

For me?

Yes.

Tell me about it.

Because you were up here.

It's only heard is so full of tradition and color and culture.

As you can see here.

Like with the mighty gras, the church bells are ringing.

Why is a sin?

While a preachers run and assistance moon in a blessed tone.

This is a church that I enrolled to.

And I said there was a the choir singing.

Yes.

And the preacher is groaning while the sisters moan in a blessed tone.

I used to pass this church on Sundays and it would be rocking.

Oh how fun!

If you walking in this room, in another room.

And so sandy.

And as it fallen yet.

Well the student was.

The student was not doing so well, but somewhat shaking going on, you know.

Yeah, they're rocket man.

Me and my baby.

We're all going crazy for jumping ahead from that place.

And look, the bugs jumping and having fun people was always with bug jumping and where bug jump is like a horse's bucking and jumping, right?

And that's one of the like when people are dancing a bug jumping out of there.

How fun.

This is.

This is.

You can't help it.

This is amazing.

Good news.

Amazingly sad.

I'm sitting here drinking coffee when the the brass band brass in front of my door.

The morning I wrote the song.

Pass my steps by my boat in front of my door.

There's real mixed emotions about this day, you know?

Breaks my heart, man, because there's.

There's a lot of people who never return back to New Orleans.

You just come to this place and that's climate change, displacement.

And this is what it looks like.

Yeah.

Oh, but there's still a lot of music, a lot of culture, and a lot of black people still here.

I do, however, I must admit, just adore this neighborhood.

Oh, see this place here?

Yeah.

Clark Terry, most incredible trumpet player, came in here.

And right in here.

This is where Tuba Fats used to live.

But we had a session with Clark Terry and every trumpet player in New Orleans.

Nicholas Payton was in here.

James Andrews, some bones.

Shorty was in a wonderful with a plastic horn.

Is that where you're going to put all.

That's incredible.

I think this is a good idea.

They put this up after Katrina.

Now, remember, this is going down in history.

Yeah.

Thousands of years on this image.

And having fun.

Hurrying Manatee and her willingness to see people, to actually see them and talk with them and be interested in them and that that warmth would just come through by the end of the session with talking with Carol, their hugs and her images were hugs down in the tram maze and my baby.

We're all going crazy about jamming and having fun.

Down.

Girl.

You got it.

You good?

I got.

Against the Library of Congress.

Picture.

Stuff on.

Hold on.

Okay, now.

500 bucks.

That's great.

I'm worried about you guys.

Okay.

Hold on.

Okay.

Ready?

Yes.

Okay.

One more.

The more I travel across America, obviously, we all have various walks of life, but I see a huge similarity between all of us.

This is us at our best.

Yeah.

Grand Canyon.

The shafts of sun.

And I cast shadows everywhere.

And that makes it even more impressive.

This is an American masterpiece.

I'm looking at the Grand Canyon and dying is what I'm doing.

I would have died, and I not come.

Are you kidding me?

This is the point.

You want to show it uniquely?

You don't want to just show some old blue sky thing?

I've been there, done that.

You want to see the weather?

Life happens.

I mean, here we are traveling.

What?

200 days a year.

Do you think it's not going to rain?

It's not going to be 150 degrees.

This is the life of a nomad who travels through miracle.

That's what we do.

I mean, look at this.

It's fog while you die for fog.

Are you kidding me?

You can't find one.

So now you know what we have to do.

We have to run down there as fast as we can because it's not raining.

It's full.

And now we have to go in the fall because the fog is what it's all about.

Oh, what are they going to look up?

The sun?

Look at that gorgeous rainbow.

I can bring that out.

Yes I can.

Regarding photography, it's very hard for me sometimes.

But you have to tell the truth.

Even if it hurts.

Maybe you want that sky from Nebraska that was out of this world that you captured to bring it into a Wyoming shot or Arizona shot just to make it, you know, wild.

This is what I see.

And this is what you should see 100 or 1000 years from now.

And that's really important.

And sometimes, you know, some of my shots are maybe not as rich or amazing as they could have been.

Had I added something or changed something.

You should just cook all the time for me.

Forget the people out there.

Let's see here.

I want to take a what?

So we'll take a measurement.

I could not have won the jackpot more than I did when I met Ted.

Laughter on your turn.

T is the.

Dancing, singing kind of seeing better days for me?

Oh, yeah.

It goes.

We're at the exact same spot that we realize.

It's time to quiet down.

Just a touch.

Not because I'm going to be 80 or he's 82, but because maybe we need to stop and enjoy some life.

I don't know, the last day I've had off, I can't remember maybe 20 years.

