NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Gaslighting in America A Guide for Historic Preservation

It is a pleasure to thank the many people without whose kind assistance the writing of this paper would have been onerous indeed. John C. Poppeliers, Chief of the Historic American Buildings Survey, graciously acceded to requests for specially taken photographs, and Jack E. Boucher, HABS Photographer, devoted much overtime and skill to supplying illustrative material. Henry A. Judd, Chief Historical Architect, National Park Service, kindly supplied data on Ford's Theater.

James M. Goode, Curator of the Smithsonian Building, was exceedingly generous both with his time and with photographs of gas fixtures in the collection under his care, none of which had been previously photographed. My thanks go to him and Rodris Roth, Curator, Division of Costumes and Furnishings at the Smithsonian, for their thoughtful review of the manuscript. Donald J. Lehman supplied much information on pertinent material in the National Archives and on the artist-designer Richard von Ezdorf. William Seale lent a number of particularly informative photographs from his extensive collection of interior views. Keir Helberg spent a day showing his restored gaslighting in Baltimore and discussing the fine points of various types of burners. Craig Littlewood offered useful data on early manufactures.

Suzanne Boorsch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Print Room, Etta Falkner, Librarian of Old Sturbridge Village, Edith Nisbet, Librarian of the American Gas Association, Arlington, Virginia, and Wendy Shadwell of the New York Historical Society were helpful well beyond the call of duty. David Sellin, Curator of the U.S. Capitol, and Florian H. Thayne in the Architect of the Capitol's office assisted materially with research of obscure questions regarding the correspondence of the two Philadelphia firms of Cornelius and Baker and Archer and Warner relating to the Capitol.

Mary Ison and C. Ford Peatross of the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress were helpful and took a personal interest in the research. Stanley Brown, Douglas Helms, and Michael Musack of the National Archives were also most generous with assistance of more than a routine kind. The Bernard Fensterwalds of Alexandria, Virginia, allowed photographs to be taken of one of their chandeliers. Last, but certainly not least, thanks are due an Alexandria resident who allowed her gaslighted chandelier to be photographed but who wishes to remain anonymous. In the course of a prolonged research project, it is almost inevitable that some who helped are overlooked. To them go both thanks and an apology for the omission of their names. It is also almost inevitable in a pioneering research effort that factual errors occur. For whatever errors may have crept in, the author alone is responsible.