Although it is an important subject, we know of very little published on the history of plastering in this country. In the author's period we note Benjamin Franklin's interest in fireproofing by plaster (see Franklin to Jane Mecom, 20 September 1787, in Van Doren, Franklin's Autobiographical Writings, p. 684). The remains of two houses built by him at 316-318 Market Street, Philadelphia, in 1786-1787 have recently been rediscovered. I. Jones' fire insurance survey (Philadelphia, Mutual Insurance Co., Nos. 230 and 231, July 1787) describes the chimney breast paneling in plaster and other features. A recent article on the subject is Robert Donald Crompton, 'William Thackara, Jr., Master Plasterer of Early Philadelphia', Plastering Industries XLVI, no. 3 (October, 1960), 27-37. Thackara lived 1770-1823. Fine decorative plasterwork is shown in a traveling exhibition 'Irish Architecture of the Georgian Period' now being circulated by the Smithsonian Institution, according to an illustrated brochure (S.I. Publication 4428) sent us by Richard H. Howland, now Curator of Civil History there. Mr. Raley is a practicing architect on Route 3, Newark, Delaware. He became interested in Irish influence in America while preparing a thesis as a Winterthur fellow. Mr. Raley's report on Graeme Park, Colonial Governor Keith's house at Horsham, Pennsylvania, was published in March 1960. -Editor