To commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of
Robert E. Lee in 2007, Lee’s
office was refurbished. Objects, including the original table cover, were reproduced to reflect the contemporary images recorded
in 1870.
Exactly As Lee Left It?
Lee last came to his office on September 28, 1870. Immediately after his death on October 12, 1870, the college faculty resolved that his office be set aside in memory of him. Tradition holds that it has not been disturbed since.
Lee's Office, October 1870
Stereo view, Boude & Miley
Rockbridge Historical Society Collection,
Leyburn Library Special Collections
Historic documents indicate that some details of the office as we now know it may not be quite as Lee left them. A lithograph by A. J. Volck, based on his own earlier painting of Lee in his office in the summer of 1870, shows a room in some disarray. Papers, loosely organized in piles but not neatly stacked, cover the center table. Books on the sideboard/bookcase are disorganized. A trunk sits in the corner by the sideboard, covered with papers. A mirror rests on the floor, leaning against the wall behind Lee’s chair. Volck’s artistic interpretation, except for the pattern of the rug, is confirmed by a stereo view of the office photographed immediately after Lee’s death by Michael Miley (marked Boude & Miley).
Lee's Office, October 1870
Photograph by Michael Miley
Leyburn Library Special Collections
Lee's Office, ca. 1998
Photograph by Patrick Hinely
Another Miley photograph taken at least a week later shows objects in the same locations—but the room has been tidied. In fact, the faculty’s resolution also included a request that the ladies of Lexington remove the funeral decorations so that the office could be set aside as a memorial. Perhaps the Lexington ladies wished to reflect Lee’s reputation for orderliness and cleaned out more than the funeral decorations. The tidiness is recorded in later photographs, which also lack earlier incidental furnishings, including the trunk and mirror.
Nevertheless, the documents do prove that change has been minimal. Lee’s office looks much the way it did in the summer of 1870. Over the years, important university documents and books have been transferred for preservation and research to W&L’s Special Collections. Some furnishings have been removed during previous restorations; for example, the patterned red table damaged by years of exposure, was placed in storage in the 1960s. The felted wool cloth now on display is an exact replica of the original.