Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/99748
Architect of the Capitol Benjamin Henry Latrobe's 1815 watercolor of his proposal for the redesign of the House chamber was one of the documents donated to the Capitol in 1983. administered by Dr. Barbara Wolanin, curator for the Architect of the Capitol, and the fellowship recipients were chosen by a panel composed of representatives of the Society and the Architect's office. A one-day symposium was held on March 15, 1990 that featured some of the scholarship supported by the fellowship. Since the first fellowship in 1987, the program has assisted the research of scores of scholars studying topics on a wide variety of art and architectural subjects related to the Capitol. One of the most productive years in the Society's history was 1989, the bicentennial year of the United States Congress, which witnessed the production of two films, two major publications on congressional history and a booklet on the Flag. In 1987 the Society had begun plans to produce a book on the history of the House Ways and Means Committee for the 1989 commemoration. The chairman of the committee, Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-IL), asked the Society to cooperate with their plans for the event. The Society agreed, and together the two raised funds to produce both a 38 THE CAPITOL DOME book and a film. Rebecca Rogers, an expert in researching congressional history, was hired for the project, and a freelance team was contracted to work on the book; the film project was assigned to Stephen York and Associates. The Committee on Ways and Means: A Bicentennial History, 1789-1989 was published through the Government Printing Office in both hardcover and soft cover versions. The first copies were distributed at the July 24, 1989 dinner held to commemorate the committee's 200th anniversary. The film, "The Committee: Taxation with Representation," was aired on the Public Broadcasting System and distributed on video through PBS Films. Four months after the publication of the Ways and Means book, Kraus International Publications published the twovolume Foreign Visitors to Congress: Speeches and History edited by Associate Historian Mary Lee Kerr. This project had originated while President Schwengel had been a Member of Congress and had begun collecting speeches by foreign visitors to Congress. Mary Lee Kerr completed the collection, edited the speeches, and solicited introductory essays for each speaker from noted scholars. The twovolume reference work contained speeches by all 134 foreign dignitaries who up to that time had addressed either the House or the Senate or a Joint Meeting or Joint Session of Congress. The Society also met a major need in 1989 with the premiere of an educational video on the Capitol, "A Place of Resounding Deeds." Architect of the Capitol George M. White (at left) and Sen. Charles McC. Mathias, Jr., (at right), Chairman of the Joint Committee on the Library accept the donation of the Latrobe documents from President Schwengel in 1983. WINTER 2013