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Importance of Music to President George Washington
Before the White House was completed in 1800, President George Washington and his wife Martha lived first in New York City, then Philadelphia. Washington enjoyed the theater and liked to dance, especially the minuet, which he danced with great pleasure at his inaugural ball. Music in the president’s home was an intimate amusement and young Nelly Custis, the president’s musi
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White House Technology Timeline
1790sInventories of the tools in the stonecutting sheds suggest that some of the stone was sawed, a technique that bypassed usual tooling used to "finish" the stone's surface. The cut resulted in two stones, each with a smooth face. Read More1800sPresident Thomas Jefferson gave orders for the demolition of the outdoor wooden privy and had two water closets installed
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Secret Service and the Presidents
Historian William Seale has described presidential protection as a learning process, with presidents and their families and the Secret Service sometimes straining to adjust to one another. Although from the beginning guards were posted at the White House gates and front doors and the White House grounds were patrolled by a day guard and a night watchmen, it was not
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Preface - The White House in Gingerbread
My memories transport me back to a time, just a few years ago and a few days before Christmas, when I was the White House executive pastry chef and the annual White House holiday parties have come to an end. We are busily cleaning the Pastry Shop. This is the time of year we go through everything—every refrigerator, walk-in co
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Gingerbread for Home Kitchens
This recipe is suited for the home kitchen and will produce enough gingerbread to make a house using the template provide in the back pocket of The White House in Gingerbread: Memories & Recipes book. Makes 2 sheets (12 x 18") Use a 5-quart mixing bowl Ingredients3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened 3/4 cup granulated sugar 2 large eggs 5 ounces molasses (liquid measure) 5 ounces honey (
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Steve Vasilakes, the White House's Peanut Man
Nicholas Stefanos “Steve” Vasilakes emigrated from Ligerea, Greece, to the United States in 1910 and soon thereafter set up his hot peanuts and fresh popped popcorn cart on what actually was White House property. He listed his business address as “1732 Pennsylvania Avenue” and reporters observed he came to represent the “little man” in America. He was described as a “burly, fierce mustached Gree
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White House Thanksgiving Turkeys in the Roaring '20s
First families received turkeys as gifts long before the 1920s. Horace Vose, the “Poultry King” of southwestern Rhode Island, first sent one of his prized birds to President Ulysses S. Grant in 1873, and continued to furnish White House Thanksgiving and Christmas tables for forty years.1 Yet in the 1920s, true to its reputation as a fast-paced era that saw major tech
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Our 2015 Ornament Design Inspiration
The Coolidges celebrated their first Christmas in the White House in 1923 quietly with their sons, Calvin Jr. and John, who were both home from Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. In 1923, President Coolidge became the first chief executive to preside over a public celebration of the Christmas holidays. At 5:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve, the president pressed a button and lit strings
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A Coolidge Christmas
In 1923 holiday anticipation grew among Washington residents, especially among the First Family. President Coolidge and First Lady Grace Coolidge awaited the arrival of their sons Calvin, Jr. and John, who were to be home for the holidays returning from school in Pennsylvania on December 18. Mrs. Coolidge had completed her shopping and the Washington Post reported, “just what she bought for Jo
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The Presidential Sweet Tooth
As the holidays approach, thoughts inevitably turn to sugar plums, gingerbread, and all of the other delectable treats that season brings with it. Sweets signal the changing of seasons and the arrival of holidays, from cookies at Christmas to popsicles in the heat of summer. The same is true at the White House, where presidents and their families have enjoyed
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Scholarship
White House Gingerbread: Holiday Traditions
The holiday season at the White House is celebrated with an array of annual traditions, glittering holiday décor, fresh pine, and sugary treats for all to enjoy. One of the sweetest holiday traditions is the official White House gingerbread. Since the late 1960s, pastry chefs have baked, constructed, and decorated a gingerbread house for the enjoyment of the First F
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An interview with Allida M. Black
To enhance First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day" newspaper columns, Allida M. Black, Director and Editor of The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers and Research Professor of History & International Affairs at The George Washington University, sat down for an interview covering topics from the Roosevelt's style of entertaining to what the White House was like during World War II.