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From White House to Your House
Chicagos 1893 Worlds Columbian Exposition gave us many firsts, among them the Ferris wheel, Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, and the introduction by the U.S. Post Office Department of the picture post card. Printed on government-issued postal cards with an imprinted one-cent stamp were illustrations of the fairs structures. Privately printed souvenir cards were also sold that depicted the fairs attractions,
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The Hidden White House: The Truman Renovation, 1948-1952
When Earvin Ruddick's family took him on the White House tour on his 90th birthday two years ago, he became one of the millions who troop through the mansion to marvel at the sumptuous Federal interiors with their marble mantels and hand-tooled paneling. But unlike the wide-eyed masses, Ruddick's glance at the fine woodwork was both knowing and familiar. After
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The Life and Presidency of Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge (he rapidly let go of "John") was born on the Fourth of July in 1872 to an old New England family. His father John Calvin Coolidge farmed in Windsor County, Vermont. The young Calvin lost his mother Victoria Josephine Moore to what may have been tuberculosis when he was twelve; when he was seventeen, his younger sister and
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The White House Historical Association Kennedy Rose Garden Exhibition
The White House Historical Association has the privilege of announcing the opening of a new exhibit, The Kennedy Rose Garden: Traditionally American, which explores President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 vision for a new garden adjacent to the Oval Office. The exhibit is free and open to the public July 16 – September 12, 2015; Monday – Saturday from 10 a.m – 3 p.m.
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The White House Collection Research Sources in the Office of the Curator
A house more thoroughly documented than the White House is difficult to imagine. Historians and students of White House history seeking primary source materials on the late-18th-century origin, design, and construction of the building as well as its 19th-century reconstruction and renovations, changing interior spaces, and purchases of art and furnishings, must turn to the rich resources of the
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White House Vegetable Gardens
John Adams, the first resident of the White House, wanted a vegetable garden plowed and fertilized with the goal of planting in the spring of 1800. By the time the ground was ready for planting, Adams had returned to private life after Thomas Jefferson’s victory in the 1800 presidential election. President Jefferson inherited a construction site when he came into office an
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Pathbreakers: Oscar Stanton DePriest and Jessie L. Williams DePriest
Shelley Stokes-Hammond prepared these biographical sketches as part of a project for a graduate documentation course at Goucher College where she received a Master of Arts in Historic Preservation in 2011.In March 1929, Oscar Stanton DePriest became the first African American to serve in the United States Congress since George H. White of North Carolina left the House in 1901. DePriest was
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Dolley Madison's House
Did you know that after her husband's death, First Lady Dolley Madison was so poor that she had to accept money from a former slave and hand-outs from her neighbors on Lafayette Square? The yellow house on the corner of H Street and Madison Place was Dolley Madison's home from 1837 until her death in 1849. Originally built by her brother-in-law, Richard
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Mrs. Polk Receives Unwelcome Advice About Her Servants
James K. Polk and Sarah Childress Polk lived in the White House from 1845 to 1849. Anson and Fanny Nelson, admirers of Mrs. Polk, published this story many years later:"An elderly lady, who had been present at [a White House] dinner-party, called on Mrs. Polk and said, 'May I take the liberty [to] make a suggestion to you, Madame?' The
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Jacqueline Kennedy Refines the Season
In 1961, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy began the tradition of selecting a theme for the official White House Christmas tree. She decorated a tree placed in the oval Blue Room with ornamental toys, birds and angels modeled after Pyotr Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite" ballet. Mrs. Kennedy reused these ornaments in 1962 for her children's theme tree. Set up in the North Entrance, this
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Housekeeper Elizabeth Jaffray Makes Some Changes
Historian William Seale identifies a "strange hierarchy" that had developed among the White House domestic staff by the first decade of the 20th century. At mealtime, the "top-ranking men," black and white, were seated together in a pantry, where they dined upon the President's leftover food. Maids ate in the servants' dining room with the footmen. This group was also
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Lady Bird Johnson, A Birthday Tribute
An AppreciationDecember 22, 2012 marks the 100th birthday of Lady Bird Johnson, whose spheres of activity and influence were varied during her six years as the nation’s first lady. She expanded the professionalism of the East Wing staff devoted specifically to the first lady’s projects employing a chief of staff, a press secretary, and support staff to write speeches, maintain cont