Skip to main content
Menu Collections
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Illustration for Franklin Roosevelt at Hyde Park: The View from Silver Mountain
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

Illustration for Franklin Roosevelt at Hyde Park: The View from Silver Mountain

Object numberMO 1956.175
Name Drawing
Artist (American painter and printmaker, 1904-1981)
Date1949
Mediumpaper (illustration paper, tracing), ink, paint (gouache), pencil
Dimensionsoverall H 14 1/2 in x W 22 1/2 in (36.8 cm x 57.2 cm )
DescriptionAn original pen and ink and ink wash drawing with gouache highlights showing a view from Silver Mountain in Millerton, New York. The scene, as viewed from atop a rise, looks down on a landscape of rolling hills, dotted with trees, with mountains visible in the distant background. The drawing is signed by the artist in ink in the lower left of the image: Olin Dows © 1949. The drawing is covered by a piece of tracing paper with the artist's notes written on it regarding the removal of the blue stains that appear on the original artwork.

On the reverse of the drawing is a handwritten note in ink describing the image: View from Hill back of Pine Plains where FDR had a picknick [sic]. There is a good road at the top of the hill and a fine view in a ... copse just off the road.
Label TextThis drawing is one in a series of original ink wash drawings created by Olin Dows for his book, "Franklin Roosevelt at Hyde Park," published in 1949 by American Artists Group, Inc. Olin Dows spent two years writing the text and drawing the book's 174 illustrations. This illustration appears on page 166 of the book.

The Dows family had been lifelong friends and neighbors of the Roosevelts and were frequent guests at events at Hyde Park, NY and in Washington, DC, both before and during the presidency. In 1939, Olin Dows received a commission to design and paint the murals in the Rhinebeck, NY Post Office. In 1941, at the suggestion of President Roosevelt, Dows was commissioned to design and paint the murals in the Hyde Park Post Office as well, and worked closely with FDR in the conception and design of the murals.
Additional Details
Custodial History NoteDonated to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum by Olin Dows in 1955.
Credit LineGift of Olin Dows
National Archives Catalog CollectionFranklin D. Roosevelt Library Museum Collection (National Archives Identifier 735948)
National Archives Catalog SeriesHudson River Valley Materials (National Archives Identifier 778818)
Use Restriction StatusUnrestrictedCopyrightReproduction or other use of these holdings or images thereof is unrestricted.
Collections
Non exposé