Detailed account of Van Buskirk's visit to her sisters Julia Wilbur and Francis Hartwell in Washington, D.C., from September 15th to 30th, 1881. About half the book is spent detailing Mount Vernon, which the sisters visited. It also describes in detail the death and funeral of president James A. Garfield, including a speech given by Frederick Douglass. The rest describes visiting various places in Washington and Alexandria, including the Navy Yard, former slave pens, the "colored home for the friendless and orphan children," Howard University, the Capitol, Lafayette Square, Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church, Georgetown, Long Bridge, Oak Hill Cemetery, the Patent Office, the Corcoran Gallery, the Dead Letter Office, Arlington Cemetery, and the National Museum at the Smithsonian Institute. Compare mc1158_02_01_001, Julia Wilbur's diary for 1881, which describes some of the same events.
