Heritage Gazette
ASSOCIATION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF HISTORIC CONGRESSIONAL CEMETERY •WINTER 2010
Ten Years of Progress s we close out the ’00 decade it ing Grant; the beginning of a seems timely to look back at six-fold increase in community- some of the highlights of the last based membership, currently ten years. The decade started 3500 members. with a disillusioned board of ’01 K9 members raise $20,000 Adirectors, no staff, no funding, no for the Endowment Fund and maintenance, no pride, no hope. donations for yard sale Today we have a vibrant board, fill chapel wall to wall to raise professional staff, solid financials $3,000. and budgeting processes, routine ’02 — Community based her- maintenance and restoration itage festival; Save America’s efforts, and a lot of confidence in Treasures stone restoration grant. our future. Here are just a few Revival of the Association quar- highlights from the ’00 decade. terly newsletter. ’00 — Creation of the Con- ’03 — Restoration of five gressional Endowment I Match- Continued on page 7 Past Meets Present in Green Burials ecently, HCC conducted our als to those who choose them first green burial. Interestingly, it for any reason. Not only is this wasn’t twenty first-century envi- option environmentally sensitive, ronmental consciousness that but it also has the potential to Rprompted the family to choose save the family thousands in this option. Rather, the family of funeral costs. Much of the the deceased was honoring a expense of burial goes to the custom that dates back thousands coffin, the outer burial container of years: to have a simple burial (also called a vault), and embalm- in a plain pine coffin within 24 ing. Because we are a small, non- hours of death. And while not profit cemetery, not a large cor- every religious tradition demands porate one, we do not need to similar rites, we at HCC look encourage our site-owners to forward to providing green buri- Continued on page 8
CHAIRMAN TRUMPETS MAJOR MILESTONE (P. 2)
WWW.CONGRESSIONALCEMETERY.ORG HERITAGE GAZETTE / WINTER 2010 1 Letter from the Chair
WOW!
On December 14, 2009, the the National Trust for His- Executive Committee of the toric Preservation. The Associ- ASSOCIATION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF Association met at the offices ation role: match the million. HISTORIC CONGRESSIONAL CEMETERY of the National Trust for His- Daunting though that chal- Community • Leadership • Discovery toric Preservation to hand over lenge seemed at the time, BOARD OF DIRECTORS a check for $175,000 to com- Linda Harper guided a some- Patrick Crowley, Chair Joyce Palmer Linda Harper, Vice Chair Jan Gaudio plete the match for Endow- times begrudging Board to John Gillespie, Treasurer Emily Crandall ment I. To quote long time make the match a high priori- Alice Norris, Secretary Ted Bechtel former board member C. Dud- ty in every year’s budget Clyde Henderson C. Dudley Brown Patti Martin ley Brown: Wow! thereafter. Repairing grave- Frederick Davis Uwe Brandes When I joined the Board of stones would have to wait, Scott Kibler Rhonda Sincavage Directors in 2000, along with web site and computer FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE Linda Harper former chair Linda Harper, our upgrades would bid their Clyde Henderson financial horizon didn’t look time, and educational pro- HORTICULTURE COMMITTEE much further than the next grams would cool their heels. Emily Crandall, Fine Gardening Ted Bechtol, Lawn Care month’s grass mowing bill. The Matching that million dollar EDUCATION & OUTREACH COMMITTEE 1990s were a hard time for the fund required many sacrifices Joyce Palmer, Music & Docents District of Columbia, Capitol on many fronts. It was a long Sandy Schmidt, Web Master Patrick Crowley, Newsletter Hill, and Congressional Ceme- hard road. ARCHIVES & GENEALOGY COMMITTEE tery. Although the Association A decade later, I had the Sandy Schmidt & Dayle Dooley had enjoyed a respectable level pleasure of handing over PLANNING COMMITTEE Uwe Brandes of success in the 1980s, the 90s the final check to complete Jan Gaudio saw a near collapse of the Asso- the work of Jim and Linda EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ciation as funding dried up, establishing a permanent Cindy Hays CEMETERY MANAGER support waned, and the FBI $2,000,000 fund for the care Alan Davis opened an investigation into and maintenance of Congres- STAFF embezzlement. In 2000, the sional Cemetery. Never again Terri Maxfield Barry Hayman Third Millennia dawned on a will the grass be four feet HERITAGE GAZETTE: W INTER 2009 national treasure with a ques- high and the grounds littered © 2009. Association for the Preservation of His- toric Congressional Cemetery, a non profit tionable future. with dead trees. The fund 501(c)(3) organization. All donations are fully tax- From the depths of that dark assures a cornerstone of our deductible according federal tax laws. Funding for the preservation and maintenance of Historic place, our former chairman, annual budget will always be Congressional Cemetery is provided (in part) by Jim Oliver reached out to there no matter what calami- the Congressional Cemetery Endowment, which was created with matching funds provided by the Congressman Tom Walsh ties may lie ahead. Looking U.S. Congress and administered by the National (R-NY) for help. The result back on that journey I can Trust for Historic Preservation. Postal Service, send address changes to: was the establishment of a only say:Wow! THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF $1,000,000 matching endow- Now we begin on Endow- HISTORIC CONGRESSIONAL CEMETERY 1801 E Street, Southeast ment fund, created by Con- ment II… Washington, DC 20003 gress, overseen by the Architect 202-543-0539 • 202-543-5966 (fax) www.congressionalcemetery.org of the Capitol, and managed by ~ Patrick Crowley [email protected] The Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery is a 501(c)3 organization. All donations are tax deductible.
