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Thank You to Richard Sloan! - RJNorton - 09-03-2012 05:16 PM
Richard Sloan sent a couple of photos of the old Ford's Theatre Lincoln Museum which he took with an Ansco box camera in 1957.
Richard writes, "The pillar marks the spot (accord. to a sign mounted on it) where Booth landed on the stage. That the left hand case contains the conspirators' weapons, and the right hand one has Booth's effects, the gun, diary, spur, boot compass, etc; and the theatre's gaslight mechanism (dials). I think that's the case for "Mrs. Lincoln's" opera glasses. Also the pistols Booth had on him at Garrett's and, I think, their cases. Note the door to the box with the fire extinguishing hose behind it. People could peer through the hole, which was so neat. (I have another clearer photo of that door in this setting, as well as the tracing on the floor of Booth's footsteps, made from a template that was made from the boot. Those footprints went across the stage. Cleverly, every other one was flipped around so that they appeared to be left footprint, right footprint, left, etc; I can't locate the snapshot I took of one of the footprints that were etched into the wooden floor. I took a third photo of these displays, but I can't locate that one, either."
Richard closes his message by asking if anyone has better pictures of the scene PLEASE POST!
Thank you, Richard!
RE: Thank You to Richard Sloan! - BettyO - 09-03-2012 05:30 PM
Wow!
Thanks a bunch, Riichard! These are wonderful photos - taken in the day before conservation methods were pretty much established. I wonder how much stuff is still "hidden" away in the NPS Vault and basically "lost".... A wonderful trip down "memory lane" to a simpler time....thanks again!
Unfortunately, it would be 1975 before I ever got to Ford's Theatre!
RE: Thank You to Richard Sloan! - L Verge - 09-03-2012 08:06 PM
I remember those footprints on the stage more than I remember anything else. This would be just about the same time I first visited Ford's.
RE: Thank You to Richard Sloan! - Dave Taylor - 09-03-2012 10:41 PM
Here's Dr. Richard Mudd looking at Booth's boot in the old museum in 1961:
![[Image: Richard%2520Mudd%2520with%2520Boot.jpg]](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-0y59fGp4ps0/UEVpVddbogI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/pDDyQs7vKL4/s750/Richard%2520Mudd%2520with%2520Boot.jpg)
RE: Thank You to Richard Sloan! - RJNorton - 09-04-2012 05:34 AM
Wonderful photo, Dave!
RE: Thank You to Richard Sloan! - BettyO - 09-04-2012 07:09 AM
Found this wonderful site online re: Ford's Theatre and the DC Army Medical Museum -- and I certainly HOPE that isn't Lew Powell's skull on the table!!!
http://bottledmonsters.blogspot.com/2008/08/fords-theatre-renovation-and-reopening.html
RE: Thank You to Richard Sloan! - JMadonna - 09-04-2012 04:09 PM
(09-04-2012 07:09 AM)BettyO Wrote: Found this wonderful site online re: Ford's Theatre and the DC Army Medical Museum -- and I certainly HOPE that isn't Lew Powell's skull on the table!!!
C'mon Betty, We all know you've got Powell's skull hidden in your closet.
RE: Thank You to Richard Sloan! - Laurie Verge - 09-04-2012 04:54 PM
Yep, Jerry - I saw her make the switch with a plastic replica just before the skull was lowered into the grave in Geneva, Florida!
BTW: Glad to see you posting here, Jerry...
When I first visited the Army Medical Museum, it was in a dingy old building on the grounds near the Smithsonian Castle. I think I was about twelve, and it was spooky, gruesome, and fun! I have not visited the new building of the National Museum of Health and Medicine (about the fourth home for all that stuff), but I have heard from several people that it is cold, sterile, only half full, missing Booth's vertebrae, and boring. I hope they're wrong.
RE: Thank You to Richard Sloan! - BettyO - 09-04-2012 05:48 PM
Quote:Yep, Jerry - I saw her make the switch with a plastic replica just before the skull was lowered into the grave in Geneva, Florida!
![[Image: blueeyedskull.gif]](http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/839/blueeyedskull.gif/)
Laurie -
Lew Powell would be surprised at you! HA! Don't worry - he's not sitting on my bookshelf!
RE: Thank You to Richard Sloan! - RJNorton - 09-04-2012 06:19 PM
Richard just sent some more old Lincoln Museum snapshots. Thank you, Richard!
RE: Thank You to Richard Sloan! - BettyO - 09-04-2012 06:42 PM
Found this photo of Ford's today - have never seen this particular view - taken in 1877 - at least that is what the website stated.... I love the old iron weight hitch that the horse is tied to! These were carried in the conveyance and then dropped to where ever you wanted to hitch the horse. No hitching post needed....
![[Image: stheatreasarmymedicalmu.jpg]](http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/16/stheatreasarmymedicalmu.jpg/)
(09-04-2012 06:19 PM)RJNorton Wrote: Richard just sent some more old Lincoln Museum snapshots. Thank you, Richard!
Thanks, Richard and Roger! These are priceless. It's always refreshing to see things as they once were....
RE: Thank You to Richard Sloan! - JMadonna - 09-04-2012 07:06 PM
(09-04-2012 06:42 PM)BettyO Wrote: Found this photo of Ford's today - have never seen this particular view - taken in 1877 - at least that is what the website stated.... I love the old iron weight hitch that the horse is tied to! These were carried in the conveyance and then dropped to where ever you wanted to hitch the horse. No hitching post needed....
I don't believe it's 1877 - The sign next door looks like it's powered by electric lights and 1877 may be a little early for a one day dry cleaners. I was also under the impression that Washington was one of the last cities to pave their streets and sidewalks. I'd say Coolidge administration.
RE: Thank You to Richard Sloan! - BettyO - 09-04-2012 07:44 PM
Jerry - you are 100 % right!
Those ARE electric lights - possibly 1910's! My aging eyes couldn't see them til I blew the photo up!
Thanks a bunch!
RE: Thank You to Richard Sloan! - L Verge - 09-04-2012 07:57 PM
Wonder if that weighted hitch would have made Booth's mare behave herself???
RE: Thank You to Richard Sloan! - BettyO - 09-04-2012 08:43 PM
(09-04-2012 07:57 PM)L Verge Wrote: Wonder if that weighted hitch would have made Booth's mare behave herself???
Probably, Laurie! Booth then wouldn't have needed Peanuts John! But he'd have to unhitch the mare prior to mounting and that would have taken time; especially when each second counted....