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.
Patriotic Desk Portfolio
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

Patriotic Desk Portfolio

Object numberMO 1974.1
Name Portfolio
Maker
Date1943
Mediumleather, paint
Dimensionsoverall H 17 7/8 in x W 14 in x D 5/8 in (45.4 cm x 35.6 cm x 1.6 cm )
DescriptionA brown leather desk portfolio with tooled and painted designs on the exterior and interior. The front cover features the Great Seal of the United States with the maker's tooled signature in black below it: RB Hatz. On the back cover is a variation of the Roosevelt coat of arms consisting of the Roosevelt family shield with a rosebush - bearing three red roses - on a mound of green set against an off-white background with a crest consisting of three ostrich plumes in off-white and red. The family's Latin motto, "QUI PLANTAVIT CURABIT" (translated to "The one who planted it will take care of it" or "He who will plant will cultivate") is on a banner underneath the shield.

On the interior, the left side has FDR's initials within a blue circle with a scalloped off-white border. The right side of the interior has four leather triangles sewn to the surface to hold sheets of paper or a pad.
Label TextSeaman First Class Robert Benjamin Hatz fashioned this leather desk portfolio for Franklin D. Roosevelt while waiting with his Seabee unit in Port Hueneme, California for orders to ship overseas. “We will do a good job Mr. President,” he wrote FDR, “So help us God.” He sent the portfolio to the President in October 1943 “with loving respect for you my Commander-in-Chief and I sincerely hope it may prove to be of some small use to you.”
Additional Details
Custodial History NoteTransferred from the FDR Library Archives, 1973.
National Archives Catalog CollectionFranklin D. Roosevelt Library Museum Collection (National Archives Identifier 735948)
National Archives Catalog SeriesGift Items and Commemorative Artifacts (National Archives Identifier 782690)
Use Restriction StatusUnrestrictedCopyrightReproduction or other use of these holdings or images thereof is unrestricted.
Collections
Exhibitions
Non exposé