In January 2013, Paul Michael Taylor, director of the Smithsonian Institution's Asian cultural history program, held preliminary discussions with White House curator William G. Allman about the possibility of displaying the rug at the Smithsonian on December 16, 2013, as part of an event sponsored by the Armenian Rugs Society and the Armenian Cultural Foundation, which would include a book launch for Hagop Martin Deranian's President Calvin Coolidge and the Armenian Orphan Rug.[1] The proposal was later backed by a letter signed by a bipartisan group of 33 U.S. Congressmen supporting the removal of the rug from storage.[2] But on September 12, Taylor cancelled the event, citing the White House's decision to decline the requested loan of the rug as the reason.[1]