2 HERITAGE GAZETTE / WINTER 2010 WWW.CONGRESSIONALCEMETERY.ORG gressional was a park-like setting with hundreds of canopy trees. From the Executive Director When the final Oehme van Sweden plan is presented and am very proud of the many cation and Outreach programs approved by the Board and fund- accomplishments of 2009; indeed will begin in 2010 to offer the ed, we can begin construction of the whole first decade of 2000 resources of the cemetery to columbarium walls or niches (see lead story for details). But those who cannot come here. A replacing those canopies. Ithe beginning of a new decade is new website will go online in And on the business side, an excellent opportunity to look April with state-of-the-art Manager Alan Davis will open ahead. Here’s what we have to search, interactive, and multime- sales and burials to the public look forward to in 2010: dia capability. The cell phone again. Sites owned for 100 years This year, we will complete tour will be upgraded and ex- or more, but never used, will be scanning 70 years of Cemetery panded for inclusion on the reclaimed and sold. The new Manager records and bind the website. “Green” section will make Con- original and a copy (for public A brand new focus and addi- gressional one of two natural view). We will finish the Ceme- tion to the website will be sup- cemeteries on the east coast. tery Proprietor’s List in 2010 plemental curriculum education- We have an ambitious agenda, with the help of our dogwalker al materials. DCPS third grade but with the support of our vol- volunteers and interns from West teachers are required to teach unteers and donors, we know Springfield High School. If we DC history. With photographs, 2010 will be a banner year for can raise the funds, we want to audio recordings and printed HCC. And I, for one, am look- have all of our historic Range materials, we will tell stories of ing forward to it! and Interment Index books pro- the people who built this city fessional digitally scanned. and the new federal government. ~ Cindy Hays A new direction for our Edu- One hundred years ago, Con-
MEET THE NEW OFFICE MANAGER, T ERRI MAXFIELD Terri Maxfield grew up outside of Chicago, where she graduated from Northern Illinois University with a degree in Art History, with minor studies in Anthropology and Fine Arts. Her final class before graduating was a one month Study Abroad Program in Rome, which she parlayed into an eight year stay. Terri worked picking olives, making wine, even a stint as a sous chef, but soon turned her many house-sitting gigs into a successful property management business. Aiming at English and American homeowners that did not speak Italian, she assisted with everything from hiring a plumber, to negotiat- ing property contracts. In 2006, she began writing for for Fra Noi, a magazine published for the large Italian-American communityin Chicago, which continues to publish her column “Io Vagabonda”. She came to Washington DC in March of 2009, fell in love with the city, and decided to make it her new home. One day last fall, after a long walk in the cemetery, she met Congressional’s archivist, Dayle Dooley, who enchanted Terri with stories of the cemetery’s history, and Terri fell in love with the ceme- tery as well. Shortly thereafter, she learned of and applied for the newly created position of Office Man- ager Since being hired last December, Terri has been enthusiastically spearheading the annual renewal for the K9 Corps dogwalking club, as well as revamping the main office organizational systems.
