U.S. House of Representatives Page Program
A page in the United States Capitol is responsible for running errands and carrying messages for Senators and for Representatives. There is a rivalry between the two groups of pages. There are currently 72 pages that serve in the House, located in Washington, D.C. in the Capitol building. The pages are all students in their junior year of high school (serving either during the school year or during the summer break before or after the junior year).
In 1838, the House Committee on Accounts described the page system in the following way:
- By inquiry from the old officers of the House, certainly as early as the first session that Congress assembled in the city of Washington, it has been the practice to employ boys to attend the House The construction of the Hall, the seats and tables of the members, and the manner of transacting business, render the service of such attendants indispensably necessary.
Thus is the page program described but it is not that simple nor is the history of the program. To start, there is the general state and size of the page program since congresss inception. Second, their duties throughout the history of the program are interesting. Last, famous events and people have been a part of or associated with current or former pages. These are the three main aspects of page history.
When people began becoming pages, it was a very ambiguous position. The first time a congressional entity really examined the page program was in 1838. However, pages have been around in the House of Representatives (hitherto referred to as the house) to since Congress moved to D.C (House Committee on Accounts). The Senate got its first page in 1829. His name was Grafton Hanson (Oliver). Soon after in 1831, they got their second page, Isaac Bassett, who started at age 11 and worked for the Senate in various capacities for the rest of his life(Severn, 14).
Housing for early pages was up to them. Most of the pages stayed in boarding houses and apartments which they paid for themselves. However, there have been a few pages throughout history who have lived in the houses of their sponsoring member. Having to fend for themselves, there were several common schemes the pages used to make money (Oliver). One of these was purchase a blank autograph book. Then, they would take into the capital and have congressional representatives sign it. After which, they would sell book to tourists (Severn, 16). Additionally, they would hire themselves out as agents for the printers in town. However this changed when in 1982 the house determined that the pages were causing much trouble. It was decided that the congress would establish and fund a page dormitory. The first page dormitory was on two floors in the Oneill House Office Building. Initially, Senate pages also lived in this dormitory but they eventually purchased their own dormitory located North East of the Capitol building. Oneill was demolished in 2000 and the house pages were moved into the current dormitory located at 501 1st St. SE which is exclusively a page dormitory (Oliver)
The early pages had it easy as far as school goes. Up until the 1930s, there was no school for the pages and even then, there was only one teacher. Then in the 40s, a new principal, Ernest Kendall, was hired. He hired a dozen teachers and tried to transform the pages school into a normal school. In 1948, the school was transferred to the supervision of DC Public Schools. This was when the school was moved to the Attic Level of the Library of Congress Jefferson Building and also when it was required that you be of high school age to be a page. The next change came in 1982 when the page program became exclusively for juniors. At the same time, the Senate pages bought their own dorm, they formed alternative arrangement with their school located in the basement of their dormitory (Oliver).
Being a page was like any other job, you showed up for work, did your job, and left but it was an honored position due to the fact you had to be nominated by your congress member. Also for a large part for of congress existence, the pages didnt have to start until like noon and got out of work at around 5 PM. In addition, they only met from December through March (Oliver). The page program stance on gender has also changed. For most of its life, the page program was a male only program. As early as 1939, Gene Cox, daughter of Rep. Eugene Cox, was allowed to be a page for the opening day of congress. However, in 1971, Senators Charles Percy and Jacob Javits appointed Ellen McConnell and Paulette Desell to be the first female senate pages. Then in 1973, Speaker Carl Albert appointed Felda Looper the first female House page to serve for more than a day. After these years, females have gradually become a greater part of the program until todays program where there is the same number of female pages than male pages if not slightly more female pages (Oliver).
Over the years, the duties of pages have evolved. The pages were originally only runners of documents. One of the duties they performed that has been eliminated was their role as human vote announcers. This was replaced by a bell system in 1890s which though it as changed and expanded is still in place today. This happened around the same time that the electric page calling system was installed on the floor and the page desks were established. However, they have evolved over time to include such important tasks as raising the flag over the house and senate, ringing the bells to signal events happening in the house, answering phones in the cloakroom, and delivering documents to the rostrum (Oliver).
Over the years, pages have fulfilled several prominent duties for the congress. Rule XXXI of the House of Representatives states that at the commencement of each Congress, immediately after the Members and Delegates are sworn in, the Clerk shall place in a b box, prepared for that purpose, a number of small balls, of marble or other material, equal to the number of Members and Delegates, which balls shall be consecutively numbered and thoroughly intermingled, and at such hour as shall be fixed by the House for that purpose, by the hands of a page, draw said balls one by one from the box and announce the number as it is drawn, upon which announcement the Member or Delegate whose name on a numbered alphabetical list shall correspond with the number on the ball shall advance and choose his seat for the term for which he was elected. Additionally, the Senate pages carry the electoral ballots from the Senate to the House to a joint session for counting taking place after each election (Oliver).
The pages have been part of big things, become important people in the world, have even been reported on by a celebrity, and have even been in paintings. One of the biggest incidents involving a page took place after Puerto Rican Nationalists stormed into the House chamber and shoot at the representatives, pages helped carry stretchers carrying members that was injured out of the house chamber. In addition each year, the pages are allowed to attend the State of the Union address and Veterans Day Ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery (Oliver). Pages have also become important people among them: Bill Gates, and 23 members of congress including Rep. William Scott and Rep. Paul Kanjorski who are both from Pennsylvania Oliver. Senate Pages were even interviewed by Jacqueline Bouvier about what they thought of the Senators (Bouvier). Pages have been present in paintings as well. Pages can be seen in the House of Representatives by Samuel Morse and the painting of the Electoral Commission of 1876 (Oliver).
Bibliography
- Oliver, Jim. Pages of the U.S. House of Representatives. Washington Work/Study. House Page School. House Page School, Washington, D.C.
- Oliver, Jim. Re: Report about Pages Email to the author. 2 Feb. 2005
- United States House Of Representatives. Congressional Record – 25th Congress. Washington: GPO, 1840.
- Bouvier, Jacqueline. Inquiring Camera Girl. Washington Post ??
- Andrews, Paul and Stephen Manes. Gates How Microsofts Mogol Reinvented an Industry. Simon and Schuster, 1994.
- Severn, Bill. Democracys Messengers. New York : Hawthorne Books, 1975.
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