Letter of authenticity for flag flown over U.S. Senate during mourning period

Object number1998.043.0001.0001

Date12/23/1963

ClassificationsDocuments

Author Joseph C. Duke

ObjectLetter

Credit LineThe Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza Collection

MediumPaper

Dimensions8 1/2 × 6 3/8 in. (21.6 × 16.2 cm)

Terms

Collections

DescriptionLetter of authenticity for the American flag flown over the U.S. Senate Building during the official month of mourning for President Kennedy, signed by Joseph C. Duke, Sergeant at Arms, United States Senate. The letter text is printed and typed in dark blue ink. The Great Seal of the United States is impressed into the paper in the upper left corner. The text of the letter is as follows: "Joseph C. Duke Sergeant at Arms United States Senate December 23, 1963 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN This is to certify that this flag was flown over the Senate Wing of the United States Capitol from the seventh of November until the twenty-second of December, Nineteen Hundred and Sixty-three. Upon the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy on the twenty-second of November, this flag was lowered over the United States Senate and continued to fly at half-staff during the official thirty-day period of mourning ending the twenty-second of December." Mr. Duke's signature appears below this typed text. [See record 1998.043.0001.0003 for the flag that accompanies this letter of authenticity.]

Curatorial Commentary

Included in the Museum's temporary exhibit, "Mourning a President," about the funeral and mourning rites for President John F. Kennedy, this item will be on display on the Museum's seventh floor from November 17, 2017 to February 19, 2018. -- Lindsey Richardson, Curator of Collections