ACQUISITIONS PROGRAM

Working closely with the Curator of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Society seeks to identify and obtain -- through deed of gift or purchase -- items of particular relevance to the Court. Special emphasis is placed on acquiring unique items and items that fill gaps in the Court’s existing collection. The collection includes pieces of furniture, decorative items and artwork, original antique newspaper clippings, historic photographs and drawings, diaries, scrapbooks, ledgers, histories, biographies, genealogies, maps, audio and video recordings of oral history interviews, color slides and films. Items owned by the Society are used in the Supreme Court Building itself and are utilized in exhibits mounted for the hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Supreme Court Building. Some of the graphic arts items are used as illustrations in publications produced by the Society.

The collection is processed, cataloged, preserved and stored according to current archival practices by the members of the Office of the Curator of the Court. The items in the collection are available for research and interpretive needs. Work is underway to provide a database for these materials that will be accessible through the internet.

In concert with the collections portion of the Acquisitions program, the Society has commissioned portraits of past and recent Justices to provide images of all members of the Court. Many of these portraits are displayed in public areas of the Supreme Court Building. In addition, the Society has provided funds to enable the maintenance of portraits and other items in the collection.

Past special projects include the manufacture of scale models of the current Supreme Court Chamber and the Restored Supreme Court Chamber where the Court sat in the US Capitol Building. Costs associated with the production of these models were paid by the Society. The models are displayed in the Lower Great Hall for visitors to view.

 

Below are samples of the items acquired by the Supreme Court Historical Society in 2009:

Silhouette of Chief Justice John Marshall, c. 1840-1890

Framed anonymous hollow-cut silhouette of Chief Justice John Marshall, depicted in his robes and sitting in a chair, facing right, holding a sheaf of papers out in front of him. Written below in faded ink is "John Marshall/Chief Justice U.S."

Pencil Sketch of Charles Evans Hughes, c. 1939-1941

Lightly drawn bust-length pencil sketch of Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes by Austrian artist Oskar Stoessel. It is probably a preliminary sketch, drawn from life, for Stoessel's etching of Hughes, a copy of which was acquired through the Supreme Court Historical Society in 2006. Hughes' face has been drawn and shaded in detail while his shirt collar and tie are barely rendered. Signed in pencil is "St" [Stoessel]. This is the fourteenth piece by Mr. Stoessel in the Court's collection, and the first drawing.

Mexican Landscape by Agnes Stone, c. 1930-1958

Watercolor landscape of a small Mexican village by Agnes Stone, wife of Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone. Interestingly, on the back of the painting is another of a Maine fishing scene, also in watercolor. She clearly favored the Mexican landscape, for it was facing out when the framed piece was purchased, and was also signed (the Maine scene appears to be unfinished, and is unsigned). Mrs. Stone was an accomplished amateur painter who showed often in the mid-Atlantic, with three solo exhibits at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in the 1930s and 1940s.

Maine Fishing Scene by Agnes Stone, c. 1930-1958

(back of Mexican Landscape)

Photograph of Chief Justice William H. Taft, c. 1926. Framed, bust-length formal photograph of Chief Justice Taft, by Barnett Clinedinst.  Inscribed by Taft to Lee Basye,  Assistant Attorney General of Nebraska .

Photographs of Harlan F. Stone

Top left: Justice Stone seated in his robes, March 2, 1925. The press caption reads, in part: "Justice Stone has already been sworn in by Chief Justice Taft and is seen [here] for the first time in his judicial robes."

Top right: Justice Stone standing on the sidewalk outside his home, February 1, 1937. Press caption reads, in part: “Justice Stone has been seriously ill for the last three months.  Several important decisions have been awaiting his return to the Bench."

Bottom left: Justice Stone rowing near his summer home in Isle au Haute, Maine, August 11, 1937.

Bottom right: Justice Stone with his wife Agnes in the back seat of a car, on their way to the annual State Reception to the Judiciary, hosted by President Roosevelt at the White House, January 6, 1939.