From the Nelson and Henry C. White papers, 1898-1978, a letter from painter Abbott H. Thayer (1849-1921) to Franklin D. Roosevelt, September3, 1917, concerning camouflage for war vehicles. Thayer advises Roosevelt that he has been studying the "principles of Concealing Coloration for nearly a quarter of a century.... I entreat you to believe me that only a picked board of artists, and the more scientific ones, at that, are at all competent to test any scheme. ...I had learned by experiment that it took the brightest white on vertical surfaces to match the horizon sky in cloudy weather, which predominates 95% to 98% of the the time in the 'war zone'."  Thayer's paintings also reveal an interest in camouflage. 2 p., 26.5 x20.2 cm.

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