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Document identity
localId
170104080
label
Press Release
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
170104080
contentType
document
title
Press Release
citationUrl
collections
President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)
White House Files
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1
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yes
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naId
170104080
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item
productionDates
day
6
logicalDate
1950-01-06
month
1
year
1950
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description
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nara-archive
Single page context
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1
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0
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photo
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5c5cc2b463e1f88c
ocrText
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 6, 1950
The Commission on Renovation of the Executive Mansion announced today
that marble setter R. J. Murphy and his helper, A. Lawrence McIvor, working
on the renovation of the White House, discovered a small box made of marble
buried in the entrance hall between the two center columns and under the well-
known floor slab which contains the dates in bronze, "1792-1902, " surrounded
by an ellipse of bronze stars.
The box was about 14 inches square and 3 inches deep, marked in pen-
cil on the top, "Tuesday, December 2, 1902," and on the inside of the bottom,
"w. S. Parker, Police Officer, White House, Dec. 2, 1902; Ike Hoover; W.M.G.;
N.R."
The box was evidently an unofficial cornerstone put in by the work-
men working on the building in the 1902 restoration. It contained the follow-
ing:
1 copy of the Evening Star dated December 1, 1902;
1 copy of the Evening Star dated December 2, 1902;
1 copy of the Washington Times dated December 2, 1902;
The latter two newspapers contain excerpts from President Theodore
Roosevelt's Annual Message.
In addition, there were two notes on McKim, Mead & White letterhead
as follows:
(a) "This stone put in place shortly before completion of altera-
tions, begun June 15, 1902," signed, Charles Sumner Kaiser
for McKim, Mead & White.
(b)
"I enclose my name as great grandson of Peter Lenox who
superintended the original building from 1793 to 1830 and
as superintendent for McKim, Mead & White," signed, Glenn
Brown.
The box also contained:
7 Indian pennies, 2 nickels, and 1 dime;
"INATIONAL
N
One whiskey label, Hunter's Baltimore Rye;
ARCHIVES AND
RECORDS
One letterhead, The Norcross Brothers Co., General
SERVICE'
Contractors, Worcester, Mass.;
COVERINED
One letterhead, McKim, Mead & White;
4 envelopes as follows: one addressed to Mr. William
Grey, Marble Foreman, one addressed to Mr. C. M.
Maxwell, Jr., one addressed to Mr. Harry Alexander,
and one addressed to Mr. Wallace N. Robinson;
The following cards:
Mr. Henry Wilmarth Mott, draftsman for the Norcross Bros. Co.
T. E. Stone, Chief Usher
Charles D. A. Loeffler, Doorkeeper to the President;
Henry Gilbert, Doorkeeper, Executive Mansion;
J. W. Cottrell, Captain of Police, New York
Stephen A. Connell, U. S. Secret Service;
Lothrop Jamison, Feb. 22, 1865;
J. S. Jamison;
Charles J. Pusey;
S. F. French, The Norcross Bros. Co.;
John Keim Stauffer, White House Correspondent, Washington
Times;
Harry Alexander, Electrical and Mechanical Contracting
Engineer, New York;
W. P. Walsh, U. S. Secret Service;
There was also a small flask with various names in it, including
"Set by Frank Nelson, Marble Setter,' "F. Collingsworth,
McKim, Mead and white, 160 5th Avenue, New York, " four 24
stamps, and a list of names.