Office or Library
For thirty years the Hermitage was the political center of the United States, and Andrew Jackson was the most influential man of his party. Many visitors, political and otherwise, were constantly being received by General Jackson in this office.
The books are those that constituted General and Mrs. Jackson’s library and some of those of the two succeeding generations. The bookcases, which were General and Mrs. Jackson’s, hold volumes of history, poetry, fiction, theology, military regulations, law, medical practices for the home, veterinary science, gardening, bound state papers and newspapers of the time, school books, etc., numbering over 400.
The tables of mahogany, the brass candlestick, mahogany chairs, pair of bronze oil lamps, cut glass celande or hurricane shade, brass spittoon, boar paperweight, and owl inkstand are all original. The carpet, not originally in the Hermitage, was obtained from the home of Mrs. Edgar Foster, which was built in the period of the Hermitage. Other original furnishings are:
1. Three cherry bookcases. 2. Chair, made from wood of the frigate Constitution, presented to Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Navy, 1837; Secretary of the Treasury, 1834, to March, 1837; during the administration of President Jackson. Presented to the Hermitage by Miss Ellen C. Woodbury, daughter of Levi Woodbury, in 1900. 3. Mahogany bookcase and desk. 4. Bust of General Jackson by Hiram Powers. This Powers bust of Jackson, by the sculptor before he went to Italy for study, is one of the best examples of pure American art. 5. Old map of New Hampshire. 6. and 7. Pair of paintings of DeSoto and his wife, Isabella. Presented by Louis Philippe to President Jackson. 8. Jackson’s bound copies of the Globe Democrat, Published at Washington, D. C., while he was President of the United States. Presented by Mrs. Bettie M. Donelson. 9. Old Newspapers of Jackson’s time (Bound). Presented by Mrs. Rachel Jackson Lawrence. Atlas with Andrew Jackson’s signature Sept. 12, 1835. 10. Bust of Levi Woodbury, of General Jackson’s cabinet. 11. Case, made of historic wood taken from the old building first used as a statehouse in Nashville, 1812-1815. The case was made to protect the bound volumes of newspapers of Jackson’s day. Wood given by Mrs. Jennie C. Buntin. 12. Invalid chair, presented to General Jackson by the mechanics of Nashville. Invented by Dr. Holmes of South Carolina, who presented duplicates to Queen Victoria and John C. Calhoun. 13. Mahogany candlestand, upon which General Jackson always opened his mail, and candlestick on beaded mat; his Bible and spectacles. 14. Marble-topped table at which General Jackson issued directives at the Battle of New Orleans. Presented by Judge John Minnick Williams of Altus, Okla., formerly of Nashville. 15. Chair, presented to Jackson by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. 16. Pair of bronze and crystal oil candelabra on mantel. 17. Portrait by Earl of General Jackson on Sam Patch, white horse presented him in 1833 by the citizens of Pennsylvania. General Jackson rode this horse in a civic and military parade given in his honor in Philadelphia, after which it was sent to Nashville. Federal soldiers whom General Geo. H. Thomas had placed as guard at the Hermitage fired a military salute over the grave of the horse. 18. The walnut office desk with a number of secret drawers; used constantly when Jackson was practicing attorney. 19. Steel engraving of George Washington. 20. Bust of Lewis Cass, Secretary of War and Minister Plenipotentiary to France under General Jackson. 21. Liquor Chest of General Jackson. Presented by Mrs. Michael Mullens of Baltimore, Maryland.