Former White House workers gather on stage at the 1992 Folklife Festival.
Former White House workers gather on stage at the 1992 Folklife Festival.
- Credit
- Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution
Main Content
Former White House workers gather on stage at the 1992 Folklife Festival.
For more than one hundred years, White House Social Secretaries have demonstrated a profound knowledge of protocol and society in Washington, D.C. The position had its beginnings in the Theodore Roosevelt administration when First Lady Edith Roosevelt hired an executive clerk. From the intricacies of ceremony planning to routine office work, the social secretary must possess unfailing tact in
For more than two centuries, the White House has been the home of American presidents. A powerful symbol of the nation, it is a uniquely private and public space. Since John and Abigail Adams first moved into the “President’s House” in November 1800, hundreds of individuals have worked behind the scenes to help the White House fulfill its roles as a seat
For most of the 19th century, the structure of the White House staff remained generally the same. At the top was the steward, a federal employee who was bonded; the Congress created this position to safeguard the silver and furnishings in the house. The steward was on the government payroll. He functioned as the manager of the house. The job
The whole family [of President Theodore Roosevelt] were fiends when it came to reading. No newspapers. Never a moment was allowed to go to waste; from the oldest to the youngest they always had a book or magazine before them. The President in particular would devour a book, and it was no uncommon thing for him to go entirely through
A group of physicians and surgeons meeting in Washington 1891 was treated to a reception at the White House on the evening of September 24. President Benjamin Harrison moved among the gathering, and "extended a hearty grasp to each of the doctors."1 The event included "lively airs" by the Marine band, and a chance to wander through the conservatory and reception rooms.
Animals -- whether pampered household pets, working livestock, birds, squirrels, or strays -- have long been a major part of life at the White House. Some pets simply provided companionship to the president and his family. Others gained fame for a role in shaping the president's public image. No matter what job was bestowed upon them, White House pets usually
President Andrew Jackson was a slaveholder who brought a large household of slave domestics with him from Tennessee to the President’s House. Many of them lived in the servant’s quarters, but the president’s body servant slept in the room with him. Jackson’s servants worked under Rachel Jackson’s management at his Tennessee home for the better part of th
1862-1863: Mary Todd Lincoln, grieving over her son Willies death in February, began to participate in spirit circles or seances in the Red Room at the White House and the presidential cottage at the Soldiers Home. Spiritualism was wildly popular during the height of the Civil War as families sought comfort for the loss of loved ones. 1901-1904: Jeremiah Jerry
White House staff who lived at the President’s House during the nineteenth century, including enslaved and free African Americans, usually had rooms in the basement. Open at the ground level on the south, the basement (referred to as the Ground Floor today) had windows on the north side facing a dry moat that was entirely hidden from view. Visitors on
Prior to the 1939 visit of the queen and king of England, Eleanor Roosevelt received a State Department memorandum, listing various rules of protocol. Mrs. Roosevelt became concerned about the order in which the Roosevelts, and the queen and king, should be served at the state dinner honoring the royal couple.1"I told Franklin," Mrs. Roosevelt recalled, "that British protocol required
John Quincy Adams hired Antoine Michel Giusta as his valet after they met in Belgium in 1814. Giusta was a deserter from Napoleon's army. During the time John Quincy Adams and Louisa Catherine Adams were living in London, Giusta married Mrs. Adams's maid. Antoine and his wife had managed the Adams' households from the time the Adamses returned to the United
"Largely through television," notes historian William Seale, the White House "is the best known house in the world, the instantly familiar symbol of the Presidency, flashed daily on millions and millions of TV screens everywhere."1J. B. West was Assistant Chief Usher at the White House from 1941 to 1957, and Chief Usher from 1957 to 1969. During the Eisenhower administration, West had an