the hall of records and stairway have been part of the memorial plan from the beginning and are provided for in the so-called “rushmore bill” of 1938. a good start has been made in the carving of the hall, which already has been excavated to the extent of seventy feet. great care has to be exercised in the use of dynamite in carving this hall, as in carving the faces on the mountain, not to injure the stone which is to remain. careless explosions of large amounts of powder might crumble the walls.
the hall is located about two thirds of the way up to the mountain: the entrance to it is in a small gorge or canyon, cut by the ice aeons ago, to the right of the carved faces as one looks at them from below. the hall is on the opposite side of the gorge from the heads and is not under them. the following is quoted from mr. borglum’s plan.
“the fa?ade to the hall’s entrance is the mountain wall 140 feet high; supporting pylons, cut into the mountain, flank the entrance. the entrance door itself is 12 feet wide and 20 feet high; the walls are plain, dressed granite and of a fine color. i want to finish the inner entrance wall in mosaic of blue and gold lapis. the depth to the door entrance from the outer fa?ade is 20 feet. the door, swung on a six inch offset of the wall, will be of bronze and glass. small, carefully modeled bronze figures of historic importance from columbus and raleigh to the present day will ornament the doors or be modeled into the supporting frame. the walls of the entrance will carry in gilded bronze immediately within the entrance ancient indian symbols; british, french, spanish and american seals.
“the floor of the hall will be 100 by 80 by 32 feet to an arched ceiling. at the height of fifteen feet an historic frieze, four feet wide, will encircle the entire room. recesses will be cut into these walls to be filled with bronze and glass cabinets, which will hold the records stamped on aluminum sheets, rolled separately and placed in tubes. busts of our leaders in all human activities will occupy the recesses between the cabinets. the original thought of a hall of human records i developed at stone mountain in georgia and my drawings and full plans are extant; that was never completed.
“the records of electricity, beginning with franklin, which has given us light, heat, music, the radio, the telegraph, the telephone and controls in power the extent of which we can hardly imagine, must be here, together with the records of literature, the records of travel, immigration, religious development and also the record of perhaps the largest contribution that we have made to humanity, which has been free controlled peace, a government of the people, by and for the people. struggle as we will that great contribution is today the cause for the real unrest of europe. despotism, tyranny of every form is fighting us wherever it can, to take away from humanity the power freedom gives it—the power that freedom has given america.
opening of a gorge reached by the great stairway is the massive twenty-foot-high entrance to the hall of records.
“the hall will be reached by a monumental flight of steps varying from 15 to 20 feet in width, which will ascend the mountain in front, a little to one side of the 21 sculpture, rising from a great granite disk or platform in the canyon below, which may be used as a rostrum from which speakers may address the public occupying the amphitheater facing the great group.
this picture shows the workmen busy in the early stages of the work of carving the hall of records from the granite.
“these steps of granite and cement will be provided with seats at intervals of every fifty feet; they will have a five inch rise and an eighteen inch tread. the ascension from the foot of the steps to the floor of the great entrance is four hundred feet; the entrance way from the steps’ landing to the great hall is 190 feet; the floor of this hall, reached by three steps, is two feet above the floor of the entrance way in the canyon; this to provide for proper drainage.”
owing to repeated requests from important organizations of women, the urging of some senators and congressmen and mr. borglum’s own realization of the part women have played in the development of our country, plans had been under way for some years to include women in the great shrine of democracy. there was no room in the rock which contains the heads of the four presidents and the only other place seemed to be the west wall of the granite cliff, or in the hall of records. to quote again from mr. borglum, from a letter written in january 1940: “if we decide that the west side of the mountain is suitable, i am for it. we must work out a design that is fitting and in no sense harmful in the matter of lighting or location to subjects determined upon and i am entirely in favor of carving the faces of two or three women. if that is determined upon, these figures will be near what has been known in the rushmore law as the inscription and there will be a special paragraph given to the work and services of women. the original inscription referred to the framing of the declaration of independence; that was jefferson’s work and the second was the constitution. that was washington’s greatest service. the third dealt with the purchase of the louisiana territory and the fourth, fifth, and sixth, the progress towards the south and southwest, involving florida, texas and california, which included arizona, a portion of nevada, utah and a portion of idaho. the seventh paragraph brought in the oregon cession from england and the purchase of alaska. there was one paragraph for lincoln and one for the finishing of the panama canal, which was achieved by theodore roosevelt.
the corridor leading from the doorway into the hall of records, showing the marks of the stonecutters’ tools.
“so by these suggestions you will see that a splendid paragraph can be developed for the part women have played in the development of the nation.” in another part of the letter mr. borglum made a place for women in the hall of records and even suggested that a special hall might be carved for them, as there is ample rock for many rooms.
calvin coolidge had been asked to collaborate on the inscription and wrote the first two paragraphs. mr. borglum stood strongly for “justice” in the wording, whereas mr. coolidge insisted upon “justice under the law.” newspaper accounts exaggerated the discussion, which unfortunately was terminated by mr. coolidge’s death.
