Certificate Presented With Blankets Made With Wool From White House Sheep
Title
Certificate Presented With Blankets Made With Wool From White House Sheep
Creator
White House
Identifier
WWP16986
Date
No date
Source
Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, Staunton, Virginia
Language
English
Text
President Wilson, during the great World War kept on the White House lawns a flock of sheep. Many who saw these peaceful animals contentedly grazing there while a world was aflame little realized that they were doing war duty. While they adorned the landscape, they kept the greensward trimmed down and thus released for war service the men who had been engaged in that work. They performed a further patriotic service. Their wool the President gave to the American Red Cross, which apportioned it among the Red Cross Chapters of the States. At patriotic auctions, it brought as high as ten thousand dollars a pound—the highest priced wool in history. How many American Soldiers on Flanders Fields were relieved of their pain by the ministrations made possible in part by these sheep no one knows. The Great War President, in the dark days of that time, found peace of mind in having these beautiful, docile animals about him. When Mr. Wilson left the White House, this flock of sheep went to live at Homeland Farms, at Olney, Maryland, where they have since remained and increased in number until in 1926 they numbered more than fifty. None of their wool ever has been sold in the channels of trade. It has instead been carefully preserved, to be manufactured into these blankets, for distribution among the Great War President’s close friends and admirers.
Collection
Citation
White House, “Certificate Presented With Blankets Made With Wool From White House Sheep,” No date, WWP16986, Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.