Significant Events
Featured 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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Woodrow and Edith Wilson: Costumed for the World Stage
Clothes provide a barometer of life, livelihood, status, and culture. They tie the wearer to a moment in history. The most available means of establishing historical provenance for clothing is photography; the maker’s labels sewn into the garment are another means. The medium of photography introduced in 1839 provides extensive contemporary documentation about costume and how it is worn. Historical ph
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Foreword; White House History Number 33
Further pursuing our interest in the neighborhood context of the White House, as well as the presidential complex itself, this issue hopes to paint a picture of the Mexican-American War era there (1846–48), when the American armies were fighting a war two thousand miles away on foreign soil. The capital tensed for reports from the fronts. Military action followed two main li
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Flight of the Madisons
The flight routes of President James Madison and First Lady Dolley Madison are not exact and much of the evidence of where they stayed is circumstantial. Many of the stops along the two routes of the Madisons are no longer in existence or are privately owned. Intense development of the region in the twentieth century greatly impacted the historic integrity
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Notable Prominent Neighbors
Saint John’s Church, Lafayette Square, is the oldest building still in use in the neighborhood of the White House—except for the White House itself. Constructed during 1815–16 under the supervision of the noted architect, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, it first opened for services on October 27, 1816, and was consecrated on December 27, 1816.1 From its inception, the church has had among its members, and oc