Here is a site to answer a few of your questions:
http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dpr/html/housesm_littlered.html.  Some dim memories
that I can't pull up right now have me thinking there were other times children
were involved with rescue campaigns.  Any help from others?

Michael Davidson wrote:

> Many thanks for the info on the light house only I could not pick up most of
> the info on the mime format in which it was sent....in a nutshell is it a
> historic sight and can you visit it; and is it so the children of the 1950's
> helped save it in a writing campaign; and if so could this be the beginings
> of the preservation movement as we know it?
>                      I realize Gettysburg and TR 's National parcs followed
> by Jamestown and Williamsburg all predate the lighthouse but was it the first
> time children were involved in preservation           signed    .."woodsman
> spare that tree"