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Sugar, Slavery, and the Washington China
Upon stepping into the White House China Room, visitors encounter tableware from nearly every presidential administration or first family. Tucked into one of the impressive glass display cases is a small, porcelain sugar bowl. To many viewers, the bowl may seem like an ordinary piece of White House tableware. But what if a bowl could tell a bigger story? A
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Dan Jansen
Speed skater Dan Jansen’s gold medal victory is one of the most inspiring Olympic stories in American history. The four-time Olympian and seven-time World Cup champion won a gold medal in his final Olympic race in the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway. Jansen’s road to the gold was riddled with disappointments, family illness, and personal challenges, yet he pers
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Jerry Smith
Jeremiah “Jerry” Smith worked at the White House through eight presidencies. Government documents listed him as a laborer, but he took on a variety of unofficial roles, including valet, footman, custodian, and most notably, duster. Throughout his thirty-year tenure, Jerry witnessed three White House weddings, the aftermath of two assassinations, the installation of electricity, the construction of the West Wing, and
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Freemasonry and the White House
On July 16, 1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, formally the Act for Establishing the Temporary and Permanent Seat of the Government of the United States. The act empowered President George Washington and his three appointed commissioners to develop the country’s new capital and manage construction of the White House, United States Capitol, and other federal buildings. To meet their 1800 deadline, th
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Girl Scouts and First Lady Lou Hoover
Girl Scouts have been connected to the White House for almost as long as they have existed. Juliette Gordon Low founded Girl Scouts of the USA in 1912. Low came from a prominent southern family and lived abroad for many years in England, where she first encountered the scouting movement.1 After befriending Robert Baden-Powell, author of the book Scouting for Boys
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The Life and Presidency of Gerald R. Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr., the nation’s only unelected president and vice president, was born Leslie Lynch King Jr. in Omaha, Nebraska, on July 14, 1913, the year his parents, Leslie and Dorothy King, divorced. Following his mother’s marriage in 1916 to Gerald R. Ford Sr. in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the future president was renamed for his stepfather and became known to his
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Khrushchev Goes to Washington
In September 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower invited Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to the United States for an official State Visit. Eisenhower’s invitation marked a historic moment: the first time a Soviet head of state received an invitation to the White House. This event marked an opportunity for each leader to learn about their counterpart while sharing their country’s imme
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A Resolute Myth: Debunking the Resolute Desk Panel
As historians, one part of our job is to question and investigate oft-repeated stories in history. Myths, inaccuracies, and questionable documentation abound in White House history, and historical facts can be ignored, altered, misremembered, or forgotten as time passes. One such example is the history of the Resolute Desk—one of the most important symbols of the presidency and a pr
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The Life and Presidency of Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. was born on October 1, 1924, in the small rural town of Plains, Georgia, about 150 miles south of Atlanta. His father, James Sr., was a businessman and farmer. His mother, known to the nation as Miss Lillian during her son’s presidency, was a nurse who served as a Peace Corps volunteer after her children were grown and wr
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Architecture: 1850s-1890s
1850sJames Buchanan, at the urging of his niece and White House hostess Harriet Lane, added a wooden greenhouse on the roof of the west terrace in 1857, adjacent to the State Dining Room. One could enter a private world of plants and flowers grown for decorating the house. This simple structure burned in 1867 and was replaced by iron and wood structure
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Architecture: 1900s-1940s
1900sOne of Theodore Roosevelts earliest acts as President was to issue an order establishing the "White House" as the buildings official name. Previously, it had been called the "Presidents House" or the "Executive Mansion." This decision portended more serious discussion regarding the status of the house. In 1902, Mrs. Roosevelt asked the distinguished architect Charles McKim for his advice. His recommendations
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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