SPECIAL - Real History that changed the world.

March 15, 1926 - President Coolidge and the Wild Flower Man of Yosemite

Glimpses into the world of Arthur C. Pillsbury – Unexpected Connections through Time. 

“THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR,

WASHINGTON

March 22, 1926

President Calvin Coolidge

First Lady, Grace Coolidge

My Dear Mr. Pillsbury:

The Washington Star said that -

“Nothing has stood out more distinctly than the dinner given by Dr. Work a week ago at the Willard. The guests numbered about 70, and the dinner being followed by colored pictures showing the life of a flower from its first seeding until it bloomed into full-grown beauty and then dropped its petals.”

Mrs. Coolidge was profoundly impressed with the Pictures.

Please allow me to express my personal appreciation of your courtesy in this connection.

                           With assurance of personal regards, I remain,

                                                                                       Very truly yours,

                                                                                       HERBERT WORK.”

March 18, 1926.

Dear Mr. Pillsbury:

Secretary Work has received so much commendation of your picture shown at his dinner for the President that he is now very anxious to have you repeat this showing at his formal dinner for the British Ambassador on April 7 and has asked me to get in touch with you and see if you could be in Washington for this date.

                                                                                           Sincerely yours,

                                                                                           (Signed) STEPHEN T. MATHER,

                                                                                           Director.”

 

Willard Hotel

The dinner and program were by invitation only. Seventy people were present for the event at the Willard Hotel, located at 1401 Pennsylvania Ave, just down the street from the White House.

The term “lobbyist” was coined in the Willard's lobby by Ulysses S. Grant.

Secretary of the Interior, Dr. Hubert A. Work gave the dinner and, looking for something special, followed a suggestion from Stephen Mather, then returned from another one of his emotional breakdowns, and carrying on, as usual, as Director of the new National Parks Service.

Mather had suggested his best choice for something not to be forgotten was to engage Arthur C. Pillsbury to give a lecture and show show his films. Pillsbury was also the Official Photographer for Yosemite and had been granted a long term concession in the Park because his speaking tours had been of enormous assistance to Mather in making the Parks profitable. Pillsbury had done the same for the Sierra Club, along with photographing their High Trips for twenty years.

One detail which escaped history is whether or not Mather, himself, was at the event.

But those attending went away with heads reeling. Grace Coolidge was quoted as saying, “she was profoundly impressed with the Pictures.”

Looking back it is hard to imagine the impact on how you view the world when you suddenly see something you think you understand, differently.  MORE