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Sara Bon-Harper
Sara Bon-Harper is the executive director of James Monroe’s Highland, a division of the College of William & Mary. Sara’s experience at Highland since 2012 includes initiating new site directions, most notably developing evidence-based public narratives in collaboration with Highland’s descendant community. Sara’s research leading to the archaeological discovery of the Monroes’ main house was a key factor in
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2024 Next-Gen Leaders
As part of the White House Historical Association’s 60th anniversary celebration in 2021, the Next-Gen Leaders (NGL) initiative was announced. The NGL cohort is a group of influential young professionals representing a wide variety of fields, bound together by a passion for history, civics, and education. NGL members serve as ambassadors for the Association's nonpartisan, nonprofit, and historic mission and to
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UNTOLD History
In 2022, the White House Historical Association began partnering with UNTOLD, a project of the Driving Force Institute for Public Engagement, on a series of short educational videos highlighting lesser-known stories in White House history. These videos are produced by Makematic with support from DoGoodery.
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The Presidency and Historic Preservation Symposium Schedule
Decatur House 8:00-8:45am Light Breakfast 8:45-9:00am Transition to the Carriage House 9:00-9:15am Welcome Stewart McLaurin, President, The White House Historical AssociationPaul Edmondson, President and CEO, The National Trust for Historic Preservation 9:15-10:30am Preserving Presidential Sites This panel will discuss the many challenges of preserving the residences of American presidents, along with how interpretations of those spaces (
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2016 Official White House Christmas Ornament Fact Sheet
The White House Historical Associationcommissions the official White House Christmas ornament each year. This is the 36th ornamentin the series begun in 1981. The ornament honors 31st U.S.President Herbert Hoover and is inspired by the fire engines that responded tothe 1929 Christmas Eve fire at the White House and the toy trucks presented tochildren by the Hoovers the following Christmas.
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Slavery and the White House
Construction on the President’s House began in 1792. The decision to place the capital on land ceded by two slave states—Virginia and Maryland—ultimately influenced the acquisition of laborers to construct its public buildings. The District of Columbia commissioners, charged by Congress with building the new city under the direction of the president, initially planned to import workers from Europe
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Decorating the White House
Congress has always been tasked with appropriating funds for the care, repair, refurnishing and maintenance of the White House and its grounds. Each incoming president has found furnishings that were worn out and in need of replacement due to everyday wear and tear. Congress approved funds enabling a new president to carry out structural improvements and purchase new furnishings from
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National History Day Resources
The 2024 National History Day (NHD) theme is Turning Points in History. The White House Historical Association offers a variety of resources to assist students working on NHD projects.
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White House History Quarterly Advisors
Bill BarkerVeteran historical actor-interpreter Bill Barker is widely recognized as the nation’s foremost interpreter of Thomas Jefferson. After portraying Thomas Jefferson at Colonial Williamsburg for 26 years, Barker joined the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello in 2019. Barker began interpreting Jefferson in 1984 at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Barker has performed as Jefferson around the world, including the White House, the U.S.
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State Dining Room
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
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The Blue Room
The Blue Room with the Yellow Oval Room above and the Diplomatic Reception Room below it, form the most elegant space of James Hoban's plans for the White House. For the south wall of the Blue Room, he designed French doors flanked by long windows. An oval portico with curving stairs that descended to the South Lawn was included in