has involved many avenues of inquiry.

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "has involved many avenues of inquiry."

Irma Bradford
5 years ago
Views:

Documenting the History of the White House Library Fireplace Tiles: Supplementary Material Research on the White House library fireplace tiles has involved many avenues of inquiry.

The tiles were kept uncataloged in their original shipping crate. The box was opened and the tiles repacked Prying open the shipping crate, 2005. during a ca. 1979 collections inventory.

1 Documenting the History of the White House Library Fireplace Tiles: Supplementary Material Research on the White House library fireplace tiles has involved many avenues of inquiry. The nineteen tiles removed from the White House library fireplace in 1962 made their way to the FDR Presidential Library and Museum. The acquisition date remains uncertain. The tiles were kept uncataloged in their original shipping crate. The box was opened and the tiles repacked Prying open the shipping crate, during a ca collections inventory. Thereafter, the crate appears to have remained closed until 2005, when registrar Michelle Frauenberger photographed the reveal. Once the crate was opened, Frauenberger photographed each tile (see page 4).

2 2 Tile & Plaque out of Library is handwritten on the crate, which was addressed to Eleanor Roosevelt at Val Kill and shipped via Railway Express. Clues from the shipping crate Handwritten information on, and labels adhered to, the crate provide clues as to the crate s travels and its original contents. An engraved brass plaque had been placed on the White House Library wall, explaining the significance of the tiles. According to the handwritten notation on the crate, the plaque should have been inside, but it was not there when FDR Library & Museum staff opened the container in It turns out that the plaque had been removed previously, and was stored uncataloged on site. It has since been recorded in the collections database. It is not known whose handwriting was on the crate. The White House used the Railway Express Agency (REA), which functioned from 1917 to 1975, to ship the box from Washington, D.C. to Hyde Park, N.Y. If there were any question about the year in which the crate traveled by REA to its destination, one could at minimum conclude that 1962 was within the range of REA s years of operation. J. B. West was chief usher of the White House and worked closely with Mrs. Kennedy. It is not entirely clear who directed that the crate be sent to Mrs. Roosevelt at Val Kill Cottage, Hyde Park.

More clues The May 15, 1980 date of the newspaper

repacked after the collections inventory.

3 3 L: White House address label. R: Railway Express receipt fragment. More clues The May 15, 1980 date of the newspaper inside the crate suggests that the tiles were repacked after the collections inventory. It is unknown why the newspaper in question is the Washington Post. Perhaps it is relevant that the article Hail to a Chief, visible at left, is a review of an NBC television play about FDR, starring Jason Robards.

4 Visual literacy On the following two pages are the Frauenberger photographs of the tiles removed from the White House Library

The jpeg files are presented here with no cropping, color correction, or resizing, as documents in themselves of the tiles as

CONDITION Studying the degree of damage to each of the tiles revives the story of their removal, but also raises the importance

4 4 Visual literacy On the following two pages are the Frauenberger photographs of the tiles removed from the White House Library in 1962 and now in the collections of the FDR Library and Museum. The jpeg files are presented here with no cropping, color correction, or resizing, as documents in themselves of the tiles as recorded in 2005 upon the opening of the crate. CONDITION Studying the degree of damage to each of the tiles revives the story of their removal, but also raises the importance of seeing the whole tile, even if broken, as a complete artifact. COLOR It is immediately evident that the hue, saturation and value of the tiles photographed individually appears to differ from the corresponding characteristics of the tile shown with its packing material on page 3.

5 5

6 PAGE 5 Top: Seal of the President of the United States. Row 1: Shangri-La (Camp David); Lee Mansion, Arlington, Virginia; White House, West Wing. Row 2: Lincoln Memorial; U.S. Capitol; Jefferson Memorial. Row 3: Little White House, Warm Springs, Georgia; White House South Portico; Tomb of the Unknown. 6 PAGE 6 Row 1: Washington Monument; St. John s Church, Lafayette Square; Mount Vernon. Row 2: Octagon House; White House, East Wing; U. S. Treasury. Row 3: Monticello; FDR Presidential Library & Museum; White House, North Front.

7 COLOR, cont. These two images accompany entries in the Ohio History Connection museum collections public catalog. The objects are photographed with KODAK Color Control Patches.

Cataloging and metadata The Ohio History Connection and the FDR Library have entered object records for the tiles in different ways. The metadata for a tile depicting the U.S.

7 7 COLOR, cont. These two images accompany entries in the Ohio History Connection museum collections public catalog. The objects are photographed with KODAK Color Control Patches. CONTENT The Naval Medical Center tile (above) was used in the first White House library installation. The tile depicting Springwood, the FDR birthplace (left), was never used in the White House. Cataloging and metadata The Ohio History Connection and the FDR Library have entered object records for the tiles in different ways. The metadata for a tile depicting the U.S. Capitol, for example, includes the following text: Ohio History Connection Ceramic tile manufactured by the Mosaic Tile Company of Zanesville, Ohio, dates from 1944 to This square, white tile features a blue graphic of the United States Capitol. Written in blue below the building is U.S. CAPITOL / WM. J. HARTGROVES. FDR Library and Museum Delft tile with US CAPITOL/WM. J. HARTGROVES in the lower left. One of nineteen blue and white tiles... depicting scenes relating to the life of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The initial design ideas were FDR s, and the drawings were done by William J. Hartgroves of the General Services Administration (GSA).

8 Christmas customs Clearly the Hartgroves drawing of the North Front of the White House had

The Roosevelts chose that image with which to send Christmas greetings and a wish, in

Morris s granddaughter inherited duplicates of the White House tiles.

8 8 Christmas customs Clearly the Hartgroves drawing of the North Front of the White House had been completed by December The Roosevelts chose that image with which to send Christmas greetings and a wish, in wartime, for a happier new year. E. B. Morris s granddaughter inherited duplicates of the White House tiles. This snapshot shows the hearth in her home in Montgomery Village, Maryland in In 2013, the White House culinary staff reproduced the Library fireplace surround. Click image to watch Building the 2013 Gingerbread White House on YouTube.

9 9 Text: Sally Sims Stokes Image credits: Header photo: Sally Sims Stokes Pages 1 6: Michelle Frauenberger, National Archives & Records Administration Page 7: Ohio History Connection Page 8: Photos courtesy of Mary Helen Morris; still frame from whitehouse.gov via 00:59.

WASHINGTON, D.C. ACTIVITY PACKET

WASHINGTON, D.C. ACTIVITY PACKET Enclosed in these pages are the activities you are required to complete on our trip to Gettysburg, Washington, D.C., and Arlington National Cemetery. These activities have