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"The White House was a presidential symbol, inevitably, when it was built in the last decade of the eighteenth century, and prevails today both synonymous with the presidency and an icon of freedom to the world."

— William Seale, Editor, White House History

Our Journal

White House History, the award-winning journal of the White House Historical Association, is published twice each year. Two-year subscriptions as well as single copies and bound collections of back issues are available.

With editorial offices in Washington, D.C., at the association's old row house facing Lafayette Park across from the White House, the journal contains illustrated features on White House life that vary from biographies of presidents and their wives and families to employees, furnishings, details of famous events, the gardens, architecture, costume, art in the White House and many other subjects taken from the more than 200 years of this great house.

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Our Books

The White House Historical Association published its first book, The White House: An Historic Guide, in 1962. It was the wish of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy that such a book be written, and she participated actively in the editing. Now in its 22nd edition, it has sold more than 4.5 million copies to date. Since 1962, the White House Historical Association publications program has produced award-winning books on a wide range of subjects related to the history of the President's House, from its architecture, gardens, fine and decorative arts to the presidents and first ladies who lived there over the years. The list includes titles that will appeal to history buffs and art lovers, connoisseurs and curious amateurs, scholars and tourists, adults and children.

In recent years, the book list has been expanded to include varied and new formats: The White House Remembered is available in print and as an audio book read by the author. The Living White House is now available in Braille and as an audio book through the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Two out-of-print titles are now offered as print on demand volumes: White House Glassware and Tokens and Treasures: Gifts to Twelve Presidents . The whimsical White House ABC: A Presidential Alphabet presents text in five languages. George Washington: Selections from the White House Collection and Abraham Lincoln: Selections from the White House Collection are uniquely made with illustrated pages that fold out horizontally and vertically. To Be Preserved for All Time: The Major and the President Save Blair House , by Candace Shireman, is our first electronic book. The winner of two national awards, it is available as a free download on this website. The White House Historical Association recently reprinted a classic period memoir, Six Months at the White House with Abraham Lincoln, Francis B. Carpenter's account of the painting of the First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation, adding illustrations and a new introduction by Lincoln-Prize-winning historian Harold Holzer.

Our books may be purchased through our online shop and at the Association's retail locations. Many of our publications are available to retailers at wholesale prices. Please contact the publications office at books@whha.org for more information.

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