For more than two decades, librarian Jerry McCoy has collected and cared for some of D.C.’s most treasured items in the Peabody Room of the Georgetown Library.
As McCoy retires, he spoke with News4 about the fire that almost destroyed the collection and showed some of its most important artifacts.
McCoy helped revive it after the fire so that visitors could get a glimpse into Georgetown’s rich history.
For 24 years, McCoy has guided curious visitors through Georgetown’s history, working with everyone from grade-school kids to doctoral candidates. He said it’s hard to leave his job with the DC Public Library.
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“Every day that I would come here I was like a kid in a candy shop,” he said.
A fire in 2007 could have destroyed the whole collection.
"The fire of Monday, April 30, 2007 was the most difficult day of my life. I literally felt like a family member had died as I stood out across our street and watched the smoke coming out of the building," McCoy said.
He went to grief counseling and suffered panic attacks for weeks.
He said it was a miracle that everything in the collection survived.
One of the most valued artifacts are bound editions of the Maryland Gazette newspaper from 1776, which include the text of the Declaration of Independence.
“It gives me chills every time I share this with somebody, and they’re just really amazed that this was published as a news story,” McCoy said.
While the Declaration of Independence is one of the oldest items in the collection, McCoy’s favorite is an 1822 portrait of Yarrow Mamut. It’s one of only a handful of paintings depicting an identified, formerly enslaved Muslim.
Upon his retirement, McCoy will turn his attention to organizing his personal collection, which has piled up at home.
“Many times I’ve thought about, before I fall asleep, what history is being thrown away in a dumpster tonight,” McCoy said. “It’s really important to hold on and reserve what we have today.”
