By Christine Schaefer | Daily Reporter
GREENFIELD — For author and historian Alan E. Hunter, it’s Lincoln and it’s always been Lincoln. His Facebook page documents regular visits to Gettysburg and other Lincoln-affiliated destinations, as well as Lincoln-associated finds at antique marts and thrift stores.
His latest book is “The Petersen House, the Oldroyd Museum and the House Where Lincoln Died.” As history tells us, Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth on the night of April 14, 1865. The fatally-wounded president was carried from Ford’s Theater across the street to a boarding house — the Petersen House — where he later died. Hunter’s book explores what happened to the structure after the death of Lincoln.
At 2 p.m., Oct. 31, Hunter will be in Lizabuth Ann’s Kitchen behind the James Whitcomb Riley Boyhood Home and Museum, 250 W. Main St. to discuss and sign copies of his book.
“The Petersen House, the Oldroyd Museum and the House Where Lincoln Died” examines the years following the night of Lincoln’s assassination. Within a decade of the death of Lincoln’s death, the Petersens all died of suspicious causes and their possessions were auctioned off. The next owners of the building — weary of the constant stream of visitors requesting to see the room where the martyred president died — lasted less than a decade.
The house was then occupied by veteran Lincoln collector Osborn H. Oldroyd, who moved his array of objects from the Lincoln home in Springfield into the newly-named “House Where Lincoln Died.” For the next 33 years, it remained the only museum devoted to Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C. Oldroyd’s collection was purchased by the U.S. government in 1926 and moved into Ford’s Theatre, where it is on display today. As for that ordinary house across the street, it survives as the infamous location where spot where the Great Emancipator met his end.
Hunter credits his upbringing as a youth in Indianapolis as his connection to Lincoln, who also spent his formative years (ages 7 to 21) in Indiana. As a teacher, Hunter always encouraged his students to look to Lincoln for ‘what would Lincoln do?’ guidance.
“Lincoln went through similar circumstances as people do today,” Hunter said. “Chronic depression, problems with technology, frustration at injustice, problems with the opposite sex, family indifference and disagreement, shame, ambition, jealousy, bullies, child rearing — you name it, you can always find the answer in Lincoln.”
Hunter also relates to Oldroyd as a fellow collector of Lincolniana, or Lincoln memorabilia as well and is working on a separate book about him.
“Oldroyd actually started his collection in 1860 before Lincoln had even been elected,” Hunter said.
In addition to being an author and historian, Hunter is locally known as “the ghost tour guy.” Hunter has entertained audiences with his history-based ghost tours of Irvington and other Indiana towns. Hunter, who has led ghost walks in Greenfield, will share a few local ghost stories.
“The Petersen House, the Oldroyd Museum and the House Where Lincoln Died” is available now in the Riley Boyhood Home gift shop and the day of the event for $25.
