Jake Flack, Associate Director of Museum Education, reflects on how the Civil War affected the economy of his hometown of Washington, D.C. 

Fashion and audience manners have changed quite a bit since the Ford’s Theatre of Lincoln’s time. Discover what’s different.

How do you view the Lincoln assassination? Was it the conclusion to the Civil War or the beginning of Reconstruction? Students today need a deeper understanding of the Lincoln assassination regarding the years of Reconstruction that followed. Read more to find out how teachers can reframe their teaching of the events at Ford's Theatre to connect them to the fight for equality today. 

Three years after launching our Remembering Lincoln digital collection, we share lessons learned and continuing questions about collection-building, building a refined end-product versus citizen history project, defining audiences, challenges of scale, and how this project has refined our storytelling approach.

When writing an essay on Lincoln’s assassination, it can be hard to know where to begin. But Ford’s Theatre has the solution! Fords.org is a great place to find primary sources on the fateful evening of April 14, 1865. 

You may be familiar with costumed interpreters at historic sites. Or perhaps you have seen reenactors at Gettysburg or other Civil War battlefields. But only at Ford’s Theatre can you see history come to life through fully staged theatre productions.

Did you know that Ford's Theatre reopened as a working theatre just three months prior to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? Discover what the reaction to King's assassination meant for the immediate neighborhood around Ford's Theatre and D.C. as a whole.

Learn how Ford's is integrating Virtual Reality into our visitor's experience and how you can try it from home or on site!

Don’t live in D.C.? Not a student? Never fear, Ford’s Theatre programming is accessible to those near and far! Learn about four of our virtual programs that bring history to life via an internet connection. 

In our latest prototyping sprint on the Ford’s campus we tested out a concept Ford’s has long-considered: character cards representing historical figures whose stories patrons follow through the exhibit. While the cards were highly successful in terms of engagement, the D.R.A.F.T. team continues to debate what counts as success and whether these cards achieved it.