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Easter Egg Roll: The First Families' Role
Once the White House was opened to public egg rolling festivities in 1878, first families had to decide whether they were going to join the throng of celebrants or just organize and play host to it. Previously, the South Lawn was reserved for their own private Eastertide activities. Now the grounds represented a famous rite of spring for the nation's capital.
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Easter Egg Roll: Bunnies and Other Easter Animals
First pets are a popular attraction at the White House Egg Roll. Canine attendees of the event have included a wide variety of beloved purebreds and mutts. Animals as diverse as President Benjamin Harrison's toy pony, First Lady Grace Coolidge's raccoon and the 1,200-pound steer brought in by the Carters for their petting zoo have appeared on the South Lawn
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Easter Egg Roll: Years Without an Easter Monday
The egg roll holds such an important place in White House history that no president wants to be known for canceling it. World War I and food rationing stopped the event from being hosted at the White House. In 1942, egg rollers were sent back to the Capitol grounds, the place from which they had been ousted 66 years before. World War
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Easter Egg Roll: Fanfare and Keepsakes
Over the years, White House egg roll events have been made memorable by new attractions. In 1993, the Clintons scaled back the fanfare so that children would remember the day for its egg rolling games. A generation earlier, First Lady Pat Nixon gave out certificates of participation as a souvenir to eggrollers. First Ladies Betty Ford and Rosalynn Carter distributed plastic
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Easter Egg Roll: Games, Old and New
The primary Easter Monday entertainment at the White House has always involved egg rolling. Participants roll dyed, hard-boiled eggs across the grass to see whose will go the furthest before cracking. Other egg sports enjoyed in the early years were egg ball, toss and catch, egg croquet and egg picking—a contest where eggs are pecked together until they crack. Af
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Easter Egg Roll: The Holiday Bustle and Hustle
As the Easter Monday event became more of an attraction, a rule was fixed to limit the number of people coming into the enclosed South Lawn. The rule stated that a "grown person would be admitted only when accompanied by a child" and vice versa. As a result, unescorted egg rollers and childless adults began teaming up at random so
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About Our Authors
JAMES ARCHER ABBOTT is the Executive Director of the Lewes Historical Society in Lewes, Delaware. His publications include JANSEN, JANSEN Furniture, and Baltimore’s Billy Baldwin. He is the co-author of Designing Camelot. (WHH #60) WILLIAM ADAIR is a frame historian, conservator, and gilder in Washington, D.C. (WHH #54) MATTHEW ALGEO is a writer and journalist. He is the author of se
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White House History Table of Contents
NUMBERS 1 THROUGH 6 (COLLECTION I) WHITE HOUSE HISTORY • NUMBER 1 1 — Foreword by Melvin M. Payne 5 — President Kennedy’s Rose Garden by Rachel Lambert Mellon 13 — White House Album: History in the Camera’s Eye by Oliver Jensen 23 — The Association’s Twentieth Year by Nash Castro 29 — History in White House Silver by Joseph D. Carr 39 — Stone Walls Preserved by James I. McDaniel 46 — A Colored Man’s Reminiscences of
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2022 Presidential Sites Summit Schedule
Tuesday, March 15 12:00-6:00pm: Registration at the Adolphus Hotel 12:00-3:00pm: Optional Day Trip The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza 12:00-3:00pm: Shuttle will continuously run between The Adolphus and the Sixth Floor Museum Join us for the pre-summit excursion to the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. The museum chronicles the assassination and legacy of President John F.
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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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White House Weddings and Receptions
By Elyse Werling In this article, Elyse Werling illustrates a timeline of White House ceremonies and receptions from the James Madison administration to the Barack Obama administration.