John Wilkes Booth's Escape Route

[L Verge]

I'm going to step in ahead of Gary with information on Lynn's book. Lynn Buonviri is a volunteer guide at Surratt House and also a doll collector. I don't know if she told Gary the background behind the book - which is a homegrown project with no publisher except Lynn.

Over a year ago, Lynn's collectors' group held a luncheon and meeting at Surratt House. Three of the ladies are (or have been) volunteers here, so Lynn concocted a special project for this event based on the Surratt story. One of her dolls spent over a month with us tucked on a shelf in our sewing room upstairs - forgotten and left behind evidently by Anna Surratt when she moved to D.C. in the fall of 1864. The doll became a Silent Witness (remember the story of the Silent Witness doll at the McLean House in Appomattox?) to the spirits that supposedly wander the halls of Surratt House when the lights go down. The doll's "experiences" form the text of Lynn's book - but it is really not a ghost book.

The book is a perfect "grandmother's gift" for young girls ages 5-12. To make it even more appealing, Lynn arranged for one of her seamstress friends to create handmade dolls to sell along with the book. When we sell out, Lynn just prints more books and her friend gets out the needle and thread.

I believe I'm correct that the original Silent Witness doll that sat upon our shelves was given as a door prize at the doll collectors' luncheon.

This project reminds me somewhat of another such thing that we participated in about five years ago. If you are grandparents, you probably have heard of Flat Stanley -- a paper doll created by a child and sent off to relatives to have his picture taken at various historic places, stores, events, etc. Flat Stanley visits Surratt House all the time, but have you heard of Civil War Sally?

Civil War Sally is a teddy bear dressed in 19th-century garb and created by a then-8th grade student (I forget where). She arrived one day at Surratt House via USPS with a note asking that she spend a few weeks with us and participate in/be photographed in various events at the museum. You talk about old ladies having fun! Sally was photographed sitting on our fence waving to passers-by, being held by guides while on tour, viewing our special exhibit, helping the collections manager clean house, chatting with school groups, etc. I don't know who had more fun, Sally, my staff, or the visitors.

At the end of the project, Civil War Sally was sent home with all of the photographs -- and this is where the really creative part came. Her real-life mistress created an award-winning website which featured the various places Sally had traveled, the history behind each site, and the photographs of Sally at each place. This from an 8th grader!

Who says that history and museums are boring? As I type, two of my staff members are with a class of 35 fifth graders. We have them for four hours today. In addition to the regular students' tour through the historic house, the children will have lunch in our picnic area and then spend the afternoon with two special programs - one on what life was like in the mid-19th century here in Southern Maryland (complete with everything from trying on period clothes to using weird utensils), and the other our mock trial of Mary Surratt.

Tomorrow, we will host twenty special needs middle-schoolers where we rely on objects where the basics of homelife then are taught through the senses -- snippets of herbs from our garden, lamb's wool to show how clothing began, small mattresses stuffed with corn shucks and others stuffed with feathers, horsehair for stuffing upholstered chairs, homemade lye soap, plugs of chewing tobacco (which some think are brownies until they sniff them!).

Sorry for getting carried away, but there are so many wonderful things one can do to get historical points across to the young (and the old also).