Jane Winik Sartwell

Jane Winik Sartwell, recent graduate of Bard College and native of Baltimore City, developed her interest in history and archival research in her college courses. In her free time, she practices photography, visits DC's museums, and trains for races. She hopes to continue nurturing her history proclivities and expanding her research and writing skills during her internship with Boundary Stones. To learn more about her, visit her website, janesartwell.com.

Posts by this Author

For decades, the land on the western bank of the Potomac River that is currently home to the Pentagon, Ronald Reagan National Airport, Roache’s Run Bird Sanctuary, and part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway was disputed territory. Did it belong to Virginia? The District? No one seemed quite sure.

On a cold, overcast Tuesday morning in February 1981, something caught the eye of a museum technician as he walked through the “We the People” exhibit on the second floor of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History: The silver pen of President McKinley’s Secretary of State John Hay was missing. The 7 ¼-inch Parker Jointless pen had been used to sign the 1898 Treaty of Paris, ending the Spanish-American War.

But now, to the technician’s horror, its case was empty -- and there were more alarming discoveries to come.