Using tiny saws, dental implements, tweezers, and forceps, Howard Bartholomew '65 built a six-inch-high house that decorated a branch of the most recent White House Christmas tree.
The balsa-wood replica of the historic Zadock Pratt Homestead, dating from 1828 in Prattsville, Greene County, N.Y., was one of the tree's seventy ornaments created by artisans from around the country.
Bartholomew, a Middleburgh master craftsman and woodworker, was chosen by New York State Gov. George Pataki as one of four New York State artists to create an ornament for the White House tree. The theme was “Home for the Holidays,” and artisans from all fifty states and the District of Columbia designed miniature replicas of historic houses from their regions.
In the early stages of the project, Bartholomew worked with his son, Alex '00, who was a civil engineering minor. “We measured the building, Alex helped with the computation, and I constructed a scale model.”
On Dec. 3, Bartholomew was invited to a White House reception for about 150 artists and their guests. “Visiting the White House, especially this year, after what the country has been through, was a very moving experience,” he says. “It was very much a last-minute event, since they had been canceling most everything. We were the first group let in since they reopened it to the public, and security was naturally very tight. The Secret Service was involved, and we had background checks and photo IDs and we had to pass through metal detectors.
“Once we were in though, we could walk the public rooms at our leisure.
We spent two and a half hours at the White House, we met Mrs. Bush, and there was a string quartet, a Navy choir, and two Marine Corps ensembles. It was wonderful to meet Art Campbell '65 there. This was one of the nicest events I've ever participated in.”
Fifteen years ago, Bartholomew-
interested in antiques-retired from
a career as a social studies teacher to begin professional life as a cabinetmaker. He now specializes in reproductions of eighteenth-century furniture and architectural woodwork, having become increasingly committed to doing historic woodworking, using the old methods and old hand tools. His customers have included collectors of fine furniture and organizations such as the First Baptist Church in Scotia, N.Y., for which he created reproductions of antique communion chairs. He specializes in creating and reproducing items that
are not available in the retail market. “It's limited, one-of-a-kind work, but it's fascinating,” he says.
Since Bartholomew is also a historian especially interested in the region, Pratt's house was the perfect choice for his replica. In fact, Bartholomew's interest in Pratt goes beyond the historic house and beyond woodworking: “Colonel Pratt,” he reports, “started out as a blacksmith and became a master tanner, banker, farmer, and philanthropist. His tannery, near Hunter Mountain, was the world's largest. Interestingly, he was the first recipient of an honorary degree from Union College-Eliphalet Nott conferred an honorary master's degree on him in 1848.”
Pratt had also been a member
of the state militia, justice of the peace, supervisor of the town
of Windham, state senator, and member of Congress (1837-39 and 1843-45). He chaired the committee
on public buildings and grounds and proposed legislation that created the Smithsonian, where Bartholomew's ornament will end up, as part of the White House's permanent collection.
“A man of principle and conscience,” continues Bartholomew, “he was adamantly opposed to slavery, choosing not to run in protest after the Senate defeated an attempt to exclude slavery from the territories gained in the Mexican War.”
The story so fascinates Bartholomew that he is now writing a biography and helping to create a first-day issue and stamp honoring Pratt.