"Mr. Secretary" is based on a photo that Sue Sherman took of a Secretary bird, hence the title of the quilt, in Kenya.

Sue loved the way that the feathers of the Secretary bird, which normally hang down the back of the neck, kind of went up in the air with the wind and the expression upon the bird's face. The quilt was made during Sue's earlier days of painting with thickened dyes on white fabric, at a time when she was mostly doing portraits of different animals. From this period, Mr. Secretary is the favorite of her animal portrait quilts.