Evening star., 1936-04-12
President Roosevelt
as a Collector
BY Frederic ]. Haskin.

SOIOOl SdllCIy O1 kATL at WdSIllIlRLOn
to look upon the collection of prints,
paintings and models, all pertaining to
ships, which was gathered over a long
period of years by President Franklin
D. Roosevelt. The President lent the
collection to the trustees of the Corcoran
for this special exhibition.
Begun many years ago, the collection
has been steadily added to until there
now are more than 200 items, each one
possessing high intrinsic or association
value. 1t is presumed to be one Of the
finest collections of the sort in the
country.
A point of special note is that the
Presidents interest appeared not to be
broadly in all maritime items which
might fall into a collectors hands; he
has specialized in maritime Americana,
and his collection emphasizes what is Of
Importance historically. Indeed, an ex-
animation of the collection is an ex-
pansive lesson in the story of America
at sea.
While there are some notable paint
ings by such masters as Reuterdahl,
Gribble and Jonas Lie, prints issued by
Currier and Ives, or in their manner pre-
dominate, and these, while lacking in
artistic merit, have very real historical
Importance. In the early days of the
American Republic there was no such
thing as photography, and for a long
time after portrait and studio photog-
raphy became known there was no such
thing as press photography. There was
no telegraph, no cable. Belated news
of great events reached American cities
and the American public was as avid
Of news then as now. In fact, it was
more so, because news was scarce, not
being shrieked constantly from news
paper headlines and radios.
So it was that such prints as those Of
Currier and Ives served as descriptive
news service Of the period, and so it is
that President Roosevelt'S collection is Of
historic importance. When the British
ship Shannon conquered the American
man-o'-war Chesapeake-the time when
Captain Lawrence, dying, said, Don't
give up the ship'-all America wanted
to know about it. When the frigate
Philadelphia went on the rocks off
Tripoli and was attacked by the Corsairs'
boats, all America wanted to visualize
what happened.
Currier and Ives Sensed the demand
and employed journeymen artists to
dash of in the greatest haste an
imaginative picture of the event. Some
times an eyewitness account could be
obtained, sometimes imagination was the
sole reliance. But that made not the
slightest difference. Indeed, it is likely
the limner untrammeled by facts did a
more thrilling job. These prints were
prepared and pulled from the presses
with the same relative speed that an
extra paper is issued today. They were
sold at low prices in great quantities, not
actually as pictures as works Of art, but
essentially as newspapers in the form
of medium which would tell graphic
story even to those unable to read.
Much is heard in these days of yellow
journalism, of lurid tabloids and Of the
sensationalism of the modern press. Why,
modern newspapers are nothing at all
compared with the hasty printing of
picture of the Kearsarge sinking the Ala
bama of Cherbourg or the explosion OF
the steam frigate Missouri of Gibraltar.
While the military pieces predominate.
the prints, ranging from the Revolution.
ary War engagements, such as that OF
the Bon Homme Richard and Scraps,
through the Barbary States War, the
War Of 1872, the Mexican War, Civil War.
Spanish War and World War, there are
many devoted to the more peaceful
American merchant marine There are
spirited prints showing in all their
glory such makers of maritime history
as the Rainbow, the first of the clippers,
and those other great clippers, the Fly
ing Cloud, the Dreadnaught and the
Three Brothers. Then there are Mis-
siSSippi River steamboats, of more
peaceful era, just as there are prints
of the epochal engagement of the Merrl-
mac and the Monitor and Farragut'S
entry into Mobile Bay.
Most curious are three Japanese
prints of American subjects, done by a
| Japanese in the Japanese manner, with
| the usual blues and bluffs and thin black
| lines. One shows an American steam
| frigate, a second the visit of Commodore
Perry to Japan and third MISSISSIPPI
River steamboat. This last named is
strange indeed. There is the boat and
| there are the people in American dress,
but the faces show a decided japanese
| cast.
The models are of exceptional beauty.
especially those of the clipper. The
| Rainbow and the Flying Cloud show the
| most delicate workmanship. There is
| fine model of the French liner Nor
| mandie, but chief interest attaches TO
| the earlier models. For example, there
| is a remarkable model of the ConStitu-
| ton, "Old IronsideS," which was made at
| the Washington Navy Yard shortly after
the War of 1912, and there is another
! of the bark Mary, made by Captain Isaac
bear of the President, in 1929.
The deep interest which this collec-
| ton proves Franklin D. Roosevelt has
long had in the sea, and especially in
the fighting ships of the United States
| from the earliest days. indicates that he
was well qualified for the position OF
Assistant Secretary of the Navy, which
| he held during the World War. and for
| the position of commander in chief OF
| the Navy, which he now holds.
X \ y
1t is quite likely that the President
would be disappointed in the sort of at
tention given by the visiting public to
his exhibition of maritime pictures and
models Not of the collection at all, but
placed in one of the galleries, are two
non-nautical paintings. One is large
portrait of the President and the other
an interior showing the President and
| his family. A very large number of per.
sons who give the marine prints, which
are the apple of the Presidents eye, the
most curSory survey, cluster around the
I a. u IL 1,niA