Flag that tripped Booth

[L Verge]

This discussion sure brings back memories. About 1975, shortly after I joined the Surratt Society and agreed to volunteer at the soon-to-be-opened Surratt House Museum, I began seeing references to a Lincoln Library at Ford's Theatre. I finally called the Theatre and was told that the contents of that "Library" had been put into storage in the top level of Union Station.

At that time, I had an active two-year-old daughter and couldn't do the searches I would need to have done, so I enlisted the help of my sidekick, Joan Chaconas, to finish the search. She made contact with the NPS and was put in touch with a Park Ranger who was in charge of the collection. Let's be kind and say that said Ranger did not play well with others, but he reluctantly let some of us "unwashed masses" inside his temple. Not only did we see some great relics, we also saw rainwater leaking through the roof of Union Station and other serious problems. Eventually, the items were moved elsewhere, with the bulk of them going to a conservation center in nearby Greenbelt, Maryland, and are now in an even newer building in Lanham, Maryland. We have since taken attendees at the Surratt conferences to view these pieces.

During this time, Joan was also given access to the accessions records related to Ford's Theatre and NPS holdings. This led us to an underground storage area in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, where we located the Empire parlor table that had been with the Surratts in Surrattsville and in D.C. Through a series of exchanges, we were able to have the table returned to Surratt House. It was in terrible condition, but god-bless a very talented furniture conservator who was able to fully restore it, except for one minor slant in the top. The gentleman went on to be in charge of conservation in Colonial Williamsburg -- but Mrs. Surratt's center table gave him some training!