In conjunction with Ford’s Theatre’s play Come From Away, Kenneth Foote, Professor of Geography at the University of Connecticut and author of Shadowed Ground, discusses the context of places that have been involved in tragedies. In Part 1, Foote discussed sites related to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Here, Foote discusses…

Editor’s Note: In spring 2016, Jason Rude, a seventh and eighth grade social studies teacher at New Hampton Middle School in New Hampton, Iowa, worked with Ford’s Theatre on a pilot project to transcribe primary sources from the Remembering Lincoln website with his students. In the following post, Rude reflects on the experience. As I…

We’re excited to share some great news. Our website Remembering Lincoln, which brings together primary sources with reactions to the Lincoln assassination for everyone to explore from anywhere, has won two awards! American Alliance of Museums On May 26, the American Alliance of Museums Media and Technology Committee presented Remembering Lincoln with the bronze Muse…

As President Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train wound its way through the northern United States in late April 1865, Americans learned that the two-week manhunt for Lincoln’s assassination abruptly ended when Sergeant Boston Corbett mortally wounded John Wilkes Booth on April 26.

Today, we often think of the Petersen House as the “other part” of Ford’s Theatre National Historic site. But in 1893, a group of prominent Washingtonians had another idea: They planned for the Petersen House to be a national monument to President Abraham Lincoln. Where To Learn about Lincoln in Washington? By 1893, when visitors…

Editor’s Note: Chris Lese, a teacher at Marquette University High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, recently worked with Ford’s Theatre to bring his students into local archives and upload responses to the Lincoln assassination to the Remembering Lincoln Digital Collection. Here, he shares his experiences. How do you help students become independent learners? One way is…

Friday, February 12, is Abraham Lincoln’s 207th birthday! No matter where in the world you live, we invite you to celebrate with us by learning more from our staff, using social media. From 10:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday February 10, 2016, through 6:00 p.m. ET on Friday, February 12, 2016, tweet us your questions on…

I read this great quote from Ed Rodley over at the Peabody Essex Museum: “A postdigital museum isn’t one where ‘digital’ has triumphed over ‘physical.’” Having just finished a digital strategic planning process at Ford’s, this quote reinforced our own newly established digital values. We recognize the ongoing importance of our physical spaces, artifacts and…

Remembering Lincoln launched in March 2015 to bring a range of primary sources—letters, newspapers, diaries, mourning ribbons, photographs, lithographs, objects—that show how people in 1865 responded to the first-ever presidential assassination and death of Abraham Lincoln. Nine Teacher Representatives helped us develop the project, offering feedback and producing Teaching Modules that bring together sets of…

Today, when I tell someone that I work at Ford’s Theatre, the person instantly knows where I mean: the venue made famous (or infamous) in 1865, when John Wilkes Booth murdered President Abraham Lincoln there. But before the assassination, if I’d told you that I worked at Ford’s Theatre, you might have asked, “Which one?”…