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Glimpses of the Opening Days of Congress

A page with a set of hand-colored prints recounting scenes from the opening days of Congress. The sketches include new Members standing up and trying to vote at the wrong time, a blindfolded Page drawing numbers for the desk lottery, flowers being delivered to Representatives, Members being sworn in, and receiving a message from the President, and a baby sitting on his father’s desk in the chamber./tiles/collection/6/6854.xml
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A page with a set of hand-colored prints recounting scenes from the opening days of Congress. The sketches include new Members standing up and trying to vote at the wrong time, a blindfolded Page drawing numbers for the desk lottery, flowers being delivered to Representatives, Members being sworn in, and receiving a message from the President, and a baby sitting on his father’s desk in the chamber.
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Date

1900-01-13

Artist

T[homas] Dart Walker

Publication

Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly

Publisher

Judge Company

Dimensions

16 × 11 in. (40.6 × 27.9 cm) Framed: 24 3/8 × 18 7/8 in. (61.9 × 47.9 cm)

Accession Number

2011.089.003

Credit Line

Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives

Object Details

The opening day of Congress has long been a festive time in the House. This set of sketches shows a few of the highlights of the day. New Members are sworn in at lower left; at top right, a blindfolded Page draws numbers in the lottery to choose desks in the Chamber while flowers are delivered to Members as they find their new seats. Elsewhere on the page, Members entertain babies, stumble over voting procedures, and finally get down to legislative business by receiving a message from the President.

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Office of the Historian: history@mail.house.gov
Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk: art@mail.house.gov, archives@mail.house.gov