Petersen House on twitter

[Rhatkinson]

I saw this photo of the Petersen house as it appeared in 1918 on twitter today and thought I would share it. If any of you are on twitter, there are some good accounts to follow for historical information:

@DCPast
@LincolnsCottage
@WhiteHouseHstry
@SpiritsTH (Tudor Hall)
@HistoryInPics
@fordstheatre
@OurPresidents
@ALPLM (Lincoln Library account)
@StreetsOfDC
@CongCemetery
@CapitolHistory

There are more if you click on my account (@heathatkinson) and see who I am following.

Heath

   

[RJNorton]

Thanks, Heath!

Does anyone know what room Henry Safford was staying in? Many thanks to Jim Garrett for sending this photo. It is a photo of a third floor Petersen House bedroom facing 10th St. I sure have never seen anything like this before. Could this be the room that was Safford's?

[Lincoln Wonk]

All the info I have points to Safford living in the second-floor front room, probably on the right side if you're looking at it from the street.
Kunhardt in Twenty Days (pg. 46) says Safford roomed with some naturalists in the front room on the second-floor.
According to a letter William C. Davis of Mechanicsburg, Pa., wrote to James O. Hall, Safford roomed with Thomas Proctor. Proctor was an amateur naturalist who collected frogs.
Davis' connection was that his cleaning lady was a Safford descendant.
I wonder if Safford and Proctor had additional roommates.
Safford was in charge of the property returns division in the War Department.

[RJNorton]

Thanks, Kathy!

[L Verge]

If William C. Davis is who I think he is, he's a noted Lincoln and Civil War scholar, author, former publisher of Civil War Times Illustrated, who worked closely with Mr. Hall for years. He has donated his papers from their correspondence to our research center at Surratt House. Many of us just know him as Jack Davis.

[Lincoln Wonk]

Laurie, The research center/great library is a god-send for everyone researching the assassination. Kathy

[L Verge]

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.

[BettyO]

I'll certainly second what Laurie has said -- and I'm mighty proud to have been under Mr. Hall's tutelage. He was (and still is!) a guiding light for us all! Sandra Walia is most truly a gem and a wonderful person - Surratt House is VERY fortunate to have her.

[Jim Garrett]

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.

[RJNorton]

Many thanks to Jim Garrett for sending another photo! Here is the second floor room of the Petersen House where Henry Safford is believed to have lived. I believe I once read that Safford was not his in room when he heard the commotion from across the street; rather he was sitting in the front parlor on the first floor. That would be the same room that Mary Lincoln spent much of the night. This is my vague memory of Safford's location before he went out the door and yelled to bring the president here (i.e. the Petersen House) - please correct me if I said something that is incorrect.

[emma1231]

I saw online that reprints are available of the govt's study of the restoration of the House Where Lincoln Died, back in the 1950's. This is a great publication. Original copies of it are hard to come by (Joan Chaconas owns one!) The orig. has a couple of fold-outs. I'm sure the reprints simply reduced those pages in size. I don't think this reprint is difficult to come by. I think the best short-cut to locating the reprints is on ABebooks.com. Just type in the Hs W L Died (in full, of cs.) and scroll passed all the peripheral publications like flyers and you'll see it. I think it's a "print on demand." But you have to be careful of those POD's, sometimes the quality of the reproduction stinks, as it does for the one by Dr. Leale, "Lincoln's Last Hours." The preface always states "From the best available copy," but I can't understand why that should be a problem.

[Rhatkinson]

Jim, do you have a picture of the view out of Safford's window towards Ford's? That would be a great one to see (especially at night.)

Heath

[Jim Garrett]

I don't have a picture out the window. That's a great idea. I will have to take one in the winter. It is impossible to get in the Petersen house after 5:00pm, so if I take a picture late in the afternoon in December, it should look pretty good.....if I get the light right.

[BettyO]

It is impossible to get in the Petersen house after 5:00pm, so if I take a picture late in the afternoon in December, it should look pretty good.....if I get the light right.

Or - Jim, take a photo on a darkish afternoon and the light can be adjusted in Photoshop to make it appear as if it's night - done that before....