Tea and Coffee Set--Lenox, Inc., Trenton, New
Jersey, 1911. This service, with silver overlay
engravings, was among the gifts the Tafts received
on their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary in 1911.
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When
President and Mrs. William H. Taft came to the White
House in 1909, they didn’t change the furnishings
in any of the state rooms. The first lady replaced
the Victorian furniture in the president’s
bedroom with Colonial Revival mahogany pieces and
personal furnishings. The Taft's twenty-fifth anniversary
was the major social event of their administration
and among the many silver gifts they received was
a Lenox tea service with silver overlay engraved
"T" and "1886-1911."
Woodrow Wilson and his family entered the White
House in 1913. First Lady Ellen Wilson, a strong
supporter of mountain craftswomen, selected their
textiles to decorate the second floor. She also
redesigned the East and West gardens and purchased
naturalistic limestone furniture for them. Ellen
Wilson died in 1914 and in the following year President
Wilson courted and married Edith Bolling Galt. The
new first lady replaced many of the wall coverings,
draperies and upholstery in the state floor rooms.
Her lasting contribution was the establishment of
the China Room in 1917 to display tableware. The
Wilsons ordered the first American-made state service,
a 1,700 piece made in Trenton, New Jersey by Lenox.
Betty C. Monkman, The White House: Its Historic
Furnishings and First Families, 197-202.
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