usdepartmentofstate

Robert Lansing (/ˈlænsɪŋ/; October 17, 1864 – October 30, 1928) was an American lawyer and Conservative Democratic[1] politician who served as Legal Advisor to the State Department at the outbreak of World War I, and then as United States Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson from 1915 to 1920. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Lansing

Caption from Catalogue of official A.E.F. photographs (1919): "36657. Hon. Robert Lansing, United States Secretary of State, at his desk in Crillion Hotel. Paris, Seine, France. December 17, 1918. " archive.org/stream/cu31924027944598#page/n403/mode/2up

see also

Thanks Richard Norton and Art Siegel. We'll include his first name and the Signal Corps caption.

C. W. Russell (Charles W. Russell, Charles Wells Russell, Hon. Charles Wells Russell) (1856-1927) was an American lawyer, author and poet. He was a son of Charles Wells Russell (1818-1867) and Margaret Wilson (Moore) Russell. His father was a prominent Confederate States of America politician during the American Civil War. He graduated from Georgetown University with a Master of Laws in 1884. Charles married Lucy Floyd Mosby in 1879. After her death he married her sister Lelia James Mosby in 1885. They had three children, John W. Russell, Margaret Moore Russell (Mosby) and Lucy Virginia Russell. Lucy married Alfred James Ogster in 1917. He was the British Consul in Galveston, Texas. C. W. Russell entered the Department of Justice, Washington in 1886. He was a U.S. Assistant Attorney General and U.S. Minister to Persia (1909-14). He successfully argued many French spoliation cases, the Maine explosion case and was involved with many Panama Canal issues. Charles W. Russell wrote a play "Cuba Libre" and four collections of poems, including "The Secret Place and Other Poems" (1911) and "Iranian Rest and Other Lyrics" (1912). He also edited the "Memoirs of Colonel John Singleton Mosby" (his brother-in-law) in 1917. In the news:  It could be this photograph was in the news in August and September of 1919 as details of the Versailles Treaty were being hammered out in an attempt to have it ratified by Congress. President Wilson was fundamentally opposed to any changes that would send the treaty back to Paris. Among many other issues, there were protests from Hungary, Albania, and Persia. C. W. Russell, former American Minister to Persia spoke before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee saying that the Anglo-Persian Treaty robbed Persia of much of her sovereignty. Senator Philander C. Knox, former Secretary of State pushed for the right of self determination of Persia. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] There is an additional photograph of Charles W. Russell in the C.M. Bell Studio Collection at The Library of Congress.

history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/russell-charle... books.google.com/books?id=vjRMAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA407 books.google.com/books?id=ue48AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA918

Thanks Pixel Wrangler, we'll update our catalog record.

www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q64013433

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Lansing

See

Robert Lansing (1864-1928) was an American lawyer and Conservative Democratic politician who served as Legal Advisor to the State Department at the outbreak of World War I, and then as United States Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson from 1915 to 1920. "Before U.S. involvement in the war, Lansing vigorously advocated in favor of the principles of freedom of the seas and the rights of neutral nations. He later advocated U.S. participation in World War I, negotiated the Lansing–Ishii Agreement with Japan in 1917 and was a member of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace at Paris in 1919. "In 1919, Lansing became the nominal head of the US Commission to the Paris Peace Conference. Because he did not regard the League of Nations as essential to the peace treaty, Lansing began to fall out of favor with Wilson, for whom participation in the League of Nations was a primary goal. During Wilson's stroke and illness, Lansing called the cabinet together for consultations on several occasions. In addition, he was the first cabinet member to suggest that Vice President Thomas R. Marshall assume the powers of the presidency. Edith Wilson was displeased by Lansing's independence, and requested Lansing's resignation in 1920. "In 1890, Lansing married Eleanor Foster (1866-1934), the daughter of Secretary of State John W. Foster. Eleanor's older sister Edith was the mother of John Foster Dulles, who also became Secretary of State, Allen Welsh Dulles who served as Director of Central Intelligence, and Eleanor Lansing Dulles, an economist and high level policy analyst and advisor for the State Department. "New York State Senator Robert Lansing (1799–1878) was his grandfather; Chancellor John Lansing, Jr. and State Treasurer Abraham G. Lansing were his great-granduncles." [1]

Secretary of State Robert Lansing was in the news on the date Jesús Roberto Duarte deciphered, July 23, 1919. "After seven months in Paris as a member of the American Commission at the Peace Conference, Secretary of State Robert Lansing returned to this country on the Holland-America liner Rotterdam" on July 22, 1919. The Secretary was irked that the Internet Marconi Wireless on the Rotterdam had failed declaring he was completely out of touch with affairs. Secretary and Mrs. Lansing and other members of the delegation stayed overnight at the Hotel Biltmore before leaving for Washington on July 23, 1919.  [1]

Thanks you swanq and Pixel Wrangler. we'll update this catalog record.

This is The Great Seal of the United States.
Shown are the die, the counter-die, and the press.
The device is kept at the State Department.

"These stand in the Exhibit Hall of the Department, [and are now] inside a glass enclosure which is kept locked at all times, even during the sealing of a document. The mahogany cabinet’s doors also are kept locked, and the press is bolted and padlocked in position except when in use." [1]

More information, including photographs, about the history of the seal dating back to July 4, 1776, can be read at the State Department's Bureau of Public Affairs.

The Great Seal in use today

Pixel Wrangler Good answer Pixel. I thought it was some kind of hot air regulator.

another photo commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Great_Seal_press_with_All...

Thanks Pixel Wrangler for figuring out what this is. We'll update the catalog record. They may keep it locked up today but back then apparently it was not so secure.

To stamp a document.