The President's House and Its People
An Interview with Former White House Curator Betty Monkman
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Betty C. Monkman served more than thirty years in the Office of the Curator, The White House, retiring as Chief Curator in 2002. She is the author of The White House: Its Historic Furnishings and First Families and Treasures of the White House, and she is a frequent contributor to White House History. In this interview with White House historian William Bushong, Monkman discusses the nature of the White House as a home to the first family, the role of its workers and staff, and the labor force behind its physical construction.
Curator Betty Monkman illuminates the role of the White House as home to the first family, July 2007.
The Clintons' moving van arrives at the White House from Little Rock, January 20, 1993.
William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum/NARAExtended Family at the White House
The White House Historical Association
Four generations of President Benjamin Harrison's family posed at the White House for this photograph in 1889.
Library of CongressWhite House Residential Staff
The White House Historical Association
White House pastry chef Roland Mesnier helps guide his 150-pound gingerbread house into the White House, 2001.
Inauguration Day at the White House
The White House Historical Association
President Ronald Reagan was sworn in during an indoor ceremony in the Capitol in 1985.
Children at the White House
The White House Historical Association
Theodore Roosevelt poses with his sons Archie and Quentin, 1904.
Slaves
The White House Historical Association
A slave coffle passing the Capitol grounds, 1815 published in A Popular History of the United States, 1876.
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