Mary Wible and Walt Lafty were at Monday’s East Torresdale Civic Association meeting to talk about the nonprofit Grand Army of the Republic Civil War Museum & Archive, 8110 Frankford Ave.
The museum is open for free tours on Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Private tours at other times can be scheduled.
Wible and Lafty said the museum includes artifacts, weapons, records, letters and other treasures.
Specifically, the museum has the original handcuffs that John Wilkes Booth was going to use in a planned kidnapping of Abraham Lincoln; Lincoln’s blood on a piece of a pillowcase used after he was shot; the head of Old Baldy, the horse ridden by Union Maj. Gen. George Meade in the Battle of Gettysburg; and the medical kit belonging to Dr. Mary Walker, the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor.
Wible also discussed Stamps for the Wounded, a Virginia-based program that has been in existence since 1942. She asked people to cut the stamps off pieces of mail before throwing out the envelopes. The stamps can then be sent to Stamps for the Wounded, P.O. Box 297, Dunn Loring, VA 22027-0297.
The museum has been open on Frankford Avenue since 2021. Previously, it had been at 4278 Griscom St. in Frankford, but the volunteers who run the museum looked to move for better visibility, improved accessibility and a safer neighborhood.
For more information, call 215-613-0350 or visit garmuslib.org.
In other news:
• Capt. Nick DeBlasis, abruptly transferred last March to the Command Inspections Bureau, has returned as commander of the 8th Police District.
• Ross Mitchell, executive director of Glen Foerd on the Delaware, told the crowd that the estate’s 121-year-old pipe organ has been restored, and 200 people attended a Jan. 6 concert to mark its return.
• East Torresdale Civic Association will meet on Monday, Feb. 12, at 7 p.m. at All Saints’ Episcopal Church, 9601 Frankford Ave. ••
