Several years ago my wife and I attended an auction in Maine, at which a number of license plate collections were being offered…among other plates that caught our (my) eye was a DC porcelain #20047 alleged to have been solicited from and donated by President Woodrow Wilson to a high school class in the early 20s for its collection…we advertised it as such, and lo and behold, the LPDs (license plate detectives) went to work…captained by George Sammeth and Eric Tanner, both stellar members of ALPCA, an article was written for PLATES magazine dispelling that information, yet producing a story even more interesting…if you want to read another classic example of license plate history at its best, follow these leads…as George relates: It’s not as great as we would like, but it does put a final answer to this piece of history. The plate (#20047) was not issued to Woodrow Wilson, but it was issued to a Chalmers automobile belonging to the head secret service agent assigned to Wilson. This was Richard L. Jervis, who began this duty after Wilson’s victory in the 1912 election – basically when Wilson became the “President Elect”. As the top man in his role, Jervis literally spent years at Wilson’s side. He also used the white house as his (Jervis’s) address.
I am finding a few contemporary newspaper articles. With luck, I’ll find some more articles, and they all should be added to the plate, as provenance of its historical significance.
…for more information, read on!…
https://www.newspapers.com/clippings/download/?id=93668264
https://www.newspapers.com/clippings/download/?id=93653251
https://www.newspapers.com/clippings/download/?id=93651968
https://www.newspapers.com/image/581827085/?terms=Richard%20Jervis&match=2WW
https://greatamericanplates.com/shop/singles-pairs/single/20047-district-of-columbia-1917/
