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Top Dogs at the White House
Families taking up residence at the White House since the Theodore Roosevelt administration have encountered the public's insatiable appetite for stories of everyday life in the Executive Mansion. With the common reproduction of photographs in newspapers and magazines by the early 20th century, presidential pets had to accept the same scrutiny as their distinguished masters. Whether providing companionship or humanizing
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After the Fire
Read Digital EditionForeword, William SealeGetting It Right: The Embellished Obligations of Dolley Madison, Conover HuntRescue of the Papers of State During the Burning of Washington, Jessie Kratz"Articles of the Best Kind": James Monroe Furnishes the Rebuilt White House, Scott H. Harris and Jarod KearneyThe White House Collection: Reminders of 1814, Betty MonkmanA New Look for the Bicentennial, William G. AllmanHistory
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Amenities & Living Comforts
The first bath tubs in the White House were portable and made of tin; water was hauled in buckets. Running water was piped into the White House in 1833. Gaslighting, installed in the White House in 1848, replaced candles and oil lamps. A central heating system was installed in the White House in 1837 when many people still warmed themselves with a log
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White House Tour
Following a competition for the design of the President's House in the spring of 1792, Irish architect James Hoban was commissioned to build a home and office for the President of the United States. With guidance from President George Washington, Hoban employed craftsmen brought from as far away as Scotland and oversaw a free and enslaved labor force that constructed one
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About Us
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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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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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In James Buchanan’s Time
Read Digital EditionForeword, William SealeJames Buchanan's White House Hostess: The Celebrated Harriet Lane, Pamela KilianGuest of the Nation: The Japanese Delegation to the Buchanan White House, Dallas FinnThe USRMCS Harriet Lane, Robert L. AndersonPresident Buchanan Greets a Guest of State: The Prince of Wales at the White House, Claire A. FaulknerThe White House Collection: From James Buchanan's Time, William G.
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The Roosevelt Restoration of 1902
Read Digital EditionForeword, William B. BushongThe White House in the Monumental City, Antoinette J. LeeGlenn Brown, the White House, and the Urban Renaissance of Washington, D.C., William B. BushongTheodore Roosevelt's White House, William SealeThe Executive Offices 100 Years Ago: A Photographic Essay, Lydia TederickThe "Eye of Guardianship:" President Theodore Roosevelt and the American Institute of Architects, Tony P. WrennThe White
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The Gold Spoon Speech of 1840
Read Digital EditionForeword, William SealeAbout the Gold Spoon Oration, William SealeImagery from the Election of 1840: Myth and Reality, Clifford KrainikThe White House Collection: Those Princely Objects in Charles Ogle's Speech, William G. AllmanA Letter from Home: Martha Custis Peter to Martha Custis Williams, Tudor Place February 13, 1841, Wendy KailSpeech of Mr. Ogle, of Pennsylvania, on The Regal Splendor of the President's
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Documenting the White House
Read Digital EditionForeword, William SealeMaking the Most of the Archives: Finding White House Documentary Sources at the National Archives, Alysha E. BlackVisual Documents: Symbolic and Real Images of the White House, Alan FernPhotographing White House Furnishings, Bruce M. WhiteThe White House Collection: Research Sources in the Office of the Curator, Betty C. MonkmanBuy NowSubscribe to White House History