The construction of the St Lawrence Seaway was to the mid-twentieth century what railways were to the nineteenth. A joint project between Canada and the United States of America, the series of locks and canals allowed for the largest container ships to travel deep inland, boosting trade across the Great Lakes. This silver casket, containing a leather-bound book describing the construction of the Seaway, was presented to HM The Queen as Queen of Canada by the American Vice-President, Richard Nixon, on behalf of President Eisenhower at the official opening of the Seaway during The Queen’s tour of Canada in 1959.