TREASURY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION April 2017 Inside
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Inside this Newsletter . • THA Lecture Series • The Mills Wing • The Treasury Library at 200 THA Lecture Series Update The New Treasury Building, 1842 ______________________________________________________________________ The next speaker for the THA Noontime TREASURY HISTORICAL Lecture series will be Treasury Assistant The “New Treasury Building” abutted the original State Department building which ASSOCIATION Curator Guy Munsch on Wednesday, June 21. He will speak on the five different was very similar to the second Treasury April 2017 locations of the Secretary’s Office in Main Office building destroyed by arsonists. Treasury. The talk is in connection with Two virtually identical buildings were also current exhibits in Main Treasury on "The on the other side of the President’s house, for the Navy and War departments. “Old Offices of the Secretary". State” was demolished 25 years later, Former Treasury employees and others replaced by Treasury’s North wing. interested are welcome to attend these lectures. However, if they do not possess Treasury Library a Treasury Building pass, they need to Celebrates 200 Years arrange clearance into Main Treasury about one week in advance. Notices are sent The Treasury Library celebrated its bicentennial this year with events during several weeks in advance to THA members. April’s National Library Week. Treasury Building’s The establishment of the Treasury Library Mills Wing 175 Years Old did not occur in a specific moment. It is likely that components of what would The Treasury Building’s Mills Wing, com- become the library existed in some form prising the East and Center wings and prior to 1817, the first year of a verifiable originally known as the “New Treasury Building,” is 175 years old this year. budget. Treasury Secretary William H. Designed as a fire-proof building by Crawford submitted a report to Congress Robert Mills, the building replaced the in 1823 that detailed the average annual earlier Treasury Office building that was funds for book purchases. It showed that totally destroyed by arsonists in 1833. between 1817 and 1822 Treasury pur- chased approximately 172 books a year at Construction began in 1836, taking 6 a cost of $406. In 1850, Congress directed years to complete, a very long time even the Library of Congress to set aside in that era. Three challenges faced Mills in $1,000 for the Treasury Library. With the the design and construction management, Printing Act of 1895, the Treasury Library causing great delay. First was his argu- became a federal depository library. ment with President Jackson: Mills wanted th the building to be farther from 15 Street’s In addition to its holdings, the growth of the Treasury Library is measured by its planned curbline in order to have a grand staircase entry (as later provided for the significance in the lives of Treasury employees. In 1865, 136 Treasury clerks other wings of the Treasury Building). But, Jackson directed the building was to be petitioned Treasury Secretary Hugh sited immediately adjacent to the public McCulloch to open up the library to all sidewalk. The second challenge was the Treasury employees. The clerk in charge need for Mills to train construction crews in of the library at the time, Samuel Yorke old-world architecture, such as the arched Atlee, did not approve of letting employees hallways and the cantilevered staircases. borrow books; he thought only the Secre- Third, there was a lengthy Executive tary should be allowed to take books out of the room. Secretary McCulloch disagreed branch debate with the Congress: legisla- tors believed that the Parthenon-like with Atlee, and issued an order allowing employees to use the library and check building was too grandiose for the Executive branch and they cut off funding. out books. Between January 1867 and They also attacked Mill’s professionalism October 1869, Treasury employees bor- and design by having other contemporary rowed over 22,000 volumes from the architects decry the building as being library. Clerks from throughout the organi- unstable. Finally, by mere minimum of zation were detailed to the library to help votes, fund-ing was restored by the run it until June 4, 1897 when Congress Congress and by 1842 the building was directed the Treasury Secretary to appoint a salaried librarian. Today, the Treasury completed. Library continues to support the informa- NEWSLETTER Absent the ability to have a grand stair- tion needs of employees and Treasury’s case entry, Mills designed lateral stairs many missions at Departmental Offices against the building’s façade. These were and Treasury’s bureaus with three removed in 1909-1910. librarians. As a federal depository library 2 and Federal Register-designated reading • Specimens of Book and Job types in commentary will go along with that of room, the Treasury Library’s collection is the Treasury Division (1899) includes Secretary James A. Baker III, Treasury