Presidential television

The History channel is running various president-related programs in the next 24 hours, including:

• The White House: Behind Closed Doors
• The Presidents (a series)
• Modern Marvels: presidential transportation
• Secret Access: Air Force 1
• Civil War Journal
• A Presidency Revealed (a series including JFK and FDR)
• UFO Files (Cleveland was abducted by aliens)
• Star Wars Tech (presumably about Reagan)
• Batman Unmasked (Harding fought crime in a black cloak and cowl and became the inspiration for Batman; the "playboy president" persona was a ruse).

UPDATE: At 8 AM and 2 PM on Thu, they're also rerunning their excellent doco on Fort Knox. The history and architecture of the bullion depository is really fascinating.

The Lincoln White House

This diagram of the Lincoln second floor appears in Seale's two-volume WH book. It shows the old west stair as a dual initial rise and a central rise to the second floor. But we know from photographs of the grand stair that by the 1890s it was a single initial rise at the right, a left turn, then a single rise to the second floor.

However, I don't recall ever reading about that stair being renovated from dual to single. The question is, are we sure the dual rise stair was ever built? And when was it renovated to the single stair we see in the photos?

Bunch of stuff

I've added a navigation link to the Sub-Basements and posted a bunch of new photos. Check the What's New page or the mirror What's New page.

King George

Interesting "what if?" article on the lineage of George Washington and who would be monarch if he had taken a crown. The nut graph (given UK-style descent):

Queen Estella would have reigned from 1918 to her death in 1931, but because her only child had predeceased her, the succession would have swung to her oldest uncle’s branch. He was also deceased, but had two living children from separate marriages. The son, though younger and from the second marriage, would have been given preference, so that would give America a King Lee from 1931 to 1969. Lee also only had one daughter. Like her father, Queen Odelle would have enjoyed a lengthy rule—1969 to 2000. And with her majesty’s passing, we would now be under the dominion of Queen Brynda.

Jack Ford

I've posted some of the photos from the 1976 Rolling Stone with Jack Ford. And I updated the mirror site.

Also, I received the 1968 Life with juicy oblique cutaways of the West Wing as well as the WH and East Wing we used to create the current East Wing floor plans.

There's also a really neat showcase of houses each president was born in (including Johnson), which together make about the ugliest neighborhood I've ever seen.* It sort of starts out as Genteel Town, proceeds to Poverty Row, then on to Middleclass Muddle, with brief jaunts up Old Money Lane. I have a feeling that continuing the trend would look like a tour of Old Money Lane.

* Insert your own "Then you haven't seen wherever" joke.

1934 West Wing

I've added the scan of the historical West Wing from Life (who reprinted it from Time), as well as a couple of other photos from the issue. There was even this photo of the Joseph P Kennedy family.

Presidential limousines

Here's an interesting slide show from the NYT on presidential limousines.

Pete provides another look at the new limo.

Get me Rewrite!

I've added several photos from Life showing the old Press Room from the 40s and 50s and also the West Wing Lobby from the 30s to the 60s, where journalists hung out.

I'm curious to know more about the strange stand-out wall with a bulletin board (and deer trophy). It seems to have been added in the early 40s, perhaps to avoid all the noise of opening and closing the door.

Magazines and thanks!

I just got tipped off about old issues of magazines with good articles on the White House, and I managed to find them on Ebay and buy them for $17 each (including shipping):

• Life: January 4, 1937—The Roosevelt White House (with a diagram of the West Wing to die for)
• Life: July 5, 1968—Special Issue: The Presidency, with diagrams and photos (the primary source for my East Wing floor plan)
  
• Rolling Stone: July 29, 1976—President Ford's son Jack in the White House

Thanks to Alec and Rod....

...And many thanks to Sharon, Kathryn, and especially Lynne for their donations and happy new year to all!

By the way, feel free to suggest any other old White House magazine issues. The Internet is amazing. I'm telling you, this thing is going to be big.

West Wing history

Visitor Alec sent me photos of a tiny government publication from 1995 called Architecture of the West Wing of the White House. He made modifications to the c1911 diagram to make it a more authentic 1909 diagram, and I used the photos he sent to create a 1935 diagram from the 1945 one. Other photos confirmed Pete's current floor plan. See the First Floor of the West Wing History page.

Thanks Alec!

The White House in 3D - a mini-tour

I've finally managed to produce a high-quality version of the animation of Pete Sharkey's 3D President's Park with narration by me. If you go to YouTube, you should see a little "watch in high quality" link in the lower right for best quality.



