Current Projects

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Archival Document Identification and Repair of the Curatorial Building ($60,000)

The voluminous files, archives and library of the National Park Service contain countless documents, along with artifacts, relevant to the history, restoration and maintenance of Arlington House that have never been available to the public. These documents are poorly organized, lack adequate identification, have never been digitized in a way that is useful to researchers and are stored in a non-climate controlled curatorial building which has a leaky roof. Funds are sorely needed to digitize, protect and preserve these valuable historical documents and artifacts.

In sum, although David Rubenstein gave $12.5 Million for the restoration of the House and outlying buildings, nothing was allocated to the repair and maintenance of the Curatorial Building where so much of the Arlington House archival materials are located. The Curatorial building currently lacks proper air conditioning/humidification, electronic and digital research aids and a comfortable work environment for staff and researchers. This project will ensure that all Arlington House documents are properly identified, archived, and digitized and are made accessible to staff and researchers in a productive work environment for staff, historians, researchers, and the public.

Collecting, Organizing and Digitizing and Archiving the Elizabeth Pryor Papers ($10,000)

AHF seeks to prioritize the archiving of the "Elizabeth Pryor" papers. Elizabeth Brown Pryor was a founding member of the Arlington House Foundation Board. Before her untimely death in 2015, Elizabeth Pryor was the world's leading scholar of Arlington House and the life of Robert E. Lee. Because of their singular importance, we intend to collect, organize, and digitize her papers so that her invaluable insights on Robert E. Lee and the American Civil War can be made available to historians, researchers, and lovers of history alike.

Below are links to a sampling of her papers and articles which demonstrate her skills as a researcher and fidelity to voicing the truth of our nation's momentous historical past:

1. Pryor REL Notes--Construction of Arlington House
2. Pryor REL Notes--Arlington HouseFurnishing Plan
3. Pryor REL Notes--Mary Custis Lee from birth to late-adulthood
4. Pryor REL Notes - Sydney Smith Lee (REL brother) Visit to Arlington House in late 1865 (recounted by Mary Custis Lee)
5. Pryor articles--REL's Daughter Mary on RE Lee resignation
6. Pryor Article-- Robert E Lee & Slavery by EB Pryor Civil War Times
   
   

Restoration of the Kitchen Garden ($10,000)

The "Kitchen Garden" located on the northwest side of the Mansion is the space where enslaved Africans toiled to produce food for the Custis and Lee families. By restoring this garden, we honor their lives and legacies while feeding the needy in nearby Arlington.

Maintenance of the Flower Garden and Restoration of the Gazebo ($15,000)

The Arlington Flower Garden was a great place of beauty and reflection during the plantation years. When Arlington National Cemetery was created during the Civil War, General Montgomery Meigs purposely placed the graves of Union officers surrounding the garden as a demonstration of federal control and a message to the Lees that they were no longer welcome in their old home. The garden has been restored but funding isn't available for its constant upkeep. This project will replant the garden with flowers, plants, and shrubbery similar to the plantings that existed in 1860, along with restoring the gazebo that graced the garden at the outbreak of the Civil War.