This bobblehead doll of John Wilkes Booth is seen near an Abraham Lincoln doll at the visitors center at the Gettysburg National Military Park. The Hanover Evening Sun found visitors to the visitors center believe the bobblehead of Booth, complete with derringer, trivialized Lincoln’s assassination. One historian weighed in on the sale in the Evening Sun story: “It’s like selling Lee Harvey Oswald stuffed dolls at the Kennedy Center.” That analogy, and other such obvious comparisons, explain why the lives of the bobbleheads should end like that of Booth: They should be tracked down on the shelves in Gettysburg and elsewhere and disposed of. (Actually, they have been since this was posted: Those John Wilkes Booth bobbleheads in Gettysburg? Manhunt ends. Also of interest: John Wilkes Booth gave color to Bland’s boarding school in York
Neat stuff from all over … .
Springettsbury Township’s Schultz House, one of York County’s oldest, is up for sale. Historic York has rehabbed the mid-1700s house near Camp Security and has placed it on the market.
In a Facebook comment on a York Daily Record/Sunday News story about the sale, York City Councilman Michael Helfrich, himself a purchaser of an important house from Historic York, explains how the preservation agency works:
“They are a non-profit org. that saves historic properties, fixes them up, then sells them back to the public with easements that require the owner to maintain the historic character. This is how I got my house, the Cookes House, built in 1761. In the 1950′s the City of York wanted to demolish my house, which oral history says was the house that Thomas Paine stayed in and the farm where the Delegates of Congress kept their horses during the harsh winter of 1777-78. Anyhow, citizens got together back in the 1950′s and formed what eventually became Historic York.”
Speaking schedule: For those who often ask, I have two public presentations coming up: Sunday School, part of York First Moravian Church’s 260th anniversary celebration, on March 25. Family History Conference at York’s Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints. The free conference is set for Saturday, April 14. Details: http://www.SVFHConference.org. I’m really being selective nowadays.
You don’t read this every day: Lost antique sword turns up in New Oxford.
Pick New Salem: Blake Stough tweeted his pick for the American Pickers who are seeking antique collections in Pennsylvania to pick for their reality show: “The junk store in New Salem would be great for @americanpicker. It’s my favorite place to find local ‘stuff.’ ” Other York County picks?
Forum of the day: Weigh in about the John Wilkes Booth bobbleheads in Gettysburg on The Exchange.
A new museum observing the history of the Hanover Fire Department Museum will open soon. The museum will occupy Hanover Shoe’s former power plant. It replaces a smaller museum at Wirt Park. Read more Hanover Evening Sun coverage: Hanover Fire Department Museum.
Edited, 3/14/12
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TAKE THEM OFF THE SELF!
I have a small collection of Cincinnati Reds bobbleheads. I think sports personalities, politicians, movie stars, etc. are all OK, but definitely not criminals, especially such a high profile assassin as Booth. The First Amendment gives us the right of freedom of expression, including the Booth figurine, but it’s definitely in bad taste. It just shows that some businesspeople will sell almost anything to make a buck. The Visitors Center had sold other strange souvenirs in the past, including “Lincoln-on-a-stick.”
get them off the shelf. BAD TASTE to promote sale of such a criminal from our history.
How about if you don’t like it,don’t buy it?
As I wrote, when you think about Bobbleheads of other horrendous people v. their victims, you can’t walk away from it. Oswald and JFK. Or even making a Bobblehead of a local assailant next to one of his victim.
Right?