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Reading Lists & Bibliography
General White House Bibliography:Aikman, Lonnelle. The Living White House. Washington, D.C.: The White House Historical Association, 1996. Cunliffe, Marcus. The American Heritage History of the Presidency. New York: American Heritage Publishing Company, 1968. Dowd, Mary-Jane M., compiler. Records of the Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks of the National Capital - Record Group 42 Inventory No. 16. Washington, D.C.: National
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White House Ghost Stories
1862-1863: Mary Todd Lincoln, grieving over her son Willies death in February, began to participate in spirit circles or seances in the Red Room at the White House and the presidential cottage at the Soldiers Home. Spiritualism was wildly popular during the height of the Civil War as families sought comfort for the loss of loved ones. 1901-1904: Jeremiah Jerry
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African American Performers at the White House
Beginning with James Buchanan’s administration in the 1850s, black entertainers have held a prime spot among White House performers. Their contribution to the musical history of the White House has been a rich and generally little known segment of American cultural life. A performance by Thomas Greene Bethune, "Blind Tom" created a sensation in 1859. Although blind and likely autistic, he
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Frederick Douglass
The son of an enslaved woman and an unknown white man, Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born into slavery in 1818 on Maryland's eastern shore. He was enslaved for twenty years in city households in Baltimore and on Maryland farms. In 1838, he fled north and changed his name to Frederick Douglass.Douglass was highly active in the abolitionist movement and became
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Living Quarters on the Ground Floor
White House staff who lived at the President’s House during the nineteenth century, including enslaved and free African Americans, usually had rooms in the basement. Open at the ground level on the south, the basement (referred to as the Ground Floor today) had windows on the north side facing a dry moat that was entirely hidden from view. Visitors on
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First Lady Hoover's Tea Party with Mrs. De Priest Creates a Stir
Oscar De Priest’s election to Congress as a Republican representative from Chicago in 1928 created an interesting political and social dilemma for the White House. De Priest was the only black to serve in Congress during his three terms (1928-1935). Even before De Priest took his seat in 1929, Washington buzzed about the arrival of a black congressman and what this me
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The White House, Lafayette Square and African Americans
To imagine what it was like here when the White House was being constructed in the 1790s, erase everything else you see now on and around Lafayette Square. The park was a field—muddy or dusty, depending on the weather. Enslaved workers who were building the White House were housed in temporary shelters—each about 10 feet wide and 10 feet long—lined
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The Butler's Role at a State Dinner with Royal Visitors
Prior to the 1939 visit of the queen and king of England, Eleanor Roosevelt received a State Department memorandum, listing various rules of protocol. Mrs. Roosevelt became concerned about the order in which the Roosevelts, and the queen and king, should be served at the state dinner honoring the royal couple.1"I told Franklin," Mrs. Roosevelt recalled, "that British protocol required
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The White House Usher on the Role of Television
"Largely through television," notes historian William Seale, the White House "is the best known house in the world, the instantly familiar symbol of the Presidency, flashed daily on millions and millions of TV screens everywhere."1J. B. West was Assistant Chief Usher at the White House from 1941 to 1957, and Chief Usher from 1957 to 1969. During the Eisenhower administration, West had an
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White House Visitor Center
In July 2012, the National Park Service’s White House Visitor Center began undergoing a $12.6 million revitalization through a public-private partnership with the White House Historical Association. The Association's donation of $12.5 million for the project and operating endowment helped make this extraordinary public resource possible. David M. Rubenstein's gift of $5 million to the Association for the White House Visitor Center ensures ce
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The White House and the Movies
Read Digital EditionForeword, William SealePresidents and First Ladies in the Movies: Presence, Personality, and Power, Ron J. KellerPresidential Stardust: Fame, Power, and the Culture of Celebrity, Amy HendersonSets and Locations: The White House Re-Created, Diane LedermanD.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation": An Early "Blockbuster" Visits the White House, Elise K. KirkMovie Stars at the Dinner Table, William SealeWhite