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Press Release
New Digital Library Exhibit “Slavery and Freedom in the White House Collection”
The White House Historical Association debuted a new virtual exhibit today, Slavery and Freedom in the White House Collection, that explores slavery’s influence on the ideas, people and movements that shaped the White House through close examination and interpretation of 21 objects in the White House Collection. The exhibit draws from memoirs, historic newspapers, census data, and other primary source ma
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Press Release
The White House Historical Association Names Dr. Matthew Costello as Chief Education Officer
The White House Historical Association has named Dr. Matthew Costello as Chief Education Officer to oversee the Association’s education programs, historical research, digital library, public programming, and partnerships. The appointment comes after a national search was undertaken with many extraordinary candidates. The position opening occurred as a result of Dr. Colleen Shogan, former Senior Vice President and Director of th
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Educational Resource
Using Art to Study the Past
When studying events that occurred before the widespread use of photography, historians have used artwork to supplement resources such as documents, diaries, and artifacts. While an artist's view of an event is less accurate than first-hand written accounts, many paintings and engravings can tell us what events were found important enough to document in this way. Artists, after all, were
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Educational Resource
White House Tea and No Sympathy
IntroductionIn the early summer of 1929, citizens in the nation's capital enjoyed reading about the White House activities of President Herbert Hoover and his wife, Lou Hoover, in their local newspaper. They learned that a "talking movie" was shown at the White House, that the president's pets had acquired silver-plated nametags, and that a policy had been implemented to reduce the
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Educational Resource
African Americans and the White House: 1900 - Modern Day
The White House has figured prominently in many stories of the African American freedom struggle. Brave men and women battled to end slavery in the nineteenth century and continued the fight by working to secure the vote and challenge discrimination. Their paths often led to the Executive Mansion and the power that resides there. The twentieth century offered several examples
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Event
White House History Live: Chocolate City - A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation’s Capital
Join us in learning more about White House History right from your own home. Our Facebook Live series, White House History Live, delves into the stories that make up the history of the Executive Mansion.Throughout four hundred years, Washington, D.C. has undergone massive transformations. Starting as a sparsely populated plantation society that grew to be a center of
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Event
History Happy Hour: Mrs. Keckly and Mrs. Lincoln
I consider you my best living friend,” Mary Lincoln wrote to Elizabeth Keckly in 1867, and indeed theirs was a close, if tumultuous, relationship. Born into slavery, Elizabeth Keckly was Mary Lincoln’s dressmaker, confidante, and mainstay during the difficult years that the Lincolns occupied the White House and the early years of Mary’s widowhood. But she was a fascinating woman
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Event
White House History Live: At the Threshold of Liberty - Women, Slavery, & Shifting Identities in Washington, D.C.
Join us in learning more about White House History right from your own home. Our Facebook Live series, White House History Live, delves into the stories that make up the history of the Executive Mansion.The capital city of a nation founded on the premise of liberty, nineteenth-century Washington, D.C., was both an entrepôt of urban slavery and t
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Video
The Enslaved Household of Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson, Founding Father and principal author of the Declaration of Independence envisioned an America where "all men are created equal". But over the course of his life, he enslaved more than 600 Black men, women and children. This is the story of three teenagers who were brought to the White House to train as Jefferson's personal chefs. For more information
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Press Release
Presidential Sites Leaders & Former White House Chiefs of Staff to Present at Dallas Summit on Inclusive WH Histories, Civic Engagement, First Ladies’ Impact
The White House Historical Association will bring together leading stewards of presidential history from presidential sites including birthplaces, childhood homes, and libraries for the second Presidential Sites Summit hosted by the Association March 15-18 in Dallas, TX. The 4-day gathering, themed “The White House Belongs to the American People,” will draw leaders from presidential sites across the country - and from
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Video
Elizabeth Keckly: From Slavery to the White House
She was enslaved at birth, but became the first lady's favorite dressmaker and the author of a sensational memoir that shocked the American public. So who was Elizabeth Keckly? Learn more about the extraordinary life of Elizabeth Keckly in this short video. For more information about Slavery in the President's Neighborhood, click here. For more short, educational videos from the