Description
Wooden gavel made from materials from the 1950 White House Renovation during the Truman Administration.
White House wood block, Renovation “Kit No. 1 / Enough old pine to make a gavel.” Wood block measures 4.75″ x 2.5″ x 3.0″. The handle block measures 10.75 x 1.5 inches. According to Truman Renovation Souvenir Program records, 5,029 gavel kits were ordered. Includes a paper label that reads: “Original White House Material Removed in 1950.”
This item was sold in 1950 by the Truman Renovation Souvenir Program, approved by President Truman on February 17, 1950, and administered through the Commission on the Renovation of the Executive Mansion. Total receipts from the Truman White House Renovation Souvenir Program were approximately $100,000. After covering production and administrative costs, the program generated a net surplus of about $10,000 for the United States Treasury.
(Wayne Smith, White House Renovation, p. 72)
A scarce White House relic, with records of only three other unfinished gavel kits appearing on the public market.
The White House underwent a major structural reconstruction during the Truman administration after engineers found the building dangerously unsound in 1948. Truman and his family moved across Pennsylvania Avenue to Blair House in November 1948, and from 1949 to 1952, the interior of the White House was removed, leaving the exterior sandstone walls standing. The work was directed by architect Lorenzo S. Winslow and the Commission on the Renovation of the Executive Mansion, with Congress appropriating about $5.4 million for the project. Truman returned to the White House in March 1952, making the renovation one of the most extensive physical changes to the building since its burning by the British in 1814 and subsequent rebuilding.
