This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
Time Turned Back Senate Clock by Bassett in 1844
Captain Isaac Bassett, longtime Senate door-keeper, recalled turning the Senate clock back ten minutes on March 4, 1844 to allow an appropriation bill to become law. He guarded desks, chairs, and relics with private notes, keeping snuff boxes and Brooks’s cane as part of a planned, unpublished memoir. He valued the Capitol’s historic items and feared relic-hunters.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Isaac Bassett
Senate
Supreme Court Room
Bassett
Capitol
Captain Bassett
Cass
Calhoun
Clay
Webster
Washington
Bunsett
Senate Committee On the Liberty
Heal
Preston Brooks
Sumner