The next step is naturally to go inside the White House, and with Pete hard at work on various rooms (have you seen Wingnut's Workings lately?) the only trick will be making the transitions seamless. And then, if I can get Pete to create them: historical versions of the White House in 3D. Imagine flying over Lincoln's or Jefferson's White House....

White House Week on C-SPAN

Today is the beginning of White House Week, C-SPAN's answer to Shark Week.

They even have a floor plan. The "Chocolate Shop" is placed in the basement. I recall seeing a reference to this before; is it really different from the Pastry Kitchen on the first mez?

And there's video of the Living Room! So much for my separate-bedrooms theory....

UPDATE: Hey! They used my version of the floor plans...!
UPDATE: Hey! They credit WHM at the end!

Help: photos of the old west stair

I have a couple of photos of the old west stair removed during the 19-2 (as JBK would say) renovation, and I have a visitor asking for the sources to use in a commercial project. Can anyone help point out the books or other sources? I don't have either of them labeled with a credit.

One (from Seale perhaps? what was his source?)
T'other

C-Span's White House Week

Don't forget about C-Span's "White House Week," starting December 14, which will include a tour. From the trailer, it looks pretty good. Already, I see it will give us good wide-angle view of the Flower Shop and Pastry Kitchen in addition to all the usual state rooms and family quarters. Still no hint of the Living Room and Master Bedroom or even the East and West Bedrooms on the north side, nor anything on the third floor. It would be nice to see what the Bushes have done with the Clinton's Music Room, at least. And it would be nice to the see the grounds in detail, especially the new pool house.

White House: Behind Closed Doors report

I just watched WH:BCD and here are a few things of interest:

• It has a nice 3D WH and takes the lid off to show various parts. However, the floor plans are not significantly different from WHM's and it does not show any parts (like the basement press offices) that I don't have documented. It specifically avoids showing the layout of the third floor even when discussing it directly and showing it from the outside.
• The servants' spiral staircase definitely ends at the first mez level and has storage shelves built into the interior[!]
• I believe we get our first glimpse at the basement mez pantry.
• In addition to the Kitchen and state rooms, we get a good look at the guest rooms, Treaty Room, West Sitting Hall, and Private Dining Room.
• Laura claims she and W stayed in the Lincoln Bedroom when they visited the Bush 1s. This contradicts her claims from Monarchy that they stayed in the Queens' Bedroom. Then again, she also says that they hosted QE2 and Prince Charles in the Private Dining Room, while a picture is shown of the QE2 lunch in the Yellow Room.
  
• There's a good moment when the narrator says the WH is wired for 21st century living and we see a workman remove a wall panel to reveal what appear to be 50-year-old screw-type fuses.
  

More Life

I've added a dozen more photos from Life, mostly on the ground floor, mostly from the Eisenhower era, and some in great color (once I heavily processed them).

Also, I've added all the recent photos to the mirror site also.

White Gold and Jackie

Here is an awesome music video commercial for milk. Warning: if you watch for too long, you'll accidentally see the hour-long 1962 Jackie Kennedy White House tour.

Floating White House for sale

The Manitou, John Kennedy's "floating White House" has been restored and is up for sale for a ridiculous amount of money. Inevitable unfortunate quote: "JFK using her adds to the intrigue."

Scannin'

I took a little time finally and scanned an article from a 1902 issue of The Outlook magazine called "The White House - The Plans for Its Reconstruction" and also the recent Architectural Digest spread of the Bush 2 renovation. Look for those soon.

I also scanned the floor plan of 1 Observatory Circle (the VP residence) from American Monarchy; so I'll create a mini-site for that soon, too.

UPDATE: 1902 article now available

C-SPAN's White House

Pete clued me in to C-SPAN's documentary on the White House scheduled to air December 14-20: White House: Inside America's Most Famous House. Can't wait!

San Francisco

I've been working in Sacramento for a while now and traveling home on the weekends (it's what I do). This weekend, I stayed in California and visited San Francisco. Down on Fisherman's Wharf, I ran into a surprise: a big copy of the Oval Office Remington bronze Bronco Buster—and, right across the street, the Boudin restaurant (Boudin being the name of the Kennedy's second interior designer). Not more than 20 feet on was a wax museum chock full of presidents. Lincoln looks a bit hydrocephalic, and Washington looks very angry about having swallowed a bug, but most of them are good. There were more presidents, but it was quite dark, so some of my photos didn't turn out well at all.

Check out my Fisherman's Wharf gallery. I'll be posting more on Lombard street and downtown late tonight. And I hope to get the Golden Gate Bridge before fighting my way back to Sacramento.

