Petersen House on twitter

[Jim Garrett]

(08-14-2013 08:53 PM)L Verge Wrote:  I hope James O. Hall is following this forum from the great beyond, Kathy, because he would be so happy to hear you say that. He was approached by several big-name university libraries who wanted to receive his papers (Georgetown's wonderful Lauinger Library - which has several major collections related to our subject matter - was one of them). He had a very large soft spot in his heart for Surratt House, however, and had faith that we would carry on his legacy.

Last year, our wonderful librarian, Sandra Walia (herself a Lincoln collector) assisted over fifty researchers on site and answered nearly 400 inquiries from across the nation. She also assisted Erik Jendresen's crew in researching for National Geo's Killing Lincoln production - and we can only afford to hire her three days a week! She's a gem.

I think I'm tracking the most visits to the library this year. Nothing comes anywhere close to ithe library as far as raw information. I wish I had known Mr. Hall. As campy as it may sound, I feel like I know him and thank him every time I look through his research.

I love finding his odd notes every now and then. Several years ago, researching Booth's spur, there was just a scrap of yellow legal paper and written in an old style flair soft tip pen was "TOO MANY SPURS!"

Not that I keep track of these things, but if I see Fred Hatch has been in, I redouble my visits so he won't surpass me for volume of visits.