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Ford's Theatre, Washington, D.C.
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Exterior view of Ford's Theatre, 511 10th Street, NW. Best known as the location of President Abraham Lincoln's assassination, the building was originally constructed as a place of worship. in 1859 the structure was abandoned and John Ford, a theatre entrepreneur from Baltimore, renovated the building. In December 1861 the theatre was destroyed in a fire, but was rebuilt and re-opened in 1863. The United States Park Service aquired the building in 1933 and it has gone through two major renovation.
In 1944 the D.C. Public Library purchased over 1800 lanternslides and glass plate negatives from E.B. Thompson for $1,000. Mr. Thompson was a photographer who in 1904 opened a store that sold “steropticon supplies, cameras, lantern slides,” and other photographic equipment at 1343 F St., NW. His camera shop moved numerous times in forty years, ending up finally at 1744 Columbia Road, N.W. In 1944, his business letterhead advertised his store as selling “Sound and Silent Motion Pictures and Slides”.He offered to sell his collection of images of Washington, DC to the DC Public Library as he prepared to retire from full time work after a long illness in 1944. Starting in 1946 the DC Public Library contracted with the Library of Congress to create 8x10 black and white prints on mounts from his collection of slides and negatives. The prints are now part of the Washington, DC Historical Image Collection in the Washingtoniana Division. The collection’s strengths are in its images of federal buildings, the Arlington National Cemetery, federal memorials, national parades, historic houses, and street scenes.
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