WWW.CONGRESSIONALCEMETERY.ORG HERITAGE GAZETTE / WINTER 2010 3 on the improvements, the old glass paned front door was sent Around the Gatehouse for quality “spa time” which cul- minated in new sleek lines and a SOUSA HISTORIC IRON GATE weight loss of several pounds — November 6th is always a special Plans and engineering specifica- many coats of old paint. day at Congressional Cemetery. tions have been completed for The Marine Band “plays” tribute the construction of three new HCC’S NEWEST OBELISK on the birthday of its 17th band “historic” gates. One of the piers Every dogwalk- director, John Philip Sousa. of the main gate was demolished er family is Under the direction of Drum by a dump truck last year, requir- asked to volun- Major Master Gunnery Sergeant ing the entire gate has to be teer 12 hours William L. Browne, the band replaced. Originally built for during the year. marches through the 17th and G horse drawn carriages and morti- Nicolle Rager Street gate, plays a musical trib- cian wagons in the mid1800s, the Fuller, founder ute to Sousa, and places a wreath 19th Street and H Street gates of Sayo-Art, at his grave. are too narrow for today’s vehi- asked that her cles. While we are re-construct- family’s time be ing one, the Board decided to of a long-last- enlarge the other two gates. ing, creative nature. Nicolle’s Permits are being sought, bids contribution was the installation are being solicited, and the search of a new obelisk — on the wall for money has begun. Stay of the public washroom. The tuned... mural depicts a tall grey obelisk surrounded by bright red roses SPLIT, DIVIDE AND STRIP and green ivy. The artwork adds The Gatehouse was built in 1923 a delightful element of discovery to accommodate the family of to the otherwise common place the Cemetery Manager. Modern, necessities of life. with indoor plumbing, electrici- In college Nicolle studied sci- Sousa Service Award winner Jean K. ty, and closets in each of the four ence with the thought of med- Oberstar bedrooms, the family lived pri- ical school, but her real passion vately in the house while the APHCC marks Sousa’s birth- was art. A short stint of laborato- front room served as the Ceme- day by recognizing those people ry work with tropical parasites tery office and the bank vault who have given extraordinary brought the realization that daily stored the records and payments. service to the preservation of the lab work wasn’t quite her thing. Today those bedrooms are cemetery and its history. The John She joined the UC Santa Cruz offices, the living room is the Philip Sousa Distinguished Public Science Illustration program Board room, dining room the Service Award was given to Con- where her dual interests in art research center, and the big front gressman James Oberstar and and science finally came togeth- office has been divided providing Mrs. Jean Oberstar, for their er. In 2007, she founded Sayo- a small conference room. In the ongoing support of Historic Art LLC. She just completed archive/history office, the closet Congressional Cemetery. The illustrating Charles Darwin’s On door and opening were removed Benjamin B. French Masonic Lodge the Origin of Species, a Graphic providing a new alcove with a Volunteer Award was given to Adaptation, published in October desk for interns. Ruth Arzonetti, for painstakingly 2009 with Rodale. Check out While the team of carpenters indexing 202 years worth of her beautiful work at www.Sayo- and painters from Tech Painting cemetery records. Art.com. spent the month of December
4 HERITAGE GAZETTE / WINTER 2010 WWW.CONGRESSIONALCEMETERY.ORG From the Ground Up Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble...
