DACOR Bacon House History: Academic Library




Most Recent Articles



The Friendship between the Carroll Family and Oliver Otis Howard, Civil War General and Commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau, 1865-1874

Jul 13 2026
General Oliver Otis Howard, Commissioner of the Freedman’s Bureau and namesake of Howard University, had a decade’s long friendship with the Carroll family that began when he and his young family shared a cottage at West Point with Lt. S. Sprigg Carroll and his wife and daughter during 1860-1861. Howard was then teaching mathematics at West Point and Carroll was one of the academy’s quartermasters. During the Civil War, Sally Sprigg Carroll nursed him through an illness, and the Carrolls’ house on F Street remained a welcome haven whenever he was in town.


The Fullers’ Household Staff, 1896-1910

Dec 1 2025
Chief Justice Melville Fuller and his family came to Washington in 1888 shortly after his confirmation by the Senate, and they lived in several rented houses until they purchased 1801 F Street in 1896. Molly Fuller, mother of seven daughters and one son and stepmother of two more daughters, required a staff of workers to help her run the house and manage entertainment at the high level expected of the second most important national figure in the District’s social hierarchy. Her basic staff were three Black women for most of the time she lived on F Street. This posting examines the household staff of the Fullers during their time in Washington.


Mary Coolbaugh Fuller, Thwarted Concert Pianist

Nov 24 2025
Mary Ellen Coolbaugh Fuller, known as Mamie by the family, was born on March 17, 1867, the eldest child of Melville Fuller, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and Mary Ellen (“Mollie”) Fuller. She seems to have been conceived on the Fullers’ honeymoon in Europe and was the first of seven daughters and two sons that Mollie gave birth to. She is said to have been her father’s favorite child. Brilliant, headstrong, chronically ill and a thwarted concert pianist, she provided both great joy, pride, and perplexing grief for her prominent and ever-wary parents.

Mamie visited her parents often at 1801 F Street after they moved into the house in 1896. She was present at the wedding of her younger sister Fanny in 1906 which took place in the house. But her home was in Chicago where she had grown up and where she had many friends.

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Our Authors


Terence Walz is the resident historian at DACOR Bacon House. He is a historian of modern Egyptian history with a doctorate from Boston University. He is the author and editor of two published books and has recently contributed articles to the Journal of Supreme Court History and the website of the White House Historical Association. Dr. Walz’s work in international organizations led him to the DACOR Bacon House where he has been a member for six years. He has taken on the task of researching and documenting the history of the DACOR home, its history, and its inhabitants, particularly the first one hundred years. This archive is a growing collection of his work.



Elizabeth Warner, a lawyer by training and DACOR member, is researching the life of Virginia Murray Bacon, the last private owner of the DACOR Bacon House from 1925 to 1980. She is an adjunct professor at New England College, where she designs and teaches courses in law and political science. A long-term resident of the Washington, D.C. area, she also lived and worked throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia for 14 years, often in extremely challenging environments. In addition to articles about Mrs. Bacon, she has published material on human rights, international law and other subjects. Ms. Warner has law degrees from the University of Michigan and Georgetown University.