
Dinner Fork and Breakfast Fork--Wm. B. Durgin
Co., Concord, N.H., 1894. Ordered in 1894 by Frances
Cleveland, this pattern is still used for state
occasions.
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The
extended family of Benjamin Harrison stretched the
Executive Mansion's available living space to the
limit and a number of beds were ordered to accommodate
the family. Caroline Harrison was a life-long art
student, and her interest in china painting led
her to search the White House for old services she
had repaired and preserved and can be credited with
starting the collection of presidential china now
displayed in the China Room. She also oversaw the
refurbishing of the house after it was wired for
electricity in 1891.
Grover and Frances Cleveland returned to the Executive
Mansion in 1893. As before, they lived much of the
time in a separate home for privacy. The Clevelands
made few changes except to redecorate the Red Room
with brighter red walls and a neo-classical frieze
and to furnish the Cross Hall with a set of dark
oak furniture. By the mid-1890s more flatware was
needed for state dinners, and the first lady selected
a high quality pattern of gilded silver with metal
being provided by melting down old, miscellaneous
White House flatware.
Betty C. Monkman, The White House: Its Historic
Furnishings and First Families, 172-176.
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