Two illustrations were valuable guides for the restoration of Petersen House, the house where Lincoln died.
Albert Berghaus made a woodcut that shows many details of the president’s death room. The walls are covered with striped paper and there’s a narrow border at the top. The pictures on the walls are shown in detail. Clothing is hanging from hooks on the west wall — a vest, a cloak, an overcoat and maybe another coat or a pair of trousers.
A candlestick is obvious on the floor by the bed. A stove pipe end sticks out of one wall. A cap hangs over the back door.
William Petersen’s boarders signed statement attesting to the accuracy of his sketches for Leslies’ Illustrated Newspaper.
Artist Albert Waud sketched the room as it appeared that weekend, with many of the same details.
Source: National Park Service