This Week at the Woodrow Wilson House
March 17, 2021
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From the Office of the Executive Director:
On This Day – March 4, 1921
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On March 4, 2021, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the day the Wilsons moved into 2340 S Street NW, which is today the President Woodrow Wilson House. In 1921, Inauguration Day was March 4. Inauguration Day has always been a busy day at the White House, changing over from one president to the next. This photo was taken in the afternoon of March 4 as the trucks unloaded Edith and the President’s belongings. Until the Obamas, the Wilsons were the only couple to retire to Washington, DC, upon leaving the White House.
President Wilson lived out the rest of his days in this house and died here in 1924. Edith went on to live another 37 years in the house, dying in this house on the President’s birthday, December 28 in 1961. She preserved the house just as it was in 1924 as a memory to her husband and his presidency and bequeathed it to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1961. It has been a museum since 1963.
Great thanks are due to Edith as the “first curator” – and she did a marvelous job! The contents of this house are extensive, with almost 9,000 items in the collection. We have not “replicated” or “reimagined” the site. This is the original, authentic site and contents. Some call it a time capsule of life in 1924, a hidden gem and an urban oasis. Almost nothing has changed in this house in over 100 years and that is what people come to see and experience.
What has changed over the years is the conversation. Today, we focus on and discuss Wilson’s consequential presidency which involved segregation, racism, and social and racial injustices. Today, people come to talk about Wilson’s presidency and learn from history. We are not canceling culture, we are learning from it. We are preserving the past to enrich the future.
Were it not for the events of March 4, 1921, we would not be here today. As Executive Director of the Woodrow Wilson House, I thank Edith for the opportunity to continue educating the American public about America's 28th president and for the opportunity to engage with the community. I eagerly look forward to celebrating this milestone with you all in-person – hopefully soon!
– Elizabeth A. Karcher
Executive Director
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The Wilson House Tuesday Speaker Series Continues!
On the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month, notable historians, authors, curators, and leaders explore the social movements of the early 20th Century and their relevance today. Talks explore women's suffrage, activism and protest, racial inequity, and the consequences and legacy of Woodrow Wilson’s presidency.
The Wilson House Tuesday Speaker Series is brought to you through generous donations from:
Cary C. Fuller, Nancy Bliss, Edward F. Gerber, and Christopher W. Keller.
Register now for upcoming speakers
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Lunch & Learn Noon on Zoom with
The Korean Cultural Center and The Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company
Tuesday, March 23, 12 p.m. EST
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The Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company will perform excerpts from Tracings, one family's story of immigration in 1903, expressed through modern dance. Tracings is choreographed to tell the story of immigration, migration, leaving home, and starting anew - a story from over one hundred years ago that resonates today, addressing current social issues of cultural assimilation and immigration.
Dana Tai Soon Burgess - the founder and artistic director of the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company, a member of the President Woodrow Wilson House Advisory Board, and resident choreographer at the Smithsonian Institution - will explain the history of Korean immigration.
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Lunch & Learn Noon on Zoom with Rebecca Boggs Roberts and Heath Hardage Lee Discussing Edith Wilson: Brave, Beautiful, and Complicated
Tuesday, April 13, 12 p.m. EST
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Edith Bolling Wilson lived an extraordinary life! She was one of the first women in Washington, DC, to have a driver’s license and drive her own car, and yet she did not know how to ride a bike until she was taught by the President in the basement of the White House. She was the first First Lady to vote in a national election (since women did not get the right to vote until 1920), and yet she did not support the suffrage movement. Come learn about the fascinating first lady whose calling card read simply: Mrs. Woodrow Wilson.
Join us to hear from Rebecca Boggs Roberts, who is writing a biography of Edith, and Heath Hardage Lee, who recently featured on the Smithsonian Channel's America's Hidden Mysteries show entitled "Madam President," (Season 2 Episode 3), as they share their perspectives on Edith Bolling Wilson, a modern woman of her day.
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Lunch & Learn Noon on Zoom with
Philip Zelikow discussing his book, The Road Less Traveled: The Secret Battle to End the Great War, 1916-1917
Tuesday, April 27, 12 p.m. EST
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Join Professor Philip Zelikow to discuss his new book, THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED: The Secret Battle to End the Great War, 1916-1917, the never-before-told understory of how the Great War could have ended in early 1917 saving millions of lives.
For more than five months, from August 1916 to the end of January 1917, leaders from America, Britain and Germany held secret peace negotiations in an attempt to end the Great War. They did so far out of public sight—one reason why their battle, which came astonishingly close to ending the war, is little understood today. Through Philip Zelikow, this unknown story finally sees the light and revises the historical understanding of this pivot in world history, perhaps more than any other book on the war published in a very long time.
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Seeing America: History Travel Blog
By Maggie Wald, Wilson House Fall Scholar
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Follow her exploration of how people and places across the country remember their respective histories! |
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Check out Maggie Wald's newest blogpost as she discusses how the centennial of the 19th amendment was celebrated across the nation last year!
Maggie Wald is a junior from Washington University of St Louis who participated in the summer and fall sessions of the Student Volunteer Scholar Program at the Woodrow Wilson House and spent the fall of 2020 traveling around the country (attending college virtually) while writing a blog about the historical stops on her tour.
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Exploring Woodrow Wilson's Legacy Through US Postal Stamps
By Traci Holmer, Wilson House Fall Scholar
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The stamp depicts Elizabeth Stanton (left), Carrie C. Catt (middle), and Lucretia Mott (right). |
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March is Women's History Month, which is a perfect time for Fall Scholar Traci Holmer to highlight the "100 Years of Progress" stamp commissioned in 1948 on the centennial of the 1848 Seneca Valley Falls Convention.
Traci spent part of her semester at Wilson House creating a mini-exhibition of Wilson's Legacy Through Stamps. Researching stamps between 1919 and 2020, she provides a first-class examination of the color, symbols, and historical context of each stamp to evaluate how Wilson is remembered in history.
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