New-York tribune. [volume], June 05, 1904, Image 29

About New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
M Mirso Rooseveltt 9 s C®llllee\ti©ini
W .i«lunj;lon Cup and Sii\-ii«r
WHILE (be White Boose at Wash
ington is without doubt the most
historic building in America, as
di of the Presidents of the I'nited
States with the one exception of Wash
ington have lived beneath its roof, ye
there is comparatively little within its
lour walls that is of historical value.
This is because all furniture and fur
nishings naturally wear out with usage,
but more especially because during the
century of its exigence the mistresses o
the mansion have been changed practi
cally every four years, and it has inevita-
My followed that each new mistress ha
discarded and r- placed the furniture :::id
belongings of the house to suit her
odi i.hial tastes.
S o ■boot the only articles left in the
OBKHO, the history of which can be
traced with accuracy, are the Presidential china and
plate: the Prince Albert U-d-room lite in the apartment
in which the President deeps; the desk presented to the
Bwciiwe Mansion by Queen Victoria, now in the
Pre-id.-r.'.'s study; Ibe portrait painting? of the differ
in Presidents, and dme of a few of their (rives; and
one bric-a-brac. It i*. this -carcity that lends par
icular importance to Mr-. Roosevelt's reoeni deter
i ination to make a collection of the Presidential
t. •;. ware arid to preserve specimens at the White
11 ise oi ,-iii that has been us,- d by each of the twenty
ti\ Presidents of the United States
i i> not an easy ta>k that the mistress of the White
So c has taken upon her ronnjj shoulders. HThen
CcA d I" W. Symons hwcanw Soperintendent of
I'i;i ■ Buildings and Grounds lasi fear he discovered
that there was Domparatively little of the Presidential
\hina or plate left m the Whit.- House, He com
municated ttus fact to Mrs. Roosevelt, and Euggested
the importance of taking some means to preserve it.
Mr--, Roosevelt acted upon the suggestion at once.
She designed the cabinets to receive the china; she
pur the prosecution of 'he work into Colonel Sjmons*
hands; and invited the writer. who had made a study
of the sv.Hcct. to . ast them in collecting and arranging
the ware.
Dp to this time two cabinets have been filled with
specimen pieces of the dishes now in use in the White
House, and three more are to be added soon. Un
fortunately, there is not as yet any appropriation
from v. •.-.' this money can be taken to purchase
this china: but Mrs. Roosevelt hopes that the owners
will loan it to be displayed in the White House
cabinets. When an appropriation is made by Con
k'ress. that which is on display will be the first
to be considered should the owners care to sell it.
. It is difficult to trace the history
of the Presidential ware. Fortun
ately much of that purchased by
Washington i- still in existence, and
thanks to the minuteness with
which he described it in his will, is
i.v:!y identified even at this late
day. There are extant some pieces
of several sets "f his thina. ammi^
them that of the Van Braam. with
it-- decorative chain of fifteen large
a:. 1 lifteen small links, the lar^'T
links iM-arin^' the names of the
Estates that at that time had been
.dtnitted to the Union, and the
mor.-.^ram "M. W." emblazoned in
the center of each piece; the ("in
unnati set. every piece of which
ivav decorated with the badge of
the Order of Cincinnati, the Preach
' hi:. a el of pure white outfitted
■ pencilings of gold; and the
111 11 1...
Clo-.il in
b.iM-menl
Corridor
of While
House
■ ■ •. •
A .'•■ .' deal of i i;i~ i hina
I . ■
Parke Curtis, who ai thai tim< was living on hi>
At his death he left it lo hi
grandson, George Washington Curti Lee, thi eldesi
son of Kol.er? V. Lee, who subsequently gave his
' in it to his sister. Miss Mary Lee Thi
the china that, with other Washingtoniana, wa
■'"red in the PaU I I ife keeping during tin-
War of the Rebellion and was later put on exhibition
in the National Museum, but which President
McKinley returned to Miss Lee in the summer of
1898.
Some <>f tlie Washington china and plate, originally
comprised in the collection that the Government
bought from the Lewis heir-., is now on exhibition at
the National Museum. Mrs. Kennon of Georgetown,
a great-granddaughter of Martha Washington, possesses
the most valuable private collection of Washing-
Plate of
Out. ..nd S..uicr «>f Mudi*on Collection
By
Albby G, Bater
Ori.nl S.I
Washington PuncK-buwl
Umiana;bul many other oi the
family descendants in various
parts of the country have
pieces from whom Mrs.
Rooseveli hopes t<> secure
specimens for the White
11' >use cabinets
< >f the china used by both
John Adams and John Quhv
cy Adams some pieces are
still in tli«' possession of tluir
descendants, who are scattered
throughout New-England :
while sniiH- ..f the Jefferson,
Madison, Monroe and Jackson
china is preserved in Virginia
and the District of Columbia.
There is a handsome fruit
!»>wl belonging to a set ti^td
by "Dolly" Madison while
v\.i> mistn ■ oi the
Pn ident ' h< >v c which -- 1 ■> 1 1
th« idi board of the
• i at the
1 1 md in the < i di
late Mrs
■■ ■ : ' ■■:.•■ ■■.<. n there
'?;• and sauc« r.
I i!< rsli- v Si;:! 1 h' s Washing-
I ; ■ '. i ' i
: to his i
by Mi Madi I Mrs
Emily Wil
daughu r of Pit t Jacks< »n
'■'. tOl '■ :■ ■!■■! !;■,'■
I ' • that th< early Pn
■ ' ■ cl vi that wa used upon the
mdi\ idual admini: tratii >ns,
and that they took it with them when they weni c»ui
II i <\ident that tin-, provoked criticism
even in the "good uld days of democracy." for a
great-grandniece of Presideni Buchanan recalls vividly
how indignant thai irascible old man grew when it
was suggested to him by his niece, Harrii t Lane
Johnston, who was the mistress of the mansion during
his administration, thai they should carry away their
china. He utterly refused to permit them to take
a piece of it. emphatically declaring that no one should
ever have the opportunity to say thai he took away
anything that belonged to the President's house.
Whether Buchanan's example was followed by Ins
immediate successors or not cannot be determined,
although there is still, in one of the storage closets of
the White House, an interesting lot of china that as
yet has been unidentified and was in all probability
purchased by some of the earlier incumbents of the
high office.
The President's house has never
been generously supplied with either
]>l;itr or china, and for this reason
whenever ;i large State dinner or
banquet is given all of its wan-,
no matter how rare or historic, lias
to be prtsst-*! into service. Only
five of the Presidents, as far as
can be traced, have purchased
complete sets <«f dishes tor the
dining table. These were Presidents
Lincoln, Grant, Hayes. Harrison and
Ri m isevelt. The others supplied i >nly
such ware as was required to supply
tin- needs of the time being.
When Mrs. Roosevelt derided to
undertake to collect specimens of
the Presidential china for the White
House she also decided to put the
cabinets containing the china in a
{.art of the mansion where it could