STODDERT ELEMENTARY 5th GRADERS PRESENT TUDOR PLACE STORIES

/by

Press Contact:
Director of Communications
Heather Bartlow, hbartlow@tudorplace.org
202.965.0400
Website: www.tudorplace.org
Tudor Place Historic House and Garden
1644 31st Street NW
Washington, DC 2007

Download the PDF

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 18, 2010

AN EXHIBITION AND PLAY ABOUT TUDOR PLACE

Washington, D.C. – May 18, 2010 — Stoddert Elementary School’s 5th grade class, in partnership with Tudor Place Historic House and Garden, will be presenting Tudor Place Stories an exhibition about the history of Tudor Place and a series of short plays written by the students and performed on the historic grounds of Tudor Place on Thursday, May 27 at 6:00 p.m. (Rain date: Friday, May 28)

Tudor Place Stories is the culmination of an innovative year long school program entitled Presenting the Past. This program was piloted in September 2008 and was designed to build a close working relationship with Tudor Place and Stoddert Elementary School to utilize the wide variety of historic and natural resources available at Tudor Place “Tudor Place provides students with a unique opportunity to experience the lives of people who lived in the past, and see how daily life changed in Washington from the founding of the capital city to modern day.” says Education Director, Talia Mosconi.

Stoddert students participated in eight field trips and in-class presentations to actually experience life in the 1800’s including dressing in period clothing, learning proper etiquette and manners, singing songs from the period and learning traditional dances. Students also became history detectives as they investigated artifacts, documents, paintings, and photographs to learn about daily life in Washington from 1816 to 1983. Students then used their newly acquired knowledge from primary sources in a series of exhibit design and play-writing workshops led by the Education Staff at Tudor Place. “The process has been fantastic!” says Stoddert teacher Steve Dingledine.

Located in Georgetown’s Historic District, this National Historic Landmark is a house museum distinguished for its neoclassical architecture, decorative arts collection, and five-and-a-half acre garden. Built in 1816, it was home to Thomas Peter and his wife, Martha Custis Peter, granddaughter of Martha Washington. It housed six generations of the Peter family over the course of 180 years. Now, open to the public, the historic home is one of our nation’s hidden gems. For details visit www.tudorplace.org

Book Inventory Revelations!

/by

For the last few months interns Torrance Thomas and Yyonette Fogg have been unpacking, cataloguing, photographing and re-housing over 3,000 books currently in storage in the garage building at Tudor Place. No one really knew what they would find when they started the project, as these books had been sitting in storage for years. What they discovered was a very diverse collection ranging from Bibles to books about the constellations. Below are some of their more interesting finds: (though our Archivist would yell at me for using the word “find.” “We have always known where they were,” she says):


Holy Bible, Containing The Old and New Testaments, with Copious Marginal References (1814)
Inscribed: Beverly Kennon Peter from his Grandmother/This Bible belonged to his Great Grandmother Martha Custis Peter.

 

Colton, J.H. Coltons’ Map of Virginia (1861) Drawn before there was a West Virginia!

 

Burrit, Elijah H. Atlas, Designed to Illustrate the Geography of the Heavens (1835)

 

Swift, Jonathan. First Edition of Gulliver’s Travels Originally entitled Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. (1726)
The Jonathan Swift novel was found with a Christmas card inside indicating that it was a gift to Armistead Peter, Jr. from his wife Nannie Peter in 1922.

 

Morrison, William H. Morrison’s Stranger’s Guide for Washington City (1882)