BY EMILY CRANDALL other weedy gang members we decided to violet! Although we f you pass by our Seventeenth know that dandelion greens Street Gates this winter look for make great salad and wine we’re the spiky yellow flowers that can cheering for the violets to tame brighten even the most drab of the weeds. Many small-space gar- IFebruary days. It’s a winter deners know that violets can blooming treasure called become invasive, but when we Hamamelis vernalis, better get to that point, a plant dig-up- known as witch hazel. Despite its and-give-away might solve the striking color, the shrub was problem. Today this entry garden named for a very different char- is under the tender care of Karen acteristic: the “wiche” or the pli- Currie and Stewart Harris who ability of its twigs and branches, last spring and summer added which were used as divining rods blood grass, switch grass, and in England in ancient times. black mondo grass. Our shrubs, however, were Joining the witch’s garden was grown on American soil Hamamelis virginiana can be the biggest and best in the garlic and are the generous gift mixed with denatured alcohol in family (a vampire preventive) – of the Friends of the your own cauldron to concoct the Allium giganteum. This bulb National Arboretum the well known signature astrin- sends up blockbuster blooms in to our volunteer gent also called witch June, each one a vivid purple gardeners. hazel. Most people use it to treat globe of tiny blossoms on a stalk The bark insect bites and bruises. (We’ll about three feet tall. The plant- and twigs of share a secret with you: the seeds ing ritual took place in October, our native are edible and can be thrown on and we managed to tuck in some variety the bonfire to produce spells crocus corms for the early spring more mysterious than usual.) show and two climbing roses and The Seventeenth Street several landscape roses. garden at G Street started So as the days grow longer several years ago with keep visiting our garden and two sweet bay mag- look for witch hazel in February, nolias, which survived crocus in March, daffodils in heat, drought, and April, sweet bay magnolia in construction to the May, Allium giganteum in June, amazement of all and roses until Halloween, when onlookers. When you will see us departing by unwanted volunteers moonlight on our brooms. muscled in (by which I mean weeds, not gar- deners) along with
WWW.CONGRESSIONALCEMETERY.ORG HERITAGE GAZETTE / WINTER 2010 5 American Heritage Section From The Burning of Washington: The British Invasion of 1814 by Anthony Pitch, Naval Institute Press, 2000
EXCERPTED WITH PERMISSION
As word spread that the British might actually attack Washington in 1814, a little known State Depart- ment clerk named Stephen Pleason- ton had his chance to play a small but essential role in American histo- Stephen Pleasonton ry. Stephen Pleasonton is buried in sonton gingerly packed R43/S244 the rare manuscripts: the scrolled Dec laration of At the State Independence; the Con- Department, a stitution; George Washington’s vidette (mount- correspondence, including the war walked by on the way to his ed sentinel) historic letter in which he own suite. [John] Armstrong arrived with a resigned his commission; interna- paused to rebuke Pleasonton for note scribbled tional treaties; and even the being unnecessarily alarmed. “He by Secretary of secret, unpublished journals of did not think the British were State Monroe Congress. serious in their intentions of ordering his staff to secure as best As Pleasonton handled the coming to Washington,” the clerk they could the precious national treasured documents in the pas- recalled. “I replied that we were documents and sageway under a different belief, and let department connecting their intentions be what they records. Stephen the State might, it was the part of pru- Pleasonton, a and War dence to preserve the valuable senior clerk, hur- depart- paper of the Revolutionary Gov- ried to buy ments, the ernment.” quantities of secretary of With the packing done, coarse, durable linen which he ordered cut and made up into book bags. Together with other State Department employees, Plea-