One day, my birthday, Christmas, nothing but the visit to the to go.

Here's the here's the thing about our cast.

This is kind of remarkable.

Of our eight cats, one of them weighs less than 2 pounds.

This guy weighs 22 pounds.

When I first started my career, I worked mainly in film.

And so there's not only loads of film in the Library of Congress, but also in my archives.

This is one of my archives.

What my plan is, is to probably spend the next ten years going through all of this, every single image, and making sure it's all preserved and really needs my hands on it.

So I can tell you what you're looking at, what the time period was.

All of it will be eventually scanned and made into digital files, but right now it's going to be just what you see.

And that is four by five film.

At least I have it.

That's the important thing.

She wants to leave a legacy like Francis Benjamin Johnston, which is a good model, but hers becomes more it becomes the whole country.

I think Carol's archive and working with Carol to help make it, is one of the most satisfying and rewarding things I've done for Carol and for myself and for the Library of Congress.

At a time when we were thinking about what history means, how can it help us in the future?

We like to say there's hope in history to have a national library that is tasked basically with preserving and making accessible collective stories and histories of the people of the country means even more because you have a historical record.

So.

Okay, I'm overloaded with clothes, man.

I don't particularly care for small planes.

That is kind of where I draw the line.

But I have to get the job, so you take a chance.

Come on.

I think the emotion I feel is proud that I've come this far.

A little love caught up in emotion, yes, but that I actually continued.

No matter how hard I got.

I was young when I started all this and ran like the wind.

I'm so young because I think young.

How fun is that?

Oh man said that.

I have all that behind him.

Hello.

One last time from the LPB Studios during this special broadcast of Capturing America The Carol Highsmith Story.

I'm Charlie Wenham, joining you with Linda midget, the LPB executive producer and co-producer of this film.

We are inviting you to make your generous contribution to LPB to support this work and all the stories you love.

We do this for you, the viewer, and we want to thank everyone who has called us or joined online so far.

Every person makes a difference no matter what giving level you choose.

This is the last time we're joining you in this broadcast with this very special selection of commemorative gifts.

So call us or text give to 888769 5000.

Become a member online at LPB or scan the QR code on your screen with any thank you gift level.

You will receive access to LPB passport, the streaming service for your favorite PBS and LPB programs, and you will also receive visions, the program guide that arrives in your mailbox each month.

Let's take a look at what else you can receive when you support LPB during this broadcast.

Become a member to support the programs you love on LPB and choose from these commemorative gifts.

Support LPB at $30 a month and receive the Capturing America combo that includes the limited edition signed photographic print collection by Carol Highsmith, including Monument Valley, the Lincoln Memorial, Idaho farm catcher Mack Bay, Alaska, and Creole Wild West Mardi Gras Indian chief, plus the Ain't Mississippi hardcover book signed by Carol Highsmith and Jay Dardenne, the Capturing America mug, and a DVD of this film for $10 a month.

Choose the Wild Ain't Mississippi signed book with over 250 pages of Carol's photographs of Louisiana, or for just $9 a month, receive Capturing America at the Carol Highsmith Story DVD, as well as the mug exclusive to LPB viewers and featuring Carol's photographs.

Plus, at any level, LP's program guide visions arrives each month with the full schedule and program highlights, and you'll also receive passport for streaming your LPB and PBS favorites.

Well, I am so glad to welcome back Kristen Acres, who is the director and the co-producer of this film.

Kristen, thank you again for being with us.

You know, it's really remarkable that you were able to capture Carol and document her story in the last 10 to 11 years of the work that she was doing.

What was that like?

Being on the road with Carol as an adventure?

You know, personally, I love and I hope it comes across in the film.

Her endless, boundless enthusiasm for all of America, all parts of America, the people of America, the landscapes.

She never runs out of enthusiasm.

And as someone who is always looking for older mentors and people to model.

At 80 years old, she her lust for life.

Her enthusiasm is as vibrant as ever and I think that's something to be modeled.

I admire it, she is amazing and the film is amazing.

You have really when you think about it.

Carol is inspired by Francis Benjamin Johnston.

Carol then continued Francis Benjamin Johnston's legacy.

It's really tremendous when you think about it, and it's so important to have this record.

Yeah.

You know, I think that first of all, I think documenting women creators is very important.

I think that doesn't always happen, you know, over time.

Francis Benjamin Johnston is certainly a documentary unto herself that needs to be made.

My joke to Carol is that the three of us are sort of have this, you know, karmic relationship through the years where, you know, Francis was a proponent of women becoming photographers.

This was in the late 1890s.

Carol became fascinated with FBG, as we call her, and I became fascinated with both of them.

