In July 1881, James Garfield was shot and mortally wounded by Charles Guiteau. He lingered for two and a half months before dying, during which his wife stayed at his bedside and received much public sympathy. Lucretia Garfield returned to her former residence in Ohio after being widowed, living in what is now the James A. Garfield National Historic Site. She spent much of the rest of her life preserving her husband's papers and other materials, establishing what was effectively the first presidential library.