"Admit Bearer to My Bench" - Collecting Vice President's Gallery Passes to the U.S. Senate Chamber

A U.S. Senator Chamber Visitor's Gallery pass with a George H.W. Bush-stamped signature, circa 1985-1987. Image Credit: Collection of the Author.  In the realm of Vice-Presidential Gallery pass collecting, you sometimes come across so-called "unicorns" - highly unusual passes that are either seemingly out of place or don't make sense. I recently acquired this fascinating example of such a piece - a U.S. Senate Chamber pass from the 99th Congress signed (via signature stamp) by George H.W. Bush. This pass - dating from the January 1985 to January 1987 time period - is interesting on a number of levels. First, as Bush never served as a U.S. Senator, it is somewhat odd to see his name on one of these passes. In addition, Bush was known to use the official/more formal "cream and gold" Vice President's Gallery passes during his tenure. Such an example is in the U.S. Senate Collection. It is therefore odd that this Visitor's Gallery pass (meant for issue b...

A Gerald Ford Vice President's Gallery Pass, circa 1974. Image Credit: Collection of the Author.  Generally, the most common, easily obtainable Vice President's Gallery passes to the U.S. Senate Chamber stem from the early-1960s to early-1980s time period. For instance, passes issued by Hubert Humphrey, Spiro Agnew, and Walter Mondale are some of the most commonly available on the collectors market. At any given time, passes from Lyndon Johnson and Nelson Rockefeller may not be available in as great a quantity as these other examples, but they are fairly common as well. However, one notable exception regarding rarity in this time frame are passes that were issued by Gerald Ford. Even though they are fairly modern (only a little over 50 years old), they are much more difficult to track down in the current collector's market. What accounts for this rarity? There are likely a few reasons. Gerald Ford came into the vice presidency under extraordinary circumstances - the first i...

A Reporter's Gallery Pass to the U.S. Senate Chamber signed by Vice President Schuyler Colfax in December 1872. Image Credit: Collection of the Author.  As will be discussed in future posts, the modern Vice President's Gallery Pass to the U.S. Senate Chamber is a historical artifact that has evolved through multiple iterations across several decades. This naturally begs the question of what is the earliest known forerunner of this pass? Although more research is needed to gain a full contextual understanding, a prime candidate for this accolade is this December 1872 pass to the Reporter's Gallery, signed by Vice President Schuyler Colfax. The pass was issued to Edmund J. Hudson (1848-1921), a Templeton, Massachusetts native who was a longtime Washington-based correspondent for the Boston Herald . It is noteworthy in that it predates Reserved Gallery passes to the U.S. Senate Chamber by over 20 years.   While this incredibly rare item is certainly one of the oldest, standa...

An LBJ-signed (autopen) President's Gallery Pass to the U.S. Senate Chamber, Image Credit: Collection of the Author.  One of the more curious vice presidential-signed U.S. Senate Gallery passes is not vice presidential at all. Rather, it is a PRESIDENT'S GALLERY pass! To that, one could understandably respond, "wait a minute - I didn't know that the U.S. Senate Chamber had a President's Gallery!" And it more or less does not. However, this pass stems from a unique period of time and circumstances that has been obscured to a degree by the fog of time. Research is currently underway to ascertain the full story of how this pass came about, but thanks to guidance from the U.S. Senate Curator's Office and the LBJ Presidential Library, we already have a pretty good idea as to why it was created. The story of this pass dates back to 22 November 1963, when Lyndon B. Johnson assumed the presidency following the Kennedy assassination. As the fabled "Master of t...