A highly unusual screen with United States Naval Insignia of Presidential interest

A highly unusual screen with United States Naval Insignia of Presidential interest. This three-fold screen is painted in watercolours with four roundels on each panel.  One roundel encloses the Ogden family crest and the other eight have U.S. Navy Fighting Squadron insignia, all within a rope twist border.  The squadrons represented include Fighting Squadron 6 or 31 (Felix the Cat holding a bomb), Observation Squadron 3 (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit on a missile), Cruiser Scouting Squadron 8 (leaping dolphins), Bombing Squadron 6 (leaping ram), Utility Squadron 3 (Pluto on a cloud), Cruiser Scouting Squadron 9 (Phoenix) and Utility Squadron 2 U.S.S. Saratoga (Rooster).  American, circa 1935.

Claude Augustus Swanson, the Secretary of the Navy appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, reputedly gave this screen to Johan Trumpy, a shipbuilder who provided important services to the U.S. Navy in WWII.  Trumpy’s company designed the Presidential Yacht USS Sequoia used by Roosevelt while he was in office (1933-1945) and his ships were frequently chartered by Walt Disney before the War.  The insignia were created as part of a major public works program directed by Roosevelt’s Federal Emergency Relief Administration in May 1935 and can now be found in the Smithsonian Institute.

The Ogden family were highly connected throughout New England, New York and New Jersey.  Two brothers, John and Richard, had emigrated before the middle of the 17th century and settled in New England as architects and master builders.  Their descendants have been prominent in politics, commerce and the learned professions.  The crest signifies the vale of oaks (oak-dene) granted by Charles II to John Ogden for faithful services to the late King, his father.