• Lucretia Rudolph Garfield
    Consolidated Cigar Company
    portrait
    This illustrated portrait of First Lady Lucretia Rudolph Garfield was created by the Consolidated Cigar Company. Her portrait is one in a series of printed tobacco cards featuring the images of several first ladies. After the assassination of her husband, President James Garfield, in 1881, Mrs. Garfield left the White House to return to their home in Ohio. She would eventually add a wing to the home to house his presidential papers.
  • The Attempted Assassination of the President - Scene in the President's Sleeping Room
    Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper
    assassination
    This engraving depicts the scene in President James Garfield's bedroom at the White House as he struggles to recover from an assassin's bullet. Garfield was shot on July 2, 1881 inside a Washington, D.C. train station by Charles Guiteau, who had sought a position in the government and was rejected. The president succumbed to his wounds 11 weeks later. The engraving was based on sketches by Albert Berghaus and Charles Upham and first appeared in "Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper."
  • Lucretia Rudolph Garfield
    Mathew Brady
    portrait
    This portrait photograph of First Lady Lucretia Rudolph Garfield was taken by Mathew Brady. After the assassination of her husband, President James Garfield, in 1881, she added a wing to their home in Ohio to house his presidential papers. Brady was one of the most prominent photographers in American history, best known for his Civil War photography.
  • Lucretia Rudolph Garfield
    Mary Brenda Francklyn
    portrait
    This watercolor on ivory portrait of First Lady Lucretia Garfield was done by Mary Brenda Francklyn near the end of Mrs. Garfield's life. Before she married, she taught in both Cleveland and Bayou, Ohio. She was recovering from malaria in New Jersey when President Garfield was shot three months into his first term in 1881. Though she was not yet well, she rushed back to Washington, D.C., to be with him. After his death, she led a private life and eventually resettled in South Pasadena, California.