YorksPast

The Library of Congress has a huge Online Catalog of Prints & Photographs.  I always get side-tracked easily when I enter this site to do specific research.  While looking for photos of Kline Racing Kars, I stumbled upon this photo of a World War I veteran from York, PA.  He got a job in 1937 by winning a bet that he could recite from memory the 6,757 words of the Constitution and Amendments.

I found two neat photos of Kline Racing Kars within The Library of Congress’ Online Catalog of Prints & Photographs; they will show up in a post next week.  From my side-tracked find, here is the text attached to the 1937 photo showing Representative Sol Bloom and Yorker Harry E. Wilhelm:

Ability to recite from memory the constitution wins war veteran a job. Washington, D.C., Sept. 13 [1937]. Harry E. Wilhelm, 43, a World War veteran and unemployed huckster of York, PA., won himself a job today on his ability to recite from memory the 6,757 words of the Constitution and Amendments. In his quest for work, Wilhelm called on Rep. Sol Bloom, Chairman of the United States Constitutional Sesquicentennial Commission, to whom he announced he was the only man in the world who could recite from memory the Constitution. Interested but skeptical, Bloom promised Wilhelm a job if he could back up his claim. With Bloom checking the words, Wilhelm made good on his boast and is now an employee of the U.S. Constitution Sesquicentennial Commission mailroom.