The Trumans’ 1951 Christmas gift print of Blair House with personal memory from staff member on the back. The 13 x 10.5 print is a beautiful b/w photo of Blair House, the First Couples residence during most of his presidency due to the White House renovations. In the lower border is a gold presidential seal and printed holiday greetings. The print has been mounted to a matboard of the same size. The original recipient, a staff member, wrote on the back: “ The President gave this to me in 1951. I was an electrician at the White House and sometimes he would come down stairs and eat bean soup with several of the boys. We all liked President Truman a lot. M. O. Carter:
Mary Seeley was the pioneer in collecting White House Christmas cards and presidential Christmas gifts. Her definitive book “Season’s Greetings From The White House” records that 1,000 of these prints were produced, a relatively low number compared to the later Administrations. More important, she mentions the inscription on this one, indicating that this example was from her personal collection and pictured in her book.
There is some marking scuffing in the left margins of the image and of course mounted, making it less than perfect yet also more important than most with the short personal reminiscence by the recipient. For the serious collectors of White House Christmas cards/gifts the provenance to the Seeley collection and her books is an added bonus.
The Trumans’ 1951 Christmas gift print of Blair House with personal memory from staff member on the back. The 13 x 10.5 print is a beautiful b/w photo of Blair House, the First Couples residence during most of his presidency due to the White House renovations. In the lower border is a gold presidential seal and printed holiday greetings. The print has been mounted to a matboard of the same size. The original recipient, a staff member, wrote on the back: “ The President gave this to me in 1951. I was an electrician at the White House and sometimes he would come down stairs and eat bean soup with several of the boys. We all liked President Truman a lot. M. O. Carter:
Mary Seeley was the pioneer in collecting White House Christmas cards and presidential Christmas gifts. Her definitive book “Season’s Greetings From The White House” records that 1,000 of these prints were produced, a relatively low number compared to the later Administrations. More important, she mentions the inscription on this one, indicating that this example was from her personal collection and pictured in her book.
There is some marking scuffing in the left margins of the image and of course mounted, making it less than perfect yet also more important than most with the short personal reminiscence by the recipient. For the serious collectors of White House Christmas cards/gifts the provenance to the Seeley collection and her books is an added bonus.