6 HERITAGE GAZETTE / WINTER 2010 Pleasonton assembled a number TEN YEARS of carts and had the valuable Continued from page 1 cargo whisked across the Potomac and two miles upstream of Georgetown to Edgar Patter- son’s abandoned gristmill. Bu the State Department clerk was trou- bled and uneasy. If the British invaded Washington, they would Volunteers cleaning stones by surely send out a search party to the gatehouse destroy Foxall’s Foundry, the with massive genealogical data nation’s first and largest manufac- base; Multiple group volunteer turer of cannons and other heavy 2007 HCC bicentennial events begin to crowd monthly armaments. Pleasonton reckoned calendar. the mill was too close to the brick burial vaults; 9/11 Memo- ’07 — Bicentennial year cele- foundry, and he worried that a rial Grove established; Kiplinger brated with Spring Heritage Fes- traitor or someone merely sym- Foundation begins three year tival & Fall Remembrance Day; pathetic to the British might lead $15,000 annual restoration work Docent-led tour program inau- them to the foundry, just West of grants; Chapel turns 100 years gurated; Conservators restore five Georgetown, to the hiding place old. complex marble monuments; VA in the mill. Determined to avoid ’04 — Beginning of annual & NPS begin $1.75 million this hazard, he procured more Eagle Scout restoration projects; Ceno taph restoration project; wagons from Virginia farms, Sumner Museum exhibit on 23 Chapel roof $35,000 repairs loaded them with his priceless individuals at HCC for whom begin. charge, and accompanied the DC public schools are named; 75 ’08 — Road repaving work wheeled caravan thirty-five miles gravestones repaired; 20 Job begins; $80,000 grant received further inland to the little town Corps teenage volunteers camp for restoration work; M. Gen. of Leesburg. There the linen bags on grounds while doing horti- Macomb Monument restoration were carefully stored and sealed culture restoration. & re-interment ceremony; Exec- in an empty house, the keys ’05 — Washington Conserva- utive director hired to guide entrusted to Rev. John Little- tion Guild ‘Angels Project’ stone overall development and build a john, the sheriff of Leesburg and restoration; Joint Service Project professional staff; On-going a former collector of internal begins annual ‘Make A Differ- group volunteer days, growth in revenue. The day’s activities so ence Day’ 170 military service docent tours, multiple building exhausted the State Department volunteers; Board members repair projects. clerk, who would much later be Harper, Crowley, & Schmidt ’09 – New cemetery manager promoted to an auditor of the speak at historic preservation to oversee cemetery business Treasury Department, that he fell conferences; NPS begins Historic development; Historic cobble- asleep early in a tavern. American Landscapes study of stone storm drainag—e architec- Congressional Cemetery. ture discovered and preserved; Signed copies of The Burning of ’06 — Wirt Vault investigation Lincoln Bicentennial living his- Washington and They Have Shot with Smithsonian Natural Histo- tory tour with seven actors on Papa Dead! by Anthony Pitch are ry Museum; Canine members site; Storm water drainage system available at the gatehouse. raise $10,000 for lawn utility installed for joint Cemetery & vehicle; Community and HS NPS flooding problems; Associa- bands from across nation begin tion completes match of first $1 playing tribute to John Philip Million endowment, Chapel wall Sousa; New web site established repaired.
WWW.CONGRESSIONALCEMETERY.ORG HERITAGE GAZETTE / WINTER 2010 7 Scott Leary started at the west end of the block while Joseph Conservation/Restoration Tarantolo, Elissa Feldman, and Jeanettarose Greene started in a Sincerely Salvaging Swales third of the way down the block. Down another third of the block BY PATRICK CROWLEY Jim Lisowski, Brynna McCosker, ometimes preservation work For our last volunteer day of and Laurin Lucas started a fresh requires clean white gloves and a 2009, ten volunteers from the dig working toward Gordon Ten- gentle touch. Not so with our Canine Corps hefted picks, shov- ney and Joyce Thurston who cobblestone swale reclamation els, and spades to the far side of started in at the east end. Despite project; heavy work gloves and a the grounds November 20 to the mud and heavy lifting S required for this project, there was pick ax would be the appropriate find and reclaim part of the old attire. cobblestone swale drainage sys- much laughter and high spirits on tem. The historic land- site all morning. scape architecture still The old cobblestone structure exists along the 2000 will stay in place just outside block of H Street (Prout the new street curb and gutter. Street on our maps), and The swale will catch rainwater along the 500 blocks of flowing off the grass and carry it 20th and 21st Streets down to the new storm water (Pinckney and Witting- catch basins. The curb & gutter ham on our maps). will capture rainwater off the Decades of deferred paved streets. At the outfall to the maintenance resulted in Anacostia River is a large the swales getting buried new Gabion wall structure, under annual sedimenta- which disrupts the flow and Joseph Tarantolo, Elissa Feldman, and tion of leaves and grass. minimizes disturbance to the Jeanettarose Greene Tom Mitchell and river shoreline.
