Two-page document of notes on previous White House funerals

Images(2)

Two-page document of notes on previous White House funerals

Object number2002.075.0021

Date11/23/1963 - 11/24/1963

ClassificationsDocuments

Creator Department of State

ObjectDocument

Credit LineThe Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza Collection

MediumPaper

Dimensions11 x 8 1/2 in. (27.9 x 21.6 cm)

Terms

Collections

DescriptionTwo-page document from the Department of State used to aid White House staff and the Kennedy family in planning President John F. Kennedy's funeral arrangements. The photocopied documents include a one-page list of funerals previously held in the East Room and a copy of the invitation to President Warren G. Harding's funeral in 1923. The list of funerals in the East Room has the date "2/7/47" hand-written near the upper right corner. Text printed in the center of the page is as follows: "FUNERALS IN THE EAST ROOM Henry C. Wallace - Sec. Agric. Oct. 27, 1924. President Roosevelt ..... April 14, 1945. (Died April 12, 1945) G. Hall Roosevelt ..... September 26, 1941. (Died September 25, 1941) August A. Gennerich ..... December 16, 1936. ("Gus" - Secret Service) Louis McHenry Howe ..... April 21, 1936. (Secretary to F.D.R.) James W. Good ..... November 20, 1929. (Secretary of War) Calvin Coolidge, Jr. ..... July 9, 1924. *President Harding ..... August 8, 1923 (Capitol) *President Harding's casket in East Room, the night of August 7, 1923. No funeral services in East Room. Funeral services held in Rotunda of Capitol August 8, 1923, at 11:00 a.m." The copy of the funeral invitation for Harding has "Department of State" printed in all caps at the top of the page with the text "Division of Protocol" beneath it. Handwritten near the lower right corner of the page is the text "Original in State Dept. files". In the middle of the page is a hand-drawn and hand-written mock-up of the invitation to President Warren G. Harding's funeral. The hand-written text centered in the middle of the invitation mock-up is as follows: "Funeral Services of Warren Gamaliel Harding Late President of the United States August Eighth Nineteen Hundred and Twenty-three At Eleven O'Clock, A.M. Admit to the Rotunda of the United States Capitol". Under the lower left corner of the invitation is the hand-written text: "Casket in East Room night of Aug. 7, 1923 No Funeral Services in East Room". The reverse of each page has one word - "Gavaert" - printed repeatedly diagonally across the page like a watermark.

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