The card is one of those modern photos, with a smaller older photo in front of some of the photo to show a 'what is looked like before and now.' This one is of George Washington's homestead and (in the old photo) shows ladies of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association - the United States' first national historic preservation organization. They worked to save George Washington's homestead. Today, it is a non-profit organization that continues to preserve and maintain the Mount Vernon estate of George Washington.
The organization raised USD$200 000 (USD$4.1 million in 2003 dollars) to buy the Mount Vernon estate. They opened on 22 February 1860 as a museum. The organization founded in 1853 by Ann Pamela Cunningham of South Carolina appointed 30 vice-regents - one woman per state - and they helped raise the necessary capital to purchase the property. The organization hoped to heal the sectional divisions that were deepening over the issue of slavery in the United States. During the American Civil War, restoration efforts were put on hold, but resumed in 1866.
It was Cunningham's mother who spurred her into action. Her mother sailed on a steamboat that traveled past the Mount Vernon estate. She wrote to Cunningham the next day and mentioned the "neglect, decay, and desolation" of the estate. She also wrote "If the men of American have seen fit to allow the home of its most respected hero to go to ruin, why can't the women of America band together to save it?"
Today they still rely on private donations and is overseen by a board of regents with women from 27 states.
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