also available, by appointment, to the approved typefaces and layouts for Curator Richard Cote and THA President public. Treasury publication. Franklin Noll throughout the film. • The library seeks to maintain its unique The Bretton Woods Transcripts (1944) and historic collection for researchers in is Harry Dexter White’s set of the perpetuity. As part of its bicentennial Bretton Woods Transcripts. celebration, the library hosted the Treasu- • Treasury Department Telephone ry History Rare Book Petting Zoo to show- Directory (1957 – 1961) is one of the case some of the collection’s historic annual directories that were digitized — gems. This event allowed employees and a project made possible in part to seed special guests to view and to touch (with money provided by THA. The gloved hands) a few of the significant telephone directories are a primary books in the collection. The books includ- source for research on Treasury’s ed in the Petting Zoo span three centuries organizational history as well as when and represent unique aspects of Treasury and where people worked at Treasury. history. Items made available in the Petting Zoo included: Secretary Robert Rubin and the Film Crew • A Sketch of the Finances of the United after filming the interview on January 10. States (1796) is a first edition that ___________________________________________________ Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin gifted Prior to the full one-hour film being pro- to his predecessor, Alexander Hamilton. duced, a “trailer” is being made to serve as Gallatin wrote the book while a member an exhibit to THA’s fundraising requests to of the House. members, other donors and grant-giving foundations. This fundraising effort will be quite significant, since it will represent the largest target outreach that THA has undertaken in its 43-year history. Kaiman Bros. is currently in the process of editing footage of film and merging inter- views into scenic views of the Treasury Building. THA expects to initiate its fund- raising efforts with this seven-minute “trailer” in early summer. New THA Treasury History Paper Prize for Students Petting Zoo photos are by Chris Taylor To encourage research on Treasury ___________________________________________________ history, the THA Board has established a new article prize for the best paper on the A column in an upcoming issue of this history of the Treasury Building and/or the newsletter will focus on the Treasury Treasury Department by a graduate Library’s digitization efforts. The library student currently enrolled in an accredited welcomes your research questions. Ask a program librarian at (202) 622-0990 or [email protected] . To be called the “1500 Penn Prize” in • An Account of the Receipts and honor of the Treasury Building’s historic Expenditures of the United States location address, the prize will include a (1797) includes itemized lists of receipts THA’s Educational Film $250 cash award, a travel allowance, and and expenditures by category and office Continues to Progress the opportunity for the awardee to present the winning paper at a THA lecture in the during the presidencies of George THA’s major project to create a one-hour Cash Room. Washington and John Adams. educational documentary on the Treasury Building and significant historical events This academic prize program will help that occurred in it continues to make great accomplish one of the THA’s primary progress. This past January, the very goals by cultivating and rewarding new respected and experienced local educa- research on the significance of the tional film production company, Kaiman Treasury Department to American history. Bros. Media, spent several hours filming It will also allow THA to connect with the outside footage of the Treasury Building next generation of scholars and identify for the video, and about six hours of possible partners for future THA- interior filming. sponsored academic outreach efforts. The author would retain paper ownership, so Continuing our efforts to have two past as to be able to publish it in a scholarly Treasury Secretaries in the film, we were publication. The prize will be publicly able to schedule Secretary Robert E. announced later in 2017. Rubin to be filmed on January 10. His 3 Welcome and Goodbye to As presented in a number of previous THA beneficial effect on other provisions in the newsletter articles, the Treasury seal was tax return. To initiate a QCD to THA, it is Treasury Secretaries at the changed in 1968 from a very intricate as easy as A-B-C: Bell Entrance artistic form with Latin inscription to the modern version with English text that is (A) Identify the non-profit organization by On January 19, Treasury employees used today on the Department’s stationery its full legal name, as registered with the gathered on the steps of the Bell Entrance as well as on all currency notes. The Internal Revenue Service, its postal mail- for the official departure of Secretary Jack earlier version bore the inscription ing address and the Employer Identifica- tion Number (EIN).