PS for photo enthusiasts: the way I got the best photos in the wax museum was not using a flash, which tended to wash out the figures (and trip the proximity alarm) but rather to shoot the figure once, set a custom white balance based on the pic I just shot, then shoot the figure again. They were under various colored lights (yellow, blue, white, and red), so it was a bit arduous. I got it figured out at Napoleon.

North Portico lamp

Visitor Merlin writes:

Do you have any information about the large light fixture that hangs in the North Portico, including the name of the manufacturer? It appears in a 1906 photo on your website but is not visible in a 1902 photo, so it must date from sometime in that interval.

New photos

I added a number of new photos from a White House visitor named Daniel (go forward from here in his gallery) and a couple from older archives that I had a hard time placing. Most are in the residence.

Also, I've received quite a number of photos by e-mail lately. Be assured that I'm looking at them, but I don't always have time to respond or place them yet.

Hoban's original plan

An interesting note from visitor Andrew McCarthy regarding the "original" Hoban elevation reconstructions on the Residence Overview page:

The reconstructed elevations you’ve posted seem inaccurate in several respects, even to the early-revised plan of Hoban’s which they purport to emulate. Not only that, but the two images were done by different draftsmen, so they are slightly inconsistent even with each other. (I understand completely that they’re the best you have – I’m no artist, myself – but you’d think the original artists would’ve put more effort into it.)

In the front reconstruction, a pediment has been added that was not there: as William Seale points out in most of his books, the surviving wall section from Hoban’s second plan doesn’t show one. However, it does show fluting on the central columns, carvings on the frieze, and a more elaborate balustrade than ended up in the final plan – none of which is in the reconstructed image.

Another detail shown in Hoban’s wall section is shown incorrectly: a carved strip of molding ran all the way along the second-story wall, flush with the base of the Ionic columns and acting as a sill beneath the second-floor windows. This exists at Leinster House, and was apparently adopted by Hoban. Below the stone molding on most of the windows, the wall section shows two long scroll supports, similar to the ones holding up the first-floor window hoods on the finished WH. However, at Leinster House, the second-floor central windows have a balustrade beneath their sill instead of carved supports, and I would guess that Hoban copied this detail as well.

Also, the second-story window hoods were probably a little wider than shown in the picture, with the scroll supports beneath them resting on either side of the stone window frame, not on top of it (this is the arrangement both at Leinster House and the final WH). Plus, the windows in the first-floor center, within the rusticated area, are shown as arched. Since both Leinster House and the Charleston County Courthouse (the two buildings which are closest in form to Hoban’s original intent) have rectangular windows in the corresponding area, I suspect that the arching may be incorrect, and that the windows were sunk in rectangular openings in the rusticated wall.

Finally, (and this is just a guess), the window hoods of the central windows on the second story might be more elaborate than the ones to each side – this is the case on the rear façade of Leinster House, and was common in 18th century Dublin architecture. My personal guess is that the window directly above the door had a triangular pediment, while the ones immediately to either side had arched hoods. This idea is based on the placement of the window hoods in the final WH front, where two arched pediments flank an arched transom, a curiosity given Hoban’s alternating hood-shape scheme elsewhere on the house.

As for the rear reconstruction: the windows on the second story, as on the front, should have wider hoods with small scroll supports to either side, and a strip of molding running along the second-floor wall acting as a windowsill. As well, the balustrade and frieze should be more elaborate, as with the front side (and the pillars should be added back to the balustrade, a detail the artist forgot). Plus, the second-story window hoods might have more elaborate designs, mirroring those I proposed on the front. Also, the first-floor door in the center of the bow is missing: this should be an actual doorway, not a jib door, given that in the early-revised floorplan Hoban drew it wide open, as he did the front door, while he drew the other jib-doors as plain windows. Lastly, the artist forgot to draw in the windowsills beneath the third-floor windows, and drew the wrong number of chimneys (these were pretty much as they are in the final WH.)

I was in Charleston about a month ago and took pictures of the Charleston County Courthouse, a building which, even if Hoban didn’t help build it (the records are lost), was certainly known to him and Washington. The back façade of the building has a curious window design which may represent how Hoban envisioned the central side windows of the revised three-story WH plan. The building was exactingly restored about 10 years ago to how it would’ve looked in Washington’s day – judging from old photographs they did an excellent job.

