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Article
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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Article
Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day," 12/25/1936
WASHINGTON, Wednesday —Yesterday afternoon James1 and Betsey and their two children arrived. The children settled down on the third floor where we really are running a little household with a kitchen of its own. Luckily most of them eat at the same time and it is very amusing to go up at noon into the sun parlor and see the ba
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Article
Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day," 12/26/1938
Washington, Sunday—Christmas Day and Christmas Eve lie behind us. The 24th of December is always for me the embodiment of what I call "official Christmas." Though I appreciate all that it means, some things I do, leave me with a lump in my throat.I began Christmas Eve this year before 9:00 o'clock, for I had two parties for youngsters, on
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Article
Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day," 4/11/1939
WASHINGTON, Monday—We came down to Washington yesterday evening to find the trees in bud, the fountains playing outside the White House and the daffodils all in bloom along Pennsylvania Avenue and in the little garden on which my window looks down. One magnolia tree is completely out and everything looks as though spring has arrived. Yet, in Hyde Park, we
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Article
Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day," 6/9/1939
WASHINGTON, Thursday—I have just made the rounds of every room in the White House with Mrs. Nesbitt,1 the housekeeper. We even inspected the third floor, which, this time, instead of housing grandchildren, will have our royal visitors' personal servants. Ordinarily, when the house is going to be filled. I tell Mrs. Nesbitt to get in touch with the nurses to
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Article
White House Brides and Envisioned Flowers
The first really grand White House wedding was Nellie Grant’s. For this President and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant had the East Room redecorated entirely, adding to James Hoban’s original architectural detailing matching columns and extending the cornice into beams, all gleaming white, with accents in gold leaf. Andrew Jackson’s three chandeliers were replaced by much grander “French” models, bo
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Event
The Kennedy Rose Garden: Traditionally American
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy began to envision a "traditionally American" garden located just outside the Oval Office. His idea became the Rose Garden, which was installed the next year. This garden has had a strong presence on the White House grounds and in the American presidency ever since. It is a White House institution, a special place for official
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Video
White House History Weekly: Lafayette Park Waysides
The White House Historical Association, in partnership with the National Park Service, installed historical markers in Lafayette Square recount the history of the involvement of enslaved labor in the construction of the White House, the preservation and commemoration of the White House and Lafayette Square – including Jacqueline Kennedy’s actions to save the neighborhood from development – and the history of Lafaye
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Video
Interpreting African-American History in the President’s Neighborhood
Many people think of the White House as a symbol of democracy, but it also embodies America’s complicated past and the paradoxical relationship between slavery and freedom in the nation’s capital, including the president's neighborhood. In recognition of Black History Month, this episode of White House History Live will explore new educational tools and visuals for teaching and lear
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Press Release
Available for Pre-Order Today: New Issue of White House History Quarterly, “Every President Has Walked These Grounds”
Today the White House Historical Association released a new issue of its award-winning magazine, White House History Quarterly, titled, “Every President Has Walked These Grounds." On November 21, 1800, after moving into the barely finished President's House in the emerging City of Washington, First Lady Abigail Adams wrote a letter to her daughter describing the site of her new home: "It is a
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Press Release
The White House Historical Association Annual Symposium: “The Presidency and Historic Preservation”
The White House Historical Association, in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, hosted its annual day-long educational symposium Thursday, May 26, 2022, 8AM-4:30PM at the historic Decatur House located at 748 Jackson Place NW, Washington, DC. This year’s program, themed "The Presidency and Historic Preservation,” included panel discussions on the topics of “Women in Historic Preservation,” “Presidential Sites of Enslavemen