The Appointment Books are a relatively recent addition to the Calvin Coolidge Papers at the Library of Congress: they arrived from the National Archives between 1985 and 1989. The books begin with August 6, 1923, a Monday, Coolidge's first working day as chief executive after President Warren Gamaliel Harding died in office on August 2, 1923. (Coolidge took the presidential oath in Plymouth Notch, Vermont early in the morning on Friday, August 3, then boarded an all-day train for Washington.) The appointment books end, with an autumnal cadence, on March 3, 1929, Coolidge's last day as president. The calendar shows that on his penultimate day, he had a regular schedule and, in the evening, "Dinner for Cabinet." But his last day shows just two entries: "Receive Governors" and "Dinner" -- presumably alone with his family.
Although the rather voluminous Appointment Books are not included in the Coolidge-Consumerism collection, readers wishing to flesh out the portrait of the Coolidge presidency presented in this collection may consult the books in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division Reading Room. (INTRO NOTE Coolidge Presidency) The eleven standard stationer's "Diary" books of white, lined note paper, measuring 7.5 x 10 inches, have one page for each day of the year. Appointments, by time of day, are pencilled in by various hands, possibly in some cases by Coolidge himself. The books were kept for the president by one of his secretaries, C. Bascom Slemp, from August 1923 to early 1925, when Slemp retired and was succeeded by Everett Sanders. (DETAIL NOTE Business Organization of the Government); and the Washington newspaper correspondents, to whom Coolidge made himself available on a regular basis, generally on Tuesdays at 10:00 am and Fridays at 4:00 pm.
The appointment times pencilled into the volumes suggest that most of President Coolidge's meetings were brief, in many cases no more than 15 minutes. The books also show that it was the president's habit to work on Saturdays.