This Artifact-of-the-Month is an object that was in the house when Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1901, but then took a slightly circuitous route back to the Site. The object that I’m referring to is one of the bookcases in the library — to be more precise, the one in the southwest corner, next to the fireplace. Did you know that this is the only original bookcase in the library?

In 1901, just like today, the walls of the library were lined with thirteen dark oak bookcases. However, when the house was made into a restaurant in the late 1930’s, all of the bookcases and two of the walls were removed to create a large, open dining room. Ethel Chapin Patch, a neighbor and friend of Ansley Wilcox’s sister Mabel, saved one of the bookcases and later returned it to the Site in 1969 when the house was being restored in preparation for its opening as a museum. Having an original bookcase also gave the craftsmen who were tasked with recreating the rest of the bookcases an authentic model to work from.

More recently, as part of a 2005 library upgrade, the Site worked with the National Park Service to add four more bookcases to the library. These replaced a glass wall on the north side of the room that had been installed in 1971 to allow visitors a view into the library. This time, instead of handcrafting the reproductions, specialized tools were used to measure the original bookcase and create a three-dimensional map, allowing more accurate replication of the bookcase.

The bookcases are just one example of how the Site has been able to use both recovered original materials and technological advances to create an authentic experience for the Site’s visitors and a better understanding of what the house was like as Theodore Roosevelt became president on September 14th, 1901.

— Amy Sanderson, Collections Manager