| Title | Capt. Isaac Bassett |
| Artist/Maker | Harry
O.
Hall
(
1846
-
1929
)
|
| Date | 1890 ca. |
| Medium | Photograph, black and white |
| Dimensions | h. 4.0625 x w. 5.9375 in. (h. 10.31875 x w. 15.08125 cm) |
| Credit Line | U.S. Senate Collection |
| Accession Number | 38.00502.001 |
This photograph shows Assistant Doorkeeper Isaac Bassett performing one of his most celebrated and unusual duties, turning back the hands of the Senate Chamber clock at the end of a legislative session. According to Bassett, this practice began on March 4, 1845, the last day of the 28th Congress, when President pro tempore Willie Mangum instructed him to turn the clock back 10 minutes, fearing that an appropriations bill would not pass before the Senate was scheduled to adjourn.1 Bassett continued to carry out this task when directed for over half a century. In his unpublished memoir he recounted, "I have been called often by all of the presiding officers of the Senate since [1845] to move the clock back. There have been many instances when it was absolutely necessary to have it done. Many an extra ordinary [sic] session has been saved when I have moved the hands back."2
This image was taken by Harry O. Hall, a member of Bassett's extended family. Hall was married to Bassett's niece, Emma A. Bassett, and was a longtime employee of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office.
1. U.S. Senate, Office of Senate Curator, Isaac Bassett Manuscript Collection, Box 11, Folder C, p. 36–37, Records of the U.S. Senate, Record Group 46, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.
2. Ibid., Box 11, Folder C, p. 38.
