Thousands of artifacts under one roof. Get a glimpse into the family life of our 27th President and 10th Chief Justice during the late Victorian era.

*** Beginning in April 2019, we plan to feature a new museum piece each month, in addition to special online exhibits. Check back for updates! ***

An example piece: Painting and Sculpture

Oil on Canvas of Peter Rawson Taft by William Walcutt

Painting of President Taft’s paternal grandfather, Peter Rawson Taft, at the William Howard Taft National Historic Site in the Mount Auburn section of Cincinnati Ohio. The house museum is the birthplace and childhood home of the 27th president of the United States, who later became the 10th U.S. chief justice as well. Peter Rawson Taft was a Vermont legislator and judge who moved his family to the bumptious young city of Cincinnati in the early 19th Century; there it would become an Ohio, and later national, political dynasty.

Completed in 1859 in Cincinnati, OH

Dimensions 25.98 x 32 inches

Medium Oil paint, canvas, metal, and wood

 

Peter Rawson Taft and his wife Sylvia joined their only child Alphonso in his home in Cincinnati in 1838. P. Taft spent much of his life in West Townshend, Vermont. Active in local and state government, he served as a justice of the peace, judge in county and probate courts, and member of the Vermont legislature. He died in 1889 and is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery. This portrait hangs in parlor of the Taft house.