GREEN BURIAL Continued from page 1 spend as much money as possi- 5,400,000 pounds of copper and liners or vaults. It is the way most ble. We hope that by offering bronze; and 30 million board feet of humanity cares for its dead green burials as an option, we of hardwoods, including tropical outside of North America and can provide an appealing plan to woods. Cemeteries turn beautiful Europe, and it is how the U.S. a broad range of people. Ceme- places into a monoculture of cared for its dead until the late tery Manager Alan Davis recently gravestones—really a landfill of 19th century. In some instances, answered some questions about embalming chemicals and green burial can also be used to the process. cement. Then backhoes, lawn- provide ecological land restora- mowers, and tree pruners put tion and conservation. Q. What makes burial green? diesel emissions into the air and Q. How is this different from pesticides and fertilizers into the Alan Davis: Each year in U.S. what people did before water. cemeteries, we bury 827,060 gal- embalming? lons of embalming fluid, which Green burial does not use includes formaldehyde; formaldehyde-based embalming, AD: The practice of natural bur- 180,544,000 pounds of steel; metal caskets or concrete burial ial dates back thousands of years
8 HERITAGE GAZETTE / WINTER 2010 WWW.CONGRESSIONALCEMETERY.ORG but has been interrupted in modern times by “technological Restoration of the Chapel advances” (vaults, liners, embalm- ing, mausoleums, etc.) that miti- hen Congressional’s chapel was gate the decomposition process. built in 1903, it was a state-of- Embalming dates to ancient the-art mortuary chapel that Egypt and was mainly the received press coverage across the province of royalty. It wasn’t W East Coast. In 1980, the Associa- widely used in the United States tion embarked upon a four year until the Civil War, to preserve restoration program which soldiers’ remains for shipment included repairing the slate roof, home. Some surgeons and phar- wood wainscoting walls, win- The restored Chapel wall macists familiar with tissue dows, floors, and doors. In 1982, preservation became embalmers, electricity was installed. following the troops and offer- Twenty-five years later the ing, for fees of up to $100, to chapel required additional work. prepare bodies for the long jour- The 104-year-old roof could not ney home. This practice also be repaired anymore and in 2007 coincided (over a period of time) it was restored by Wagner Roof- with the development of large ing, who was able to re-use 80% community and military ceme- of the original slate times. In teries (as opposed to Church 2008, our dogwalkers raised the Cemeteries — or Family Farm money to repair and repaint the Cemeteries). windows and purchase protective Q. Who else does green covering. The pews were unfas- burials? tened from the floors and walls, rebuilt as stand-alone pewlets, AD: According to the Natural and chairs were purchased. The Burial Cooperative, the closest The new doors, no longer red Nat ional Trust endowment paid green burials you can find on the to refinish the woodwork and ciled in the original script. East Coast are Westminster, floors. When the road around the South Carolina and Tuckahoe, There were still two big proj- chapel was graded and paved in New Jersey. ects to be undertaken, which 2009, rainwater stopped running Q: How can we find out through the generosity of former into the chapel. But by then, more? Secretary of Commerce Robert damage to the bottom of the big A. Mosbacher and his wife Mica, red doors was beyond repair. The AD: I will start holding monthly have now been completed. carpentry shop at Eclectic Con- seminars in the chapel soon, so Serious roof leaks had rotted tractors was hired to fabricate keep an eye on the cemetery some of the wood lathing in the new doors. Although there were calendar. We will also launch a wall behind where the old pot no photos of the doors in 1903, marketing campaign in local belly stove connected to the we do have a 1913 photo show- press and plenty of information chimney. We brought in the ing the iron scrollwork. We also will be available at the gatehouse Architectural Preservation Serv- knew from the iron that the and on the website. And if any- ice division of Worcester Eisen- doors were fashioned like the one has any other questions, I brandt to restore the wall to its big doors at St. Marks Church, encour age them to contact me original look. It was stripped, so with this history carpenter at Alandavis@congressional wood lathing replaced, plastered, Ryan McPhail built the new cemetery.org top coated and the verse re-sten- doors.
WWW.CONGRESSIONALCEMETERY.ORG HERITAGE GAZETTE / WINTER 2010 9 Archives The strange case of the diplomat, the poodle, and the very determined widow. illie and Fannie Mangum must and a final assignment in China, Church Vestry. Fannie had a have been colorful characters in where he died in February of modest request, one which Washington’s upper crust salons 1881. In November of 1881, [she]“can well understand would in the 1870s, he for his insight Fannie, accompanied by her ordinarily not only be disal- Winto the Far East, she for her ever-present little poodle, lowed, but very properly, not eccentric attachment to a removed his body to Washington, entertained”. She wanted the poodle. where he was interred in the poodle — “for long years his val- Willie Ladd family plot at ued little pet and companion” — Person R32/S154 in Congressional buried with husband Willie. Mangum, Jr. Cemetery. She goes