Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

None

Use Restrictions

Consult repository for information

Preferred Citation

Lucia Kirk Williams Scrapbooks, MSS 06-10, Virginia Room, Fairfax County Public Library

Acquisition Information

Gift of Ernest W. Reisner

Processing Information

Chris Barbuschak, March 2017
EAD generated by Ross Landis, 2024

Historical and Biographical Information

Lucia Kirk Williams was born in Indiana on August 30, 1872 to Jennie and William Noble Williams, a veteran of both the Civil War, World War I, and an Indian fighter in the “Fighting Third” Old Guard Infantry Regiment.

Around 1913, Miss Williams came to Washington D.C. for a visit and decided to stay. She acquired a job with the United States Geological Survey and remained there for 30 years, retiring in the early 1940s.

Miss Williams also had the distinction of being the only female member of the Columbia Country Club for many years. For a brief time, the club opened its rolls to women, and Williams was one of three women who joined in 1913. Shortly thereafter, the club decided to restrict its membership again to men, but the regulation wasn’t retroactive. Of the three female members, one moved away and the second died, leaving Williams as the sole female member of the club for decades.

During her retirement, Williams often visited Fort Myer once a month to watch the 3rd Infantry parade and brought magazines and paperbacks for the troops to enjoy. For over thirty years, Williams created scrapbooks on the history of old Washington, the vicinity, and the Civil War which she showcased in her home along with mementos from her father’s illustrious Army career. She died on July 19, 1965 in Vero Beach, Florida at age 93.

Scope and Content

The Lucia Kirk Williams scrapbooks spans the years 1881-1963 and consists of 9 scrapbooks of loose-leaf binders containing newspaper clippings, magazine articles, correspondence, pamphlets, stamps, programs, and postcards. Subjects include Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia history, the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and the Columbia Country Club. Williams created a table of contents for each scrapbook:

Scrapbook #1, 1929-1959 Washington
- Wakefield
- Mary Ball and Augustine Washington
- Daniel Cusits and Martha Dandridge
- Martha Washington
Mount Vernon
- Betty Washington and Fielding Lewis - Kenmore
- Nellie Custis and Lawrence Lewis - Woodlawn
- Lucy Payne and George Steptoe Washington
- Dr. James Craik
Yorktown
- Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr
- John Quincy Adams
Alexandria
- Christ Church
- Gadsby’s Tavern and unknown female strangler
Presbyterian Meeting House
- Leadbeater Drug Store
- Ramsay House
- Carlisle House
- “What-Is-It”
- Boundary Stones

Scrapbook #2, 1881-1956
Georgetown
- Tudor Place
- Francis Scott Key - Fort McHenry
- John Howard Payne - “Home Sweet Home”
- Julia Ward Howe - “Battle Hymn of the Republic”
- L’Enfant - Old Stone House
Canals
Maps
Analostan Island
Gunston Hall - Virginia Bill of Rights (includes correspondence with Louis Hertle)
Belvoir
Fairfax House
Chatham
Pohick Church
Wellington (Tobias Lear)
Fort Washington
- Port Royal
Decatur House - Stephen Decatur (1751-1808)
Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) & Rachel Donelson, Peggy O’Neal
Hotels
Parades, avenues
Egg Rolling
General Grant
Garfield
Taft
Spirit of Saint Louis
Flag Code

Scrapbook #3, 1929-1958
U.S. Capitol
Washington Monument
White House

Scrapbook #4, 1932-1961
Harpers Ferry - John Brown
Lee
- Lees of Virginia
- Stratford Hall
- Light Horse Harry and Ann Carter
Arlington House and Cemetery
- George Washington Park Custis
- Robert E. Lee and Nary Custis
- Lee’s birth date
- Pardon for Lee
- Freeman’s Lee
Wartime Washington
Brady and Photographs

