Collection Native Americans and the White House
Native Americans hold a significant place in White House history. For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples, including the Nacotchtank and...
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The occupational culture and management of the 19th-century White House reflected the social climate and ethnic composition of Washington, D.C.
The White House staff, like that of many elite Washington households, was racially and ethnically mixed. Because managerial roles were usually assigned to white employees, tensions sometimes developed between white stewards and African American house workers.
The Executive Mansion was run according to accepted practices for operating a prominent mid-Atlantic household. Washington’s social elite had a high standard for entertainment and household service, and expected the same when attending White House teas, dances, and dinners.
The mansion and grounds were open to the public during certain hours of the day; any visitor who dropped in unannounced might be taken straight to the president’s office. Women of society left cards to let the first lady know they had come to call. Ushers, guards, doormen, and messengers often did double duty in the executive offices and the residence, screening visitors and carrying out tasks associated with social and domestic life in the White House.
Native Americans hold a significant place in White House history. For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples, including the Nacotchtank and...
In 1821-1822, Susan Decatur requested the construction of a service wing. The first floor featured a large kitchen, dining room,...
For more than a century, thousands of Americans have gathered in Lafayette Park across from the White House to exercise...
For more than one hundred years, White House Social Secretaries have demonstrated a profound knowledge of protocol and society in...
While there has yet to be a female president, women have played an integral role in shaping the White House...
In 1816, Commodore Stephen Decatur, Jr. and his wife Susan moved to the nascent capital city of Washington, D.C. With...
For more than two centuries, the White House has been the home of American presidents. A powerful symbol of the...
First Lady Lou Hoover's invitation to Jessie L. DePriest to a White House tea party in 1929 created a storm of...
The White House Historical Association and the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project present this collaboration in an effort to open a...
Lonnie G. Bunch III is the fourteenth secretary of the Smithsonian; he assumed his position June 16, 2019. As secretary, he oversees...
The White House Collection and the Atlantic World Jennifer L. Anderson, Mahogany: The Costs of Luxury in Early America (Cambridge,...
David M. Rubenstein is co-founder and co-chairman of The Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest and most successful pr...