On January 31, 1879 Congress made a federal holiday out of a day that Americans had already been celebrating for quite a while: George Washington’s birthday.
Washington’s special day had already been commemorated in a number of ways; on its centennial celebrations occurred throughout the nation and Congress established a joint committee to organize festivities.
In 1862 both houses of Congress began inviting other prominent members of the government to a reading of Washington’s Farewell Address. It’s a tradition that is still carried out by the Senate today.
Only in 1968 did Congress passed a bill shifting the day of celebration from Washington’s actual birthday, February 22, to the third Monday of the month. The purpose of the Monday Holiday Law, which also shifted other holidays, was to “provide uniform annual observances of certain legal public holidays on Mondays.”
Because the third holiday in February never occurs after Feb. 21, Washington’s federally celebrated birthday is now guaranteed to never be celebrated on his actual day of birth.
Photo and information courtesy of the National Archives.
Every year several litters of piglets are born to Mount Vernon’s various sows and become widely dispersed as they grow into adults. This year’s piglets are no exception.
The 17 that survived from the three litters born between July and mid-October 2010 have put quite a few miles between them. One piglet was recently flown to the Santa Ana Zoo in California, while two will soon travel to a farm in Bermuda for breeding. Several will go to Colonial Williamsburg in the spring, where they will eventually be slaughtered, and one female will get to stay right here at Mount Vernon for breeding.
The farms and venues are diverse, but they all have one thing in common: a desire for a historic breed of hog. Mount Vernon’s pigs are all Ossabaw Island Hogs, a rare breed that is historically accurate to George Washington’s day.
For the time being, the 12 piglets that remain at Mount Vernon’s livestock facility are living out their youths with plenty of hay, a lot of fresh air and a handful of playmates.
Looking at George Washington’s notes is a little bit like peering into the first president’s brain. Sometime between 1785 and 1799 Washington took pen to paper and wrote down a few things he thought were important from a book he owned by Charles Varlo titled, “A New System of Husbandry.” It was a read on some of Washington’s favorite topics: farming and best practices in agriculture.
The page of these notes that Mount Vernon has on display through Feb. 10 shows that Washington was copying passages and summarizing experiments that struck him. He makes note, for example, that soaking corn, wheat and barley seeds in a complex “pickle” of liquor and oil enlarges the size of the seeds and helps prevent insects, rodents and birds from preying upon them. Washington takes particular care to write the chapter and page number of each passage he draws his notes from.
This leaf of notes was part of Washington’s “Compend of Husbandry,” a notebook in which he recorded observations from his readings in agriculture and “new husbandry,” the 18th century buzzword for agricultural reform. After Washington’s death, his nephew Bushrod Washington inherited Mount Vernon and most of Washington’s papers including the notebook. Bushrod removed some pages to give as souvenirs to Washington admirers.
Today this sheet is the only one from the “Compend of Husbandry” notebook in Mount Vernon’s collection. The sole other extant section from the notebook to describe Varlo’s “New System of Husbandry” known to our curatorial staff was sold by Christie’s in 2002.
Because of the document’s fragile nature, it will be off exhibit for at least seven years when it comes down from our “Bringing Them Home” exhibition in the Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center on Feb. 10.
Object Spotlight is a regular feature on George Washington Wired that highlights some of the household belongings that Washington came into contact with in his daily life. For more of Washington’s belongings, see Mount Vernon’s eMuseum.
Purchased by the A. Alfred Taubman Fund, 2003 [MS-5716]
It’s not often that a character from George Washington’s life enters a classroom in Nevada, Ohio or any other locale that isn’t in the vicinity of Mount Vernon, but through our Face to Face programs, which beam a number of personalities from Washington’s estate into schools across the country via video conferencing, students have been able to interact directly with characters ranging from Martha Washington to George Washington’s personal physician, Dr. Craik.
Mount Vernon’s education department is proudly introducing its newest Face to Face character, Mrs. Forbes. As the Washingtons’ housekeeper, she shares details about the family’s day-to-day life and adventures, with a special emphasis on the importance of family.
To celebrate Mrs. Forbes’ arrival we’re giving away a free performance to the first two elementary school teachers who email education@mountvernon.org with “MRS. FORBES” in the subject line. So email now!*
The 30-minute performance consists of a live monologue by Mrs. Forbes followed by a Q&A session during which students ask Mrs. Forbes questions. At the very end of the performance, Mrs. Forbes comes out of character and answers students’ questions as a modern-day historic interpreter.
Update: Winning classrooms have been selected and notified. The contest has ended.
* Classrooms must be technologically compatible with our Tandberg Video Conferencing system. The free program will be available to the winning teachers Monday through Thursday the week before Presidents Day (Feb. 14 through Feb. 17) and any Thursday during the 2011 school year.
As proud as Mount Vernon is to have received Apple, the turkey pardoned by President Barack Obama at the White House this Thanksgiving, the little guy is not a historically appropriate fowl, so will not be kept on display year-round.
Apple, who was on view through the holiday season, has been moved to a coop at Mount Vernon’s livestock facility where he and his pardoned turkey alternate, Cider, will live out their days in optimal turkey comfort, with all the grain, straw and amenities befitting a turkey who knows the president.
Mount Vernon recently invited K-12 schools nationwide to request framed portraits of George Washington to display in a respectful, prominent place.
The response was overwhelming: thousands of schools submitted letters! Along with the portrait, schools received curriculum materials to help explore our first president’s contributions.
