The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
JANUARY 25, 1937
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WASHINGTON, Sunday—Yesterday was a memorable day! I actually was able to pay enough attention to my guests to take them sightseeing in the morning. We went to see the frescoes in the Post Office Building and in the Department of Justice Building. Then back to the Division of Fine Arts in the Procurement Division and saw many of the models showing the decoration in post offices and other public buildings throughout the country. They have paintings which have been done for use in the decoration of public buildings and some which are to be sent out as exhibitions to schools and colleges.
Mr. W. E. Reynolds, assistant director in charge of public buildings in the Procurement Division, came down just as we were leaving and asked if we would like to see their architectural exhibition. The Division gives space and the various manufacturers and producers put in their own exhibits. One room was lined with samples of American marble from all the different states that produce marble. One room has cabinets with the names of the states on them, and in them are exhibits of all the different types of building materials. One sample I pulled out contained all the different kinds of bricks which are produced in that state and used for building purposes.
There is an aluminum room, with aluminum curtains which were new to me. A room lined with building glass, all kinds of woods and floorings and tiles. In fact to any one interested in housing, this is a fascinating exhibition, and for the government architects it serves as a library where they can go to look for anything pertaining to their profession in the way of building materials and supplies.
I was much interested in a letter which came to me today from James E. West, the Chief Scout Executive, who reminds me that two years ago the Scout Jamboree in Washington was put off on account of an infantile paralysis epidemic and it will be held this year on the banks of the Potomac from June 30th to July 9th. They hope to have between twenty-five and thirty thousand boys from all parts of the United States and its possessions, come to Washington and at the conclusion of the National Jamboree, they are organizing about one thousand boys to go to the World Jamboree in Holland.
I can not help thinking what this will mean to all these boys, many of whom would never otherwise leave home and would have no conception of the size and variety of their own country and no opportunity to meet boys from other parts of the country and to begin in early youth to understand their problems and interests. Even more valuable will be the trip abroad to the boys who are able to participate. I hope they will look upon this opportunity as a great chance to develop good feeling both at home and abroad and that everyone who comes in contact with the boys will feel a responsibility to give them a good time and as much of an opportunity as possible to learn anything that they may want to know.
E.R.
About this document
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, January 25, 1937
Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007
Digital edition published 2008, 2017 by
The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project
Available under licence from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.
Published with permission from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.
MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.
TEI-P5 edition published on April 28, 2017.
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TMsd, 24 January 1937, AERP, FDRL