Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/99748
proved to be dead on arrival in the House Administration Committee. Chairman Omar Burleson did not like it. "Some members," he was quoted as saying, "feel it is something of an intrusion on the legislative branch itself to have some outsider come in here and tell us where to hang pictures." So Burleson was not going to consider it. Speaker McCormick was reported to be against it as well. So was the architect of the Capitol. According to former Senate Historian Richard Baker, Schwengel had allied himself with Florian Thayn of the Architect's office in opposition to the idea of a Capitol Commission and curator, both thinking that they were doing just fine without one, and the House leadership, by now accustomed to listening to Schwengel's advice on history matters, "said 'no thanks' to Senator Mansfield's proposal." Still, organizational work on the Society kept moving forward at a blistering pace. Articles of Incorporation in the District of Columbia were signed on August 8th, and at the third meeting of the Society, on August 19th, with fortyseven people in attendance, a constitution was adopted and officers were chosen. Schwengel was elected president; Payne, Church, Sen. Hubert Humphrey, Allen Nevins, and Carl Haverlin were chosen vice-presidents. Kessell was elected secretary, and Birely, treasurer. Groundwork began to be laid for a major promotional effort and fundraising efforts were discussed, as well as the projects that the Society was looking to take on. A documentary about the Capitol was a possibility (Schwengel reported that "several major television networks" were interested in producing a program like the First Lady's tour of the White House in which a tour of the Capitol would be featured), but first and foremost on the agenda was the publication of a Capitol guidebook similar to the one that had been published for the White House. WINTER 2013 FIRST STEPS THE INITIAL PLAN of action was to get a grant of money from somewhere, hire staff, undertake a membership drive on Capitol Hill and beyond, and use the money from those founding memberships to launch the publications program. For the moment, however, there were more plans than action. The rush of business in Congress at the end of the session left Schwengel with little time to devote to the Society, and then he headed home to campaign for reelection. Society Vice President Payne was delegated to act in his place on any Society matters requiring immediate attention until his return in January. In December, just in time for Christmas, Payne wrote Schwengel with unexpectedly good news. So convinced is [the National Geographic Society] Board of the noble purposes of your Society and the potential it has for great public service that, at its meeting of December 6th, the Board enthusiastically and unanimously voted a grant of $10,000 to provide funds for the critical early phase of your Society, to establish it on a sound basis for its planned broader operations, and to "get it off the ground" in the direction of its lofty and idealistic aims. By February, work was beginning in earnest on the guidebook. Lonnelle Aikman, a staff writer for National Geographic, would write the text for the book as well as an article for the magazine that would help publicize the book. Schwengel not only led her on a tour of the Capitol the likes of which few have ever seen, he also made his personal library available to her to help with the research and met with her regularly to work on the manuscript. Outside of the guidebook project, however, there was little progress being made. Writing to Society members in late August, Schwengel would apologize for the "delay in keeping you as well informed as we would like, which has been due to the lack of funds, office facilities, and staff, which problems are acute at this time." Moreover, deadlines were approaching that would have to be met if the guidebook were to be published in time to take advantage of the enormous sales Christmas would be certain to bring, and the Society still had not landed the foundation grant it would need to be able to pay for the publication of the book. There was a risk that publication would have to be postponed. With time running out, Melville Bell Grosvenor of the National Geographic Society made a decision. To ensure publication in time for Christmas, the National Geographic would advance the Society an interest-free loan sufficient to cover the costs of publication that could be paid back later, as the sales of the book generated income for the Society. And if the book fizzled and the Society was unable to pay back the loan, the National Geographic Society would suggest to its Board of Trustees that the loan be considered a grant to the Society "in view of the historical significance of the book and its contribution to geographic knowledge." The extraordinary depth of National Geographic's commitment to the Society would ensure that We, the People would be published on time, and it proved to be an immediate success. Before long, not only had the loan been repaid, but the Society had enough money coming in that it could begin to look towards the future with confidence. The United States Capitol History Society had survived its wobbly first steps and was finally on sure footing, ready to begin making some history of its own. THE CAPITOL DOME 21