Carl and Theodore Hansen on the Sarah Winchester Estate

Carl and Theodore Hansen on the Sarah Winchester Estate

Carl Hansen Collection

Sarah Winchester's Finances

This photo provided by the Carl Hansen Collection directly proves the issue of democratic representation that Carole Blair Neil Michel raised in their article. This photo and collection directly proves the existence of these two boys on the estate. From the Sarah Winchester at San Jose History page, they "spent their formative years living on Sarah Winchester’s estate in San Jose, as children of John and Nellie Hansen. John was the ranch foreman from the late 1890s until Winchester’s death in 1922" (History San Jose). The only evidence of these two boys having lived on this estate being the photograph and not an actual material representation on the estate highlights the key issue of the house as a site of public memory. This is not necessarily placing blame on the Winchester Investments LLC which currently owns the house, but demonstrates the limitation of the house because of the lack of representation of other people who lived on the estate with Sarah Winchester when she was alive. Public memory then continues to perpetuate the synecdoche of the Winchester House as being only about Sarah Winchester and not about the other inhabitants that had their own trajectories interwoven into the space, but forgotten through time.

Sources:
Photo: Carl Hansen Collection, "Hansen Collection Materials". Historysanjose.org. https://historysanjose.pastperfectonline.com/photo/4A68D44B-DC0C-4D95-B3F0-578446696576
Quote: "Sarah Winchester at History San Jose". http://historysanjose.org/wp/research-collection/research-library/sarah-winchester-at-history-san-jose/

historysanjose.org

Kevin Thich

1890-1922