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Woodrow and Edith Wilson: Costumed for the World Stage
Clothes provide a barometer of life, livelihood, status, and culture. They tie the wearer to a moment in history. The most available means of establishing historical provenance for clothing is photography; the maker’s labels sewn into the garment are another means. The medium of photography introduced in 1839 provides extensive contemporary documentation about costume and how it is worn. Historical ph
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Rebuilding the White House and U.S. Capitol
On August 24, 1814, British forces marched into Washington, D.C. and set fire to the White House, the Capitol, and other government buildings. After the British left the city, the government hired James Hoban, designer of the original President's House, to supervise the rebuilding of the mansion and executive office buildings, while Benjamin H. Latrobe returned as Architect of the Capitol.
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An Eloquent Visitor from the Great Plains
One of the most moving moments in the early history of the White House took place in the Entrance Hall, when President James Monroe received Chief Petalesharro, a Pawnee from the Loup River region in central Nebraska. At the time he was at the White House, he was a celebrity for rescuing a woman his tribe was attempting to burn
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Frances Folsom Cleveland's White House Wardrobe
President Grover Cleveland was ill-prepared for the American sovereigns’ (as he referred to the public) fascination with his soon-to-be-bride when he formally announced their upcoming nuptials on May 28, 1886. In an era in which people obtained their news in print, occasionally with the aid of an artist’s sketch, word traveled rapidly about the unusual beauty of Frances Folsom, Cleveland’s 21-year-
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Fashion and Frugality
Sarah Childress Polk (1803–1891) was first lady from 1845 to 1849, during the administration of her husband, James Knox Polk. A fashion trendsetter, she used her keen intelligence, abiding religious faith, pleasant manner, and superb organizational skills to artfully regulate the White House, serve as her husband’s main political partner, and orchestrate an exhausting social schedule of receptions and dinners that helped Polk
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Dressing Down for the Presidency
The new British minister to the United States was outraged. Within a few weeks of Minister Anthony Merry’s arrival in Washington, he was reporting to his foreign office in London what he perceived as breaches of diplomatic protocol, and topping his list of grievances were complaints regarding President Thomas Jefferson’s appearance. Merry had accompanied Secretary of State James Madi
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History on the Auction Block
Dolley Madison died at her house on Lafayette Square on July 12, 1849. She was eighty-one. By that age she was one of the few women of note who remembered the founding fathers personally. There were others, most of them women like Mrs. Madison who had outlived their husbands. Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, widow of Alexander Hamilton was older and lived just up
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The Solarium
The Solarium on the Third Floor has been called the “The Camp David of the White House.”1 With its floor-to-ceiling windows and its panoramic view of the Washington Monument and the Mall, the Solarium has been from its inception the retreat of first families. Here they find a cozy place where they can escape from their public roles and enjoy the
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Getting It Right
On March 4, 1809, at Washington’s first inaugural ball, one keen local observer recorded that the new first lady, Dolley Payne Todd Madison, who arrived draped in a low-cut, buff velvet gown with a long train, “answered all my ideas of royalty.”1 And in truth she did have a uniquely American interpretation of regality that would keep her center stage for the ei
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Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day," 1/20/1945
WASHINGTON, Friday—I arrived back in Washington yesterday morning and plunged into a vortex of inauguration preparations. I went to meet some grandchildren I had not seen for a long time, but their train was late and so I went back to the White House to talk with Mrs. Nesbitt,1 the housekeeper, and to change my morning appointments in order to
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Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day," 1/22/1937
WASHINGTON, Thursday—Like any other housewife, after a busy day, I have been taking stock of yesterday's activities! I wrote yesterday's column just before I went out to the Parade. Luckily this parade was primarily a military parade though the Governors themselves in their cars, the C.C.C. boys and the National Youth Administration with its floats reminded us of
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Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day," 1/4/1937
WASHINGTON, Sunday—I said goodbye to Franklin, Junior1 on Friday afternoon and took the five o'clock train to New York, expecting to have a chance to see a friend that evening. I went from the station straight to her apartment and rang the bell. After a long time the door was opened and I discovered that she expected me at fi