Scrapbook #5, 1933-1961
Bull Run (July 21, 1861) Johnson and McDowell
Manassas
Balls Bluff October 21, 1861
Mason and Slidell November 1861
Monitor and Merrimac, March 9, 1862
Groveton, Oct 1862
Shiloh, Apr. 6, 1862 (Sidney Johnson and Grant)
Bull Run, Aug. 30, 1862
South Mountain, Sept. 14, 1862
Antietam, Sept. 15-19, 1862 (Lee and McClellan)
Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862 (Lee and Burnside)
Spotsylvania, May 1864
Chancellorsville, May 1-4, 1863 (Lee and Hooker)
- Jackson killed
Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863 (Lee and Meade)
Wilderness, May 5-6, 1864
Spotsylvania, May 1864 (Lee and Grant)
Cold Harbor, June 1864
Monocacy, July 11-12, 1864 (Early and Wallace)
Ft. Stevens, July 11-12, 1864 (Early)
Old Silver Spring
Ox Hill-Chantilly, July 1864 (Kearney and Wright)
Battle of the Crater, July 30, 1864
Burke, VA
Petersburg, Apr. 1865
Appomattox, Apr 9, 1865
Forts and defenses
Fort Beauregard
Johnston, Fort
Fort Haggerty
Fort Gaines
Biographies
Jefferson Davis and Varina Howell
Lee
Stonewall Jackson and Eleanor Junkin
Pierre Bouregard and Marie Villeres
JEB Stuart
James Longstreet
John Morgan
Antonia Ford
Belle Boyd
J.J. Andrews
Philip Sheridan
John A. Logan
Winfield Scott
Clara Barton
Walt Whitman
Rangers
Grand Army of the Republic

Scrapbook #6, 1926-1963
Abraham Lincoln
Matthew Brady
John Wilkes Booth
Andrew Johnson

Scrapbook #7, 1932-1959
Old Houses
- Van Ness Mansion - Van Ness and Burnes
- Octagon House and Tunnels
- Woodley - Stimson
- Clifton
- Dumbarton House
- Cosmos Club (Dolly Madison)
- Daniel Sickles and Phillip Barton Key
- Kalorama
- Joaquin Miller Cabin
- Stoddard Mansion - Clemons
- House of Horrors
- White Haven - Columbus relic
- Daniel Webster
- Monastery Garden
- Arts Club
- Wylie House - Thomas Circle
- Dean Estate - Treaty Oak - Temple Heights
- Henderson Castle
- Blair House
- Pierce Mill
- Airy Castle and Calvert Mansion
- Gen. Logan home
- Mud House
- Soldiers Home
Cowtown - Swampoodle - Hells Bottom
Streets, buildings
Prisons, arsenal, War College
Memorials, Monuments
Bridges - Rebuilding Chain Bridge

Scrapbook #8, 1922-1960
[contains correspondence from Danny Kaye and Groucho Marx]
Amphitheater
Unknown Soldier
Fort Myer
Old Guard
Iwo Jima Memorials Monuments
Cherry Trees
Floods
Iwo Jima Memorial
Knickerbocker Theater Tragedy
Union Station accident
All Souls Church
Columbia Country Club

Scrapbook #9 Environs, 1933-1959
Gapland
Frederick, Maryland and Barbara Fritchie
Dumfries, Va.
Fredericksburg, Va.
Fauquier White Sulphur Springs
Biographies:
Van Buren and Hoes
Monroe and Kartright (Ash Lawn - Oak Hill)
Jefferson and Monticello
Sugar Loaf Mountain
Skyline
George Custer
Winchester House, San Jose, California

Related Material

None

Separated Material

None

Index Terms

• Civil War, 1861-1865 - History
• Columbia Country Club (Chevy Chase, Md.)
• Historic buildings - Virginia - Alexandria
• Historic buildings - Virginia - Arlington
• Historic buildings - Virginia - Fairfax County
• Historic buildings - Washington D.C.
• Washington (D.C.) - Georgetown. Buildings
• Washington (D.C.) - History
• Williams, Lucia Kirk (1872-1965)

Adjunct Descriptive Data