What good is a tent with a big hole in the roof?  Well, if the tent was used by George Washington during the Revolutionary War then it is a major piece of United States history; hole or no hole.  This is exactly what the American Revolution Center in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania had in its collection.

The hole had been there in the roof of the tent for almost 100 years and is believed to have been made when a memorabilia-seeker snipped out a piece for his collection.  By 2004, scholars had long given up any hope of ever seeing the tent whole again.  Then, the nearly impossible happened.

Loreen Finkelstein, a conservator working to preserve the tent, was visiting Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home in Virginia.  While there she mentioned to Mount Vernon curator Carol Borchert Cadou the story of the hole in Washington’s tent.  That is when she discovered that Mount Vernon had in its collection several cloth fragments supposed to have been pieces of tents used by Washington.

Ms. Cadou showed the fragments to Mrs. Finkelstein and one of them, on loan from Yale University, appeared to be about the same size and shape as the missing piece.  Mrs. Finkelstein took a template of the piece and some thread samples back home with her and made the amazing discovery: This was the missing piece!

In early 2007, through the efforts of the American Revolution Center, Yale, and Mount Vernon the fragment was finally reunited with the rest of the tent and, as expected, it was a perfect match.
 
The New York Times called the discovery a “combination of luck and forensic detective work.”  The Museum of Missing History works to take some of the luck out of that equation.  By publishing the stories of missing historic objects on the Internet the museum makes connections that accelerate the pace of discovery.  Now luck will play less of a role in the survival and study of the puzzle pieces of the past.

Vistit the American Revolution Center and Mount Vernon to learn more.

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