Foreword, White House History (Number 26)

Copyright © Fall 2009 White House Historical Association. All rights reserved under international copyright conventions. No part of this article may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Requests for reprint permissions should be addressed to books@whha.org

William Seale Author & Historian

Although a great machine for the presidency, the White House operates entirely by hand. Since it was first occupied in 1800, certainly thousands of employees have worked there in various capacities, as full-time staff, from butlers to ladies’ maids to social secretaries, to carpenters, plumbers, and painters. There is no set rule about size, for the needs change. A century ago, the White House staff was simply a domestic staff of about fifteen. Extra domestic employees came with the presidents, from their homes. Indeed, even the office in the first Roosevelt’s time included only about fifteen people. When Roosevelt built the West Wing, and moved business out of the house, the office staff grew and would continue to grow, and today has expanded into many other buildings in the area. Bradley Patterson’s article in this issue addresses the subject of the presidential staff today.

Some years ago the curator’s office at the White House acquired the unpublished memoirs of the first social secretary of the White House. In this issue Priscilla Roosevelt edits and gives a context for the Theodore Roosevelt part of that memoir. Considered as a duo with her friend Archie Butt’s famous letters, the Hagner memoir is the most important White House account of its time. Photographer Maggie Knaus’s keyhole peeks at the kitchen are the result of an outsider’s work at the White House. And William Allman and Cindi Malinick describe a painting, long missing from the White House, that turned up only recently in a house across Lafayette Park.

The issue is led off by Claire Faulkner’s article on the ushers. A word Americans associate with movie theaters of another time has at the White House an entirely different meaning.

Tom Geer prunes foliage in the East Garden of the White House. — Tom Geer prunes foliage in the East Garden of the White House on a July day. The job of a White House worker involves both repetition—in a place of many traditions—and innovation in a place always new.
WHITE HOUSE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
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This was originally published in White House History (Number 26) on Fall 2009

Collection
Preservation of the White House

In the 1960s, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy oversaw the task of restoring the White House interiors and thus founded the White House Historical Association to enhance the understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of the Executive Mansion. As a part of our mission, the Association provides financial support for acquisitions, refurbishing projects, and preservation initiatives of the White House, which involves collaboration
Collection
State Dinners

A State Dinner honoring a visiting head of government or reigning monarch is one of the grandest and most glamorous of White House affairs. It is part of an official State Visit and provides the president and first lady the opportunity to honor the visiting head of state and his or her spouse. In this collection, explore the history of
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Dining in the Executive Mansion

A dinner at the White House has always had significance beyond the gastronomical delights. The elegance of the State Dining Room and the intimacy of the Family Dining Room set the stage for the politics and diplomacy that takes place between courses. In this collection, learn how the style of each room has evolved with its purpose, and how the
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Michelle Obama Celebrates with the American People

First Lady Michelle Obama began her White House Christmas planning with a very simple idea: to include as many people, in as many places, in as many ways as possible.In 2009, Mrs. Obama asked 60 local community groups from around the nation to "Reflect, Rejoice, Renew," and redecorate 800 ornaments from previous White House administrations. The ornaments paid tribute to favorite local
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State Dining Room

The State Dining Room, which now seats as many as 140 guests, was originally much smaller and served at various times as a drawing room, office, and Cabinet Room. Today's State Dining Room incorporates the space that President Thomas Jefferson used as a private office. Tall and generously proportioned, the room had fireplaces on the east and west and was flooded
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The Blue Room

The Blue Room with the Yellow Oval Room above and the Diplomatic Reception Room below it, form the most elegant space of James Hoban's plans for the White House. For the south wall of the Blue Room, he designed French doors flanked by long windows. An oval portico with curving stairs that descended to the South Lawn was included in
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The East Room

Ascending from the Ground Floor Corridor, a marble stairway leads the White House visitor to the State Floor level. Off the landing to the right is the East Room. The largest of the State Rooms, it was designed by James Hoban and George Washington to be a "Public Audience Room." Second President John Adams and his wife First Lady Abigail
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The Entrance Hall

The Cross Hall and large Entrance Hall are at the center of the original plan by James Hoban for the State Floor of the White House. The basic floor plan has not been altered substantially, although modifications have been made to the design and placement of the principle staircases. The plan is arranged so that the Cross Hall connects all
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The Green Room

James Hoban, the original architect of the President's House, intended that the space now called the "Green Room" be used as a "Common Dining Room." An 1801 inventory revealed that first residents President John Adams and First Lady Abigail Adams actually used it as a guest bedchamber. However, the next chief executive, Thomas Jefferson, did serve meals in this room. Jefferson
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The Red Room

Benjamin Henry Latrobe's 1803 drawing of the State Floor indicates that the Red Room served as "the President's Antechamber" for the President's office and Cabinet Room next door. During the James Madison administration, the room became First Lady Dolley Madison's famous salon. A sunflower yellow, not red, dominated the room's decor. Visitors were received at her famous Wednesday night receptions in
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The Second Floor

When John Adams first occupied the President's House in 1800, the Second Floor was generally reserved for private and family use. President Adams kept a small office adjacent to his bedroom on the southwest corner of the house, but other early presidents chose to work in rooms on the State Floor. Around 1825, the two rooms that we now call the Lincoln
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Conservation of the White House Collection

Care of any museum collection includes the conservation of objects to correct or stabilize deterioration from age or exhibition. Although the White House is an accredited historic house museum, it does not provide the traditional exhibition setting of objects under glass or behind ropes at all times. As the official residence of the president of the United States, objects from