rock
name: label: associated person
content: Washington, George
notes: label: Description
content: When is a chunk of rock more than just a chunk of rock? When it was used as a paperweight by George Washington. In 1884 Gen. J. T. Abert presented the United States National Museum with a large collection of mineral specimens from his father, Col. J. J. Abert, former head of the Corps of Topographic Engineers who organized the mapping of the American West in the mid-1800s, gathering many scientific collections along the way. One of his collected items was this piece of fluorite, which was reportedly used by George Washington as a paperweight on his writing desk at Mount Vernon.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Political History: Political History, General History Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Abert, JT
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PL.001139
label: catalog number
content: 001139
label: accession number
content: 12689
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Rock
label: Object Type
content: rock
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: stone, fluorite (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 1/2 in x 5 in x 2 in; 21.59 cm x 12.7 cm x 5.08 cm