Name/Title
Frank Jones Album (Selected Photos) - Scene of William Franklin Horn's staged discovery of the "French lead plates"Entry/Object ID
2020.8.34Description
Dated 1936. In this picture, the Works Projects Administration team under the direction of Frank Blair Jones, curator of the Greene County Historical Society, poses with William Franklin Horn [1870-1956]. The team was there on purpose to dig for the two "French lead plates" that Horn is holding in the image. Horn was the man behind the notorious Horn Papers hoax. This staged discovery of the fabricated lead plates gave credence to Horn's claims at the time. However, when an investigative committee chaired by United States Archivist, Solon Justus Buck, examined the Horn Papers and the collaborating physical evidence in 1946-1947, they discredited the plates through scientific dating, linguistic analysis, and accounts of the event. Dr. Mary Butler Lewis and Frank Blair Jones (both pictured) provided accounts by letter and testimony, respectively to committee members. They explained that while accounts of the dig credited the team for the discovery, the actual circumstances were that Horn unearthed the plates himself while Jones was away from the dig for two hours. Horn proceeded to wash off the plates in the creek nearby. Accordingly, it was impossible to identify exactly where they were found or document them appropriately. The leaders stated that it was difficult to reprimand Horn for the violation of scientific procedure because he was "skipping and dancing about like a kid." (Source: Middleton, Arthur Pierce and Douglass Adair, "The Mystery of The Horn Papers," William and Mary Quarterly 4, no. 4 (October 1947), pages 409-445. Specifically see footnote 29, page 425.)
Caption reads: "At the scene of the finding of the French lead plates, 1936. Left to right: [FRONT ROW] Esta Ely, Jefferson Bernard, Frank B. Jones, W. F. Horn, Albert Keener; [BACK ROW] Miss Butler, ?, ?."
Original, candid.Photograph Details
Subject Person or Organization
Horn, William Franklin [1870-1956], Jones, Frank Blair [1879-1951]Subject Place
City
Pennsylvania / Greene County / Morgan Township / ClarksvilleCollection
Zenia Gilbert CollectionLexicon
Search Terms
Horn family, Jones family, Ely family, Keener family, OccupationsOther Names and Numbers
Other Number
GILB-AN001-0001-0160Provenance
Provenance Detail
Frank Blair Jones Album - Zenia Gilbert CollectionOwner/Agent
Gilbert, Zenia JaneAcquisition Method
DigitalAcquisition Date
2015Notes
The Frank Jones Album Series of the Zenia Gilbert Collection was assembled by Frank Blair Jones [1879-1951] - husband of Lydia White, son of Ephraim McClelland Jones and Julia Ann Henderson. Frank was a U.S. Navy veteran and bandmaster. He was very interested in early local history and served as curator at the Greene County Historical Society.
The album was passed from Frank Blair Jones [1879-1951] to his son Frank E. Jones [1919-1993]. Frank's niece, Valerie (daughter of William Ephraim Rodman Jones, granddaughter of Frank Blair Jones) received the album after her uncle's passing. Valerie arranged for the album to be maintained locally in the custody of Violet Elizabeth (Stockdale) Gilbert [1918-2006]. Violet's mother was Rachel Jane (Jones) Stockdale, sister to Frank Blair Jones. Violet passed the album to her daughter Zenia Gilbert who shared the photographs with the Greene Connections: Greene County, Pennsylvania Archives Project in 2015.
Source Citation: Frank Jones Album - dated 1936, scene of William Franklin Horn's staged discovery of the "French lead plates," item no. GILB-AN001-0001-0160, Frank Jones Album Series, Zenia Gilbert Collection, Greene Connections Archives Project (www.GreeneConnections.com).