John and Abigail Adams: A Tradition Begins
John and Abigail Adams had a wealth of experience in establishing and living in official houses prior to their move...
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Betty C. Monkman
Betty Monkman is former curator of the White House and a regular contributor to White House History. She is the author of The White House: Its Historic Furnishings and First Families and other publication on the history of the White House collection.
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The White House Collection: The Truman Interiors
On March 27, 1952, President and Mrs. Truman returned to a freshly renovated White House after living at Blair House since November 1948....
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The White House Collection: George Washington
“It is of very great importance to fix the taste of our Country properly, and I think your Example will go...
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Pardoning the Thanksgiving Turkey
The official "pardoning" of White House turkeys is an interesting White House tradition that has captured the imagination of the...
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The White House Collection: Reminders of 1814
When the President’s House was consumed by fire in 1814, furnishings purchased over twenty-five years by the United States gov...
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The White House State Dinner
A state dinner honoring a visiting head of government or reigning monarch is one of the grandest and most glamorous...
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White House Decorative Arts in the 1880s
James and Lucretia Garfield moved into the Executive Mansion in 1881. With $30,000 from Congress, Mrs. Garfield made plans to refurbish the...
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The White House Collection Research Sources in the Office of the Curator
A house more thoroughly documented than the White House is difficult to imagine. Historians and students of White House history...
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White House Decorative Arts in the 1890s
The extended family of Benjamin Harrison stretched the Executive Mansion's available living space to the limit and a number of...
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White House Decorative Arts in the 1900s
Increased coverage by the press and public interest in the lives of the White House families inevitably has led to...
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White House Decorative Arts in the 1800s
John Adams spent the majority of his presidency in Philadelphia, but later occupied the President's House in Washington, D.C.,...
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White House Decorative Arts in the 1910s
When President and Mrs. William H. Taft came to the White House in 1909, they didn’t change the furnishings in an...