Furnishing and Maintaining the White House Collection
Congress has always been tasked with appropriating funds for the care, repair, refurnishing and maintenance of the White House and its grounds.
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Congress has always been tasked with appropriating funds for the care, repair, refurnishing and maintenance of the White House and its grounds. Since 1961, the White House Historical Association has served as the private, non-profit partner to the White House and provided financial support for its acquisitions, refurbishing projects, and preservation initiatives. Each incoming president has found furnishings that were worn out and in need of replacement due to everyday wear and tear. Historically, presidents and first ladies have played a prominent role in altering the home's decor to fit their own needs or reflect their distinct tastes during this occupancy.
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Congress has always been tasked with appropriating funds for the care, repair, refurnishing and maintenance of the White House and its grounds.
The White House has undergone a significant number of changes since President John Adams first called the Executive Mansion home.
Every presidential family that resides in the White House leaves a mark on the building and its traditions. The extent of a family’s influence on the physical White House depends usually on its length of residence and its inclinations to take the trouble to make changes. History plays a part as well. While major additions to the White House an
Although the legacy of Jacqueline Kennedy’s interior decoration at the White House is fixed in Americans’ minds, there seems to be a general impression that the rooms, both public and private, have not been changed during the 40 years since her time here. Certainly much of the private quarters have been adjusted to suit the individual tastes of the succeeding firs
One of the principal goals that governed the architectural changes made to the White House in 1902 by McKim, Mead & White—to refurnish the interior of the building in harmony with its exterior architecture—was adhered to in furnishing the State Rooms. The eclecticism of the variety of forms and styles of furniture and other decorative objects designed and made for
After ascending the staircase from the Ground Floor to the State Floor, the first room that visitors on a tour of the White House encounter is the East Room. As the largest room in the Executive Mansion, it has accommodated weddings, funerals, State Dinners, and much more, but during the nineteenth century it was primarily used as a reception space
After the destruction of the White House by the British in 1814, the Executive Mansion was reconstructed with a servants’ hall directly below the Elliptical Saloon (today’s Blue Room). In 1837, President Marten Van Buren repurposed the servants’ hall as a furnace room in order to provide heat for the building, a significant milestone in White House technology. By the time of The
Featuring Lydia Tederick, Curator of the White House, and Melissa Naulin, Assistant Curator of the White House
Featuring Elaine Rice Bachmann, curator of “Jacqueline Kennedy and H. F. du Pont: From Winterthur to the White House”