Documenting the History of Slavery in Washington, DC took a leap with the release of a Smithsonian study. But there's still big problems with getting the raw research out to people and getting the Smithsonian to preserve the artifacts in their oldest building. Here's local newsweekly version, my comments are in parenthesis and conclude the story. Enjoy, Eddie Becker

By Jennifer Coderre, Staff Writer, The Northwest Current, March 4, 1998

Months of research into the historic Holt House, located on the grounds of the National Zoo, has revealed a wealth of information on the site but still leaves unanswered questions on the history of slavery there.

Responding to the concerns of citizens led by Adams Morgan activist Eddie Becker, a team of Smithsonian Institution researchers led by Dr. Cynthia Field compiled a 722-page summary of documents on the Holt House.

The house, built sometime between 1805 and 1831, sits on a hilltop just north of Walter Pierce Park. (The Study by the Office of Architectural History and Preservation (OAHP), speculates that the house was built sometime before 1800 most likely by Benjamin Stoddert, the Zoo's unfootnoted 5 page summary sent to journalist, speculates on a latter date. Eddie) Since the zoo stopped using it as an administration building in the late 1980s, the landmarked mansion has been deteriorating, and activists are calling for it to be preserved.

"It's very exciting," Dr. Bob Hoage, public affairs director for the zoo, said of the report which was released Dec. 15.

One thing the researchers did not do is enter the Holt House -- named after its last private owner, Dr. Henry Holt, a farmer -- itself. "This will be undertaken as the process advances", Hoage said.

"The whole house will be gone over with a fine-toothed comb," he said.

While bringing new details and facts to light, the report stops short of making a recommendation on what to do about the mansion, Hoage said.

During the 1999 budget year, he said, the zoo has asked for funds for a historic structures report, where "architectural engineers will look at the building and tell us the options." (The Zoo in a recent letter indicates that it has not asked for this money. Eddie)

Adams Morgan and Mount Pleasant activists, who formed a committee last year to call for preservation of the Holt House and adjacent African-American and Quaker cemeteries located in the Pierce Park area, had mixed reactions to the report.

"It was a great amount of work," said Becker, whose own research spurred the preservation drive. "They did a very thorough job in some ways."

While praising the level of detail the Smithsonian researchers undertook, Becker noted that the 722 pages reveal little about the lives of slaves who may or may not have lived and worked on the area farmlands in the 18th and 19th centuries.

"It's a lot of stuff, but it's pretty much what we've been talking about all along," he said.

Becker also pointed to the report's lack of a recommendation as a sign that the Smithsonian does not intend to preserve the Holt House, but may instead let it deteriorate and erect a plaque.

This scenario is a possibility. Hoage pointed to the many documents indicating the Holt House was in poor condition ever since the zoo bought it in 1889, including a 1961 report that recommended it be demolished due to extensive termite damage. (A 1950's study indicated that there was "no structural weakening of the building due to termites." But in 1960 termites were used as justification for the need to construct a new administration building. Eddie)

Hoage also noted in a letter dated March 2 that even the first steps toward preserving the house -- a historic structures report and archaeological survey -- depend on receiving funding from Congress, which is far from certain. (The Smithsonian has already received funding from Congress to preserve the Holt House. The Smithsonian requested $3,850,000 from Congress for 1998 that was to be used solely for "Renovation, Repair and Improvements by the National Zoological Park" (NZP). As justification for this request the Zoo cited the Holt House, "Among the collection of buildings is one individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places...considered a valued portion of our national heritage." The Holt house is the only NZP building on the National Register of Historic Places. WHERE'S THE MONEY???? Eddie)

Other activists who have reviewed the report had varying reactions.

Frank Graves, a retired economist who has proposed filling in the ravine between the zoo and Walter Pierce Park for community gardens, said his interest was mainly in the cemeteries lying unmarked beneath the park.

Graves said the information should be used to develop a memorial plaque to the Quakers, African Americans and others who were interred there over the course of the 19th century.

Then, he said, "Let's get on with improving the park."

But Dr. Eileen Crawford, a historian and former professor who is a member of the Holt House ad hoc committee, blasted the Smithsonian for providing a mountain of paper neighbors can only examine at the zoo offices. She said this is out of line with the federal law that requires community involvement in the preservation of historic buildings owned by federal agencies.

"To think that they are complying with Section 106 of the Preservation Act is impossible," Crawford said. "I can't believe [Hoage] thinks that."

Crawford is calling for the Smithsonian to make available copies of the report on floppy disk or to hold meetings where the community can discuss the tome, in order to comply with Section 106.

"We have to have dialogue with the Smithsonian and the zoo. That hasn't happened yet, and the law is very specific about it," Crawford said.

Crawford wrote an incensed letter to the zoo accusing it of noncompliance.

In response, Hoage wrote on March 2 that the zoo has now compiled a five-page summary of the report which is available to the public and is working on converting the computer files to an accessible format which would be available on floppy disk. (The Zoo has yet to make available the electronic version of the Smithsonian Study for wide distribution, preferring to provide only the unfootnoted summary by the PR Office of the Zoo. Eddie)

The five-page summary supports Becker's assertion that black slaves owned by the property's onetime owner, Roger Johnson, must have been involved in the farming of the property and possibly even the construction of the Holt House.

The original documents, however, are inconclusive as to when the Holt House was built. If its original owner was Jonathan Shoemaker, a Quaker, it is not likely he owned slaves.

But if Johnson built the home, he probably used slave labor, the summary report concludes.

"One might surmise that if Johnson provided support for the construction of a dwelling during his ownership [after 1809], it is likely that any slaves he may have owned who were experienced in building structures would have played a major role in erecting such a dwelling," Hoage wrote in the summary. (Since Johnson's son George ran the Mill for John Quincy Adams the question still remaining is "were Johnson's slaves used to operate the Adams Mill? Eddie)

Hoage said it is equally unclear what role, if any, slaves played in the operation of the mills and farms located on the property, and whether former slaves are buried in the African-American cemetery which was established in 1870. (That cemetery, which was used by the Zoo as its dumpster site, may have been established much earlier It may be likely that people who were enslaved on the property were buried on the land that eventually became the African American Cemetery. Eddie)

"That's a logical, educated guess ... but it's still speculation," he said.

Eddie's comments follow.

To answer these and other questions the Smithsonian should:

1. Make available the 700 + of documentation, in electronic format, once on-line, everyone interested in the research might have an opportunity to read and write on the topic.

2. The most intriguing facet of the story, the one that really inspired this whole research into the history of slavery at the Holt house has been left unresearched. Zoo officials spoke of being taken down to the Holt House cellar and shown the prison like slave quarters. Who conducted these tours? what else were they told? Is this unique or common in slavery? The Smithsonian study failed to follow-up on these oral histories, or even to visit the site and evaluate what these eyewitness had said?

3. Complete the stabilization of the Holt House to ensure the integrity of the planned Archeological Study at the Holt House. The Zoo has yet to ask for funding for that study. It will likely take years for them to get to it. Therefore, in order to insure the integrity of all the artifacts, the building stabilization must be completed according to established standards.

4. The Smithsonian has failed to follow Smithsonian Directive 418 (March 19, 1993). The Office of Architectural History and Historic Preservation (OAHP) has responsibility for implementing the policy and practice of historic preservation at the Smithsonian, ... and to determine conformance with this policy. That directive specifically mentions The Holt House. The OAHP has failed to perform the most central of its mandated tasks, which is to determine whether the National Zoological Park is in conformance with the national standards on historic preservation. Where is that study? Why has it not been done.