And then uniquely and strangely, he was carrying a confederate 5. 00 bill. We do not know exactly why. He had visited richmond just weeks before. And it is perhaps a reminder that the war was coming to a close, that success was being made. And just a souvenir. He was a regular person. He wanted souvenirs, right . Finally, we have a couple pair of cufflinks he was wearing that night. Initial cufflinks, something you would have wanted with theater on a nice evening out. And then finally, we have mary lincolns cloak. This also she wore to the theater that night. This is on loan to us from the chicago history museum. It has not been on this way for almost 50 years. So, it is really unique opportunity to see this cloak here. Along with our gray coat, which has not been on display since for several years at the park service at fords theatre, and will not be on display again probably for several years. So it is a real opportunity to see these two items together, i guess abe and mary reunited in a sad but beautiful way. For our visitors to actually see something thats finally here that happened 150 years ago is an extraordinary opportunity and it allows us to reflect on what america really is. The reason that history museums exist is to understand our history. And that is essential for us because it tells us who we are today. And for all of us, it tells us who we could be by learning of the past, been inspired by the past and troubled by the past. But understanding who we are and where we came from explains so much about us. The most important thing it gives us a moment of reflection about how to create a much Better Future for everybody. You can watch this and other american artifacts programs anytime by visiting our website at cspan. Org history. Up next on American History tv, as part of our programming marking the 100 inches anniversary of the assassination of president lincoln, we visit towards theater to learn about an online project to commit collect documents and artifacts detailing ordinary americans responses to the death of the president. Welcome to fords theatre. Im the director of education programming here. On the project manager here at fords. Where so excited to share our projects here today. We been working to create remembering lincoln, which is a project supported by the new and Library Services that allows us to take resources, primary source resources from around the country and around the world and digitize them and put them online so that anyone, anywhere in the world can learn more about how people, regular people responded to abraham lincolns assassination. When lincoln was assassinated , this was five days after general robert e lee surrendered to general Ulysses S Grant at appomattox courthouse. This is the first president ial assassination in the countrys history. Its something that americans had never experienced before. They had just experienced for years of death and warfare. It was a terrible time. Really getting back into the moment, what were trying to do here. Sarah there is real value, we feel, and weve learned this from watching our visitors, in finding out what regular people experienced with the assassination. So often, we only hear about the assassination from stories of people who were Major Players that night, and even sometimes, we will learn about the stories of people who were secondary players on the night of the assassination, like dr. Leal, but we dont get to what regular people experienced. That was what the remembering Lincoln Project was meant to solve. We found partners in historical societies and libraries and institutions across the country that are allowing us that have allowed us to digitize items from their collections and put them together so you can explore them and learn about these responses on your own. David we are going to tell you about some of our favorite things that we have in this collection. Lincoln was assassinated around 10 15 p. M. No one knows the exact moment. Word got out pretty quick of the assassination attempt. Then word got out when lincoln died the next morning. In that day, a lot of the country actually found out pretty quickly. There were telegraph lines in many places. A lot of the major u. S. Cities were on telegraph lines. Not everywhere was, though. Somewhere that was was st. Paul, minnesota. Where a journalist found out that morning. And he wrote a letter to his wife, where he simply said weep, weep , weep, for the daughters of my people. Most of the items we have are just the letters, but the Minnesota Historical society included the envelope on which the letter in which the letter was put because his son actually put a note on the outside of the envelope. It says, fathers note to mother when lincoln was assassinated. He told me that he was with father when the news came and that he staggered across the room, sank down, and burst into tears. Now, a lot of americans reacted reacted very strongly in this way. A strong sense of mourning. Not everybody did so. And a lot of cities, the mayors issued proclamations as soon as they found out about lincolns assassination. The mayor of cleveland, for example, issued a proclamation instructing citizens to come together in the citys main square at 3 00 that afternoon. And sarah can tell you a bit more about what happened. Sarah well, this photograph right here is from the western reserve Historical Society which is the Historical Society in cleveland, ohio. And the have this photograph and actually have this stone in their collection. The reason is because of the special story that is behind it. There was a gentleman who had been an architect of the courthouse who was not as sad as others about lincolns assassination. In fact, when everyone gathered together, this gentleman said, this is not a moment for crime. This is not a moment to be said. And the rest of the crowd turned on him. He ended up spending the night in jail for his own safety, and left town the next day. And because his name had been in the cornerstone of the courthouse, the regular people of the town who were mourning lincoln chiseled it out. And you can see right here in the image that, in fact, one of the names of the architects is chiseled out of the cornerstone. You wont know who would it who it was because of his response to the lincoln assassination. David another ordinary person who are strongly affected by the assassination was a guy named willie clark. Willie clark actually lived in the Peterson House. He was a border, a soldier boarder, a soldier, and he had a room in the back on the first floor. On that morning, willie clark, like many in washington, was out and partying. He was celebrating the near end of the civil war. So, that night around 10 15 across the street, the president is shot. And soldiers carry the wounded president out, looked around with to bring him good a gentleman in the Peterson House said bring him in here because there was an empty bedroom in the back. That was willie clarks bedroom. So they bring lincoln in there. Lincoln dies there the next morning. Willie clark comes back after lincolns body is cleared out. And essentially, you can only imagine the scene there. You are told, by the way, the president of the United States died in your bed last night. What would you do . Sarah, do you think you would would you ever go into that room again . Sarah you know, i cant imagine what willie clark must have been feeling. He was a young guy. And he was this was his room. This was the room he knew. And it was his bed. And he paid for the room. His response was, he slept in the bed. And honestly, while we might have chosen not to do that, i think in other ways, it is understandable that that is what he did. It was his home. So, willie clark is not a famous name, but he guided the interpretation of that space his bedroom, four the immediate aftermath of the assassination because people came to visit him and they bothered him. They knocked on his door. It was his room. David in fact, one of the items that we have here in the lincoln collection is willie clarks letter to his sister back in massachusetts from a few days later. He wrote this actually on wednesday, april 19, 1865. This is the day of the big funeral in washington. He talks about his wife life in the previous few days he talks about all of the souvenir hunters that are coming into his house, day and night, to try and get some kind of relic. Now, willie wasnt completely blameless in this because he also ssent a few relics to his sister. He talks about sending even a piece of mary lincolns cloak. I believe it is her cloak. Also, he he talks about some of what else has been going on. People at that time you werent really able to see, get images into the newspapers. So he had been working with an engraver, portions that we have highlighted here. I was engaged nearly all of sunday with one special artist aiding him making a correct drawing of the last moments of mr. Lincoln, as i knew the position of everyone present, he succeeded in executing a fine sketch, which will appear in their paper the last of this week. He intends from the same director have some fine, large steel gratings executed. So sunday, sunday is the day after president lincolns death. It is easter sunday. And already, there is an artist in the Peterson House. To sketch the scene. In fact, there is another item that we are including in remembering lincoln. This is the sketch that appeared in an illustrated newspaper on april 29, 1865, 2 weeks after lincolns death. Sarah and this is from the collection at the d. C. Public library, although many, many copies of it exist. David this sketch is from one of the originals. You will see a lot of different images of the death of lincoln. Some of them came out right after the assassination, some of them came out years later. The room was nicknamed the rubber room. Anyone who has been in there, it is a tiny, tiny space. But in a lot of these images rose, as if the it grows, as if the walls are made of rubber. This one even show some of the boarders from the Peterson House, standing around the deceased president. Sarah and you can see not only the boarders, but also members of the cabinet at the same time. The boarders are all the way on the left. The little boy who stands at the foot of the bed is a member of the household