Longfellow House Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site: Japan Room at the Longfellow House

Built in 1759, the house become the first headquarters for George Washington after he assumed control of the American forces during the Revolutionary War. Later, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow lived there as a boarder, and was given the house as a wedding gift by his father-in-law.

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Collection size: as of August 2014

The Longfellow House includes a fine arts collection, historic furnishings, Japanese and Chinese collections, a 12,000-volume library, and an archives and manuscript collection. The Japanese and Chinese collections include ceramics, paintings, bronzes, literature, furnishings, Japanese obi and kimono, over 350 photographs of Meiji-era Japan, and other items from the mid-nineteenth century.

The Longfellow House's collection is important not simply for its content but because it was one of the earliest traveler's collections brought back to the Boston area from Japan, by Charles Longfellow, Henry's son. After serving in the Civil War Charles traveled extensively and was especially taken by Japan. He spent a twenty month period there from June 1871 to May 1873 and became fascinated with Japan just as it emerged from its isolation. Charles traveled throughout Japan, recorded his travels in a diary and was photographed widely. The artifacts he brought back were seen by and helped fuel the interests of later collectors including William Sturgis Bigelow, Isabella Stewart Gardner, and Edward Sylvester Morse.