on to extol the (1827-1881) This much of the story virtues of said poodle (“Its intel- was an we have been ligence, shown in various ways, intriguing able to piece character. Born together from to a prominent public records North Carolina and the family, which archives of included Uncle Willie’s alma Willie P. mater, the Mangum, Sena- University tor from North of North Carolina, Willie Carolina. The rest nonetheless sided with the comes from origi- Union in the Civil War and nal letters discov- warned his family to do likewise. ered at the HCC (Mangum Street in Durham, NC gatehouse by and the town of Mangum, NC archivist Dayle are both named in the family’s Dooley. honor) Not surprisingly, the fam- We have a ily, was shocked to have a Yankee letter from in the nest, and disowned the Fannie on younger Willie P. black-bordered After Willie and his wife Fan- stationery nie (nee Ladd) moved to Wash- from June 8th ington DC and Willie was com- 1885, missioned as the U.S. Counsel in addressed to Ningpo, China in 1861. In 1865 Mr. Brown- he was sent to Japan, then back ing of the to China, once more to Japan, Christ
10 HERITAGE GAZETTE / WINTER 2010 was almost human”) and says she We also have a June 9 1885 from Fannie Mangum in the and Willie thought of it as a pencil-written note from Mr. archives from the years after the child. She also insists, being a Browning, indicating this letter poodle incident till her death in miniature poodle, it won’t take was not the first request Fannie 1900. She generally takes an up too much space or inconven- had made. Browning had already accusatory tone, and never strikes ience the owners of neighboring refused “a verbal application of the same woe-is-me note of the plots. For good measure, she the same character”. In fact, he black-bordered 1885 letter. Per- reminds Mr. Browning she is a seems annoyed by her multiple haps she grew snippy after her helpless widow. “I return to requests, wishes the vestry to request was denied, for there is America after a great lapse of make a final decision “and report no poodle in the Ladd family time spent in Foreign Coun- the result of such action officially plot. Fannie Mangum is there, tries,” Fannie writes, “alone, and to Mrs. M.” however, beside her husband, at almost an entire stranger.” We have several other letters R32/S153.
Archives Archived in State of the Art Archive
ongressional Cemetery’s archival material repre- cant national historic artifacts, and reproduce the sents a unique window into the earliest days of bound archival tomes to enhance researchers’ our nation’s capital city. These handwritten experience in exploring American history. papers reveal not only the ebb and flow of life The Project includes the following steps: 1) Cand death in a 19th Century city, they constitute The books and documents will be scanned by a a veritable Who’s Who of Washington’s founding professional archival processing firm under the fathers. As the preeminent burial ground of the direction of a professional archivist, 2) the scanned Nation’s capital for many decades, Congressional materials will be transcribed, catalogued, and Cemetery offers the unique heritage of a city organized under the direction of a professional with both local character and national conse- archivist, 3) the original books will be placed in quence. Congressional is the final resting place storage under appropriate archival storage condi- for thousands of individuals who transformed tions, 4) the eight main over-sized bounded refer- Washington from a series of riverfront fishing ence books will be reproduced in like size and hamlets into the Nation’s Capital. feel and made available to researchers, genealo- The Archives consist of over 37 bound tomes gists, historians, and descendants in the Gatehouse and over 5,000 loose leaf documents. Time and offices. handling have taken a toll on these original The Association estimates the scanning portion source materials, making it imperative that action alone will run about $40,000. One of our donors, be taken to both record what’s on the pages and an intrepid investigator with an eye for history, preserve them as quickly as possible. The Associa- has kick-started the project with a generous gift. tion is now developing an Archives Preservation The Gatehouse staff will begin writing grant Project, which strives to record the information applications soon, and hopes word of mouth will in the documents, preserve the originals as signifi- speed a connection to another archives buff.
WWW.CONGRESSIONALCEMETERY.ORG HERITAGE GAZETTE / WINTER 2010 11 NON-PROFIT Yes! U.S. POSTAGE I want to help preserve and restore Congressional Cemetery PAID with a tax-deductible donation. LAUREL, MD □ $50 □ $75 □ $100 □ $250 □ Other______PERMIT NO. 6326 □Check enclosed, made payable to Congressional Cemetery □ □ □ Please charge my credit card Visa Mastercard 1801 E Street, Southeast Washington, DC 20003 Card # ______www.congressionalcemetery.org Cardmember Name ______Exp______Signature ______Name ______Address ______City ______State______Zip______Phone/s______Email______
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FebruaryCalendar 27 12-1:30 pm Chapel Informational Session for new Docents March 13 1-2 pm Chapel Pre-need burial seminar March 31 7-8 pm Chapel Pre-need burial seminar April 17 11 am-1 pm Chapel Annual Meeting February 16 7-8:30 pm Chapel K-9 Orientation February 21 1-2:30 pm Chapel K-9 Orientation February 24 7-8:30 pm Chapel K-9 Orientation
12 HERITAGE GAZETTE / WINTER 2010 WWW.CONGRESSIONALCEMETERY.ORG