The 2025 National History Day (NHD) theme is Rights and Responsibilities. The White House Historical Association offers a variety of resources to assist students working on NHD projects.
The State Dining Room, which now seats as many as 140 guests, was originally much smaller and served at various times as a drawing room, office, and Cabinet Room. Today's State Dining Room incorporates the space that President Thomas Jefferson used as a private office. Tall and generously proportioned, the room had fireplaces on the east and west and was flooded
This event will be held at the White House Historical Association. Arrive at the entrance at 748 Jackson Place, NW, Washington, D.C. for the symposium on May 4, 2017.
May 4 Program
8:30am - 9:15am
Registration and light French breakfast in Decatur House9:15am - 9:30am
Break and transition to Carriage House9:30am - 9:45am
WelcomeThe Honorable Frederick J. Ryan, Jr., Chairman of
Barnes, Peter W. and Cheryl Shaw Barnes. Woodrow the White House Mouse. Washington, D.C.: Little Patriot Press, 2012.Using rhymes and colorful illustrations, this book teaches children about the Executive Mansion and the presidency from the perspective of Woodrow G. Washingtail, the White House mouse. Bateman, Teresa. Red, White, Blue, and Uncle Who?: The Stories of America’s Patriotic Symbols. Ne
December 22, 1874: First State Dinner for a foreign head of state King David Kalakaua of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Hosted by President Ulysses S. Grant, the king had royal food testers to sample the more than 20-course White House dinner. 1902: The Roosevelt renovation included a major expansion of the State Dining Room from entertaining approximately 40 guests to the accommodation of 120 people.
Following the close of World War II, Japan and the United States developed a close alliance along with strategic and trade partnerships. Beginning with Gerald R. Ford in November 1974, seven U.S. presidents have made journeys to Japan, and the Japanese heads of state and government have also visited the White House.
Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko arrived in
Abigail Powers was born in Saratoga County, New York, on March 13, 1798, while it was still a frontier out-post. Her father, a locally prominent Baptist preacher named Lemuel Powers, died shortly thereafter. Courageously, her mother, Abigail, moved on westward, thinking her scanty funds would go further in a less settled region, and ably educated her small son and daughter beyond the
Nancy Davis (Anne Frances Robbins) was born on July 6, 1921, in New York City. Her parents, Kenneth Robbins and Edith Luckett, separated after their daughter’s birth. Anne was sent to live with Edith’s sister, Virginia Gailbraith, and her husband Audley for the next six years. After Edith married Loyal Edward Davis in 1929, she and Anne reunited in Chicago, Illinois. Anne
As “the only unusual incident” of her girlhood, “Nellie” Herron Taft recalled her visit to the White House at 17 as the guest of President and Mrs. Hayes, intimate friends of her parents. Fourth child of Harriet Collins and John W. Herron, born in 1861, she had grown up in Cincinnati, Ohio, attending a private school in the city and studying music with ent
Ida Saxton was born in Canton, Ohio, on June 8, 1847, to James Saxton and Katherine DeWalt. James A. Saxton, a banker, was indulgent to his two daughters. He educated them well in local schools and a finishing school, and then sent them to Europe on the grand tour.
As a young woman, she worked in her father's bank. As a cashier
As the holidays approach, thoughts inevitably turn to sugar plums, gingerbread, and all of the other delectable treats that season brings with it. Sweets signal the changing of seasons and the arrival of holidays, from cookies at Christmas to popsicles in the heat of summer. The same is true at the White House, where presidents and their families have enjoyed
My memories transport me back to a time, just a few years ago and a few days before Christmas, when I was the White House executive pastry chef and the annual White House holiday parties have come to an end. We are busily cleaning the Pastry Shop. This is the time of year we go through everything—every refrigerator, walk-in co