So I hope that this shows the sort of power of of women creators and how influential they can be, even with, you know, decades of of time between them.

Absolutely.

And how important their stories are to be told, to be shared, to be recorded for generations to come.

That's why we're here.

Absolutely.

Hey, I want to let folks know this is a pledge challenge by the friends of LPB Board of Directors.

They are going to match dollar for dollar, the first $1,500 donated during this program only.

So please, if you have not yet give us a call, go online right now and make your donation worth twice as much.

Kristen, we're going to hear more from you in just a moment.

But first, let's take a look at some wonderful thank you gifts to take advantage of right now.

Become a member to support the programs you love on LPB and choose from these commemorative gifts.

Support LPB at $30 a month and receive the Capturing America combo that includes the limited edition signed photographic print collection by Carol Highsmith, including Monument Valley, the Lincoln Memorial, Idaho Farm, Ketchum Bay, Alaska, and Creole Wild West Mardi Gras Indian Chief, plus the Ain't Mississippi hardcover book signed by Carol Highsmith and Jay Darden, the Capturing America Mug, and a DVD of this film for $10 a month.

Choose the Wild Ain't Mississippi signed book with over 250 pages of Carol's photographs of Louisiana, or for just $9 a month, receive Capturing America The Carol Highsmith Story DVD, as well as the mug exclusive to LPB viewers and featuring Carol's photographs.

Plus, at any level, LP's program guide visions arrives each month with the full schedule and program highlights, and you'll also receive passport for streaming your LPB and PBS favorites.

Sacristan.

As we've come to the conclusion of this truly wonderful film, we have seen really just some hilarious moments with Carol, her vibrant personality, and some very poignant and touching moments.

And so I want to ask you, were there any moments that really stand out in your mind when you reflect on the the work that you've done for so many years?

Yeah, certainly.

The scene at Monument Valley.

The emotion that Carol has, that's very real.

She was crying.

She loves that national park and the fact that the Navajo owned it and control it, that's very important to her.

And so meeting Eula and her son Leon, who is probably now 12 or 13, was just so special.

And then, of course, you know John Boot, who is an absolute legend.

I still can't believe that someone who is so dynamic and so talented shared his gifts with us, and that absolutely magnificent, custom made tour through the Treme with us.

It was such an honor.

So of all the moments, those two really are close to my heart.

I'm proud that I was there to get them on tape and that people can view them for for years to come.

Well, Kristen, thank you very much for joining us.

And thank you so much for this documentary.

Oh, thanks to LPB and all your viewers.

I'm so proud and honored to share this film with all of you.

Kristen, you've done a wonderful job.

It's been a pleasure and an honor to work with you.

Yes, indeed.

Hey, we have some wonderful thank you gifts to tell you about, but I think it's only appropriate.

We're going to give the last word to Carol Highsmith.

I want to say something here.

It's really important.

Louisiana public broadcasting.

My story wouldn't have been told without them.

This love of storytelling that LPB does so well, they are absolutely the best.

And they always made me feel like I belong to you.

Like, I they should be telling my story.

And so therefore the story of Americans.

But how lucky are we that they saw that it was worth it?

Because that is what they do.

And I hope you continue to support Louisiana Public Broadcasting for the rest of your life, because this is a special place.

It really is.

Become a member to support the programs you love on LPB and choose from these commemorative gifts.

Support LPB at $30 a month and receive the Capturing America combo that includes the limited edition signed photographic print collection by Carol Highsmith, including Monument Valley, the Lincoln Memorial, Idaho farm catcher Mack Bay, Alaska, and created Wild West Mardi Gras Indian Chief, plus the Wild Ain't Mississippi hardcover book signed by Carol Highsmith and Jay Dardenne, the Capturing America mug, and a DVD of this film for $10 a month.

Choose the Wild Ain't Mississippi signed book with over 250 pages of Carol's photographs of Louisiana, or for just $9 a month, receive Capturing America The Carol Highsmith Story DVD, as well as the mug exclusive to LPB viewers and featuring Carol's photographs.

Plus, at any level, LPB program guide visions arrives each month with the full schedule and program highlights, and you'll also receive passport for streaming your LPB and PBS favorites.

And.

They make people to the place.

Place I. Rest in your mouth and my take me home to I was.

You I hear her voice in the morning hours.

She calls me the radio reminds me of my home far away and try to down the road.

I get a feeling that I should have been home yesterday.

Yesterday.

Country road.

Take me home to the place I belong.

West Virginia mountain.

Mama, take me home.

Country road control.

Take me home.

This program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Additional funding provided by George Landecker and Diane Wallach.