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Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
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Also, see the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
President James A. Garfield (1831-1881) is shot by Charles Guiteau at the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C on July 2, 1881. Although he was severely wounded, President Garfield initially survived the shooting. He never fully recovered though, and passed away on September 19, a mere six months after his inauguration as President. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
| July 2, 1881 | President James A. Garfield is shot and severely wounded by Charles J. Guiteau, a disgruntled office-seeker, at a railroad station in Washington, D.C |
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| July 1881 | Alexander Graham Bell unsuccessfully tries to locate the bullet with a metal detector he designed specifically for Garfield. |
| September 6, 1881 | Garfield, in poor condition, is taken to the New Jersey seaside, and dies soon after on |
| September 19, 1881 | Chester A. Arthur assumes presidency. |
| September 21,1881 | A funeral procession carrying Garfield’s remains travels from New Jersey to Washington, DC and finally to Ohio, where Garfield is buried. |
| January 25, 1882 | Guiteau is found guilty. June 30, 1882: Guiteau is executed. |
