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William G. Allman

  • Article

    The Lincoln Bedroom: Refurbishing a Famous White House Room

    President Abraham Lincoln's office and Cabinet Room––the large southeast room on the Second Floor of the White House––has been called the Lincoln Bedroom since 1945, when President Harry S. Truman directed that Lincoln-era furnishings be assembled there. In the Truman renovation of the White House (1949-52), only the muted Brussels-style carpet gave a reasonably appropriate design context for the celebrat

  • Article

    A Small Slice of Kennedy Decor: The Queens’ Sitting Room

    Although the legacy of Jacqueline Kennedy’s interior decoration at the White House is fixed in Americans’ minds, there seems to be a general impression that the rooms, both public and private, have not been changed during the 40 years since her time here. Certainly much of the private quarters have been adjusted to suit the individual tastes of the succeeding firs

  • Article

    A Neighbor Returns More Than a Cup of Sugar

    In 2009, White House neighbors on Lafayette Square shared a fascinating surprise. In October 2008, Decatur House, an historic property of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, located in its storage a painting that had been purchased for the White House in 1890. The removal of the painting from the White House in the early twentieth century is undocumented, but its return is