On the first floor is a Palladian arched window, very similar to the one that today graces the East Room. The floorplan for Hoban’s second design indeed shows such windows on the side walls. However, this window is slightly different from the WH version – the smaller side window panels are one tier lower than the height of the “normal” windows to either side. To suit this change, the carved entablature just above the window does not arc over the central fan-shaped panel, as it does on the actual WH, but instead rests in two sections atop the side panels, while a much less elaborate arched window frame curves atop the center of the window. Also, the four Ionic pilasters holding the entablature up have different shapes: the two on the outside are rectangular, and the two inner ones are curved (this was shown in Latrobe’s floorplan of 1803, but is not visible on the window today). Finally, I suspect that if Hoban carried this scheme over to his revised WH plan, he added carving to the frieze on the entablature, and fluting to the Ionic columns, to make the side windows more harmonious with the front façade. In fact, such a carved frieze is visible in an engraving of the ruined WH walls after the fire of 1814 – it may have been altered, like the columns, in the rebuilding.

On the third story is a lunette window with a carved keystone on top and a plain sill beneath. However, this one lacks the row of straight glass panes on the bottom edge of the WH lunette. I suspect that Hoban originally wanted to put the lunette window on the smaller third floor, and when he removed one floor he brought the design down, adding glass panes to the bottom to lengthen it.

Between the wide top and bottom windows on the courthouse back, on the second floor, is a window of ordinary width, but with an arched top tier. Such a design would be awkward on the side of the WH, given the window hoods on the second floor in Hoban’s revised wall section, so I suspect he substituted a normal-shaped window with an arched pedimented hood. Such a curved hood would be complemented by the pointed and curved hoods which I suspect he also put on the center of the second-story front façade (see above).

If you want to see the photos for yourself, ask and I’ll send them along. It’s very rare that the back of the courthouse gets photographed.

As for why Hoban had such an elaborate entablature in the first place: I suspect that, as on Leinster House and the Charleston courthouse, Hoban’s very first plan did indeed have a pediment, but a plain one, without carving on it, or a balustrade or a complex entablature beneath. Then, when Washington ordered more elaborate stonework, he probably removed the simple pediment and added a fancy balustrade and frieze. Later, when he made his final plan, he added the pediment back on and scaled back the entablature carvings, but kept the new balustrade and drew an elaborate bald eagle image to be carved on the pediment (which was never acted on).
As you can see, I’ve probably thought about this too much.

Hoban's inspiration

I got a substantive question from visitor Andrew on James Hoban's sources which I have been unable to answer, but I know some regular readers have more insight into the subject:

I am curious about the possibility of James Hoban having used an architectural reference book when designing the White House front elevation.

A few months ago, when I was browsing in my local university library, I stumbled on the book The United States Capitol: Designing and Decorating a National Icon, edited by Donald R. Kennon (published by Ohio University Press, in Athens, OH, in 2000). On page 32 of this book is reproduced an elevation drawing of Leinster House (Hoban’s inspiration for the White House). The engraving in question was originally taken from the 1780 architectural reference book Views of the most remarkable public Buildings, Monuments and other Edifices in the City of Dublin, written by Robert Pool and John Cash.

This engraving is most notable because in one regard it seems to be an intermediate step between the actual Leinster House as built and Hoban’s final plan for the two-story White House. Specifically, the elevation is much as Leinster House actually looked in the 1780’s (judging by a 1792 painting reproduced in William Seale’s The White House: The History of an American Idea) except for the second-story window pediments, which are inaccurate.

The actual Leinster House has (and has always had, going by the painting in Seale’s book) window pediments that are arranged (in terms of rounded vs. pointed pediments) much differently than those on the White House first-story windows. However, the engraving of Leinster House published by Pool and Cash, reproduced by Kennon et al., incorrectly shows the front side of Leinster House with second-story window pediments arranged almost exactly like those on the first-story front of the final White House.

Because of this inaccurate detail which was reproduced in Hoban’s designs, I think it quite possible that Hoban had a copy of this 1780 book, which he would have used to refresh his memory about Leinster House’s architecture when designing the original 3-story WH plan. Moreover, judging by the floorplan and partial side elevation which survive of his original three-story concept, it is quite possible that the Pool and Cash elevation is very close to what Hoban originally had in mind before budget costs forced a reduction in scale of the project.

I always thought that Hoban was indeed working from an architecture book and not from personal study of Leinster House, but I don't recall seeing the book named.

The laziest presidential article ever

A new Slate article on the presidential names is about the laziest piece of writing I've ever seen on presidential history. The author claims that "Barack Hussein Obama" is such an unusual name that it is entirely out of keeping with American history--largely true--and that past presidents and even presidential candidates have all had very ordinary names, which is patently ridiculous.

Full article at Tysto.com.

Lincoln stained glass

Knowing my (and my readers') general interest in architecture as well as the presidency, and perhaps my substantial time spent in Columbus, OH, visitor Ray writes:

I'm trying to do some research about a one of kind artifact that came out of the old Franklin County courthouse in Columbus, Ohio. I've enclosed a photo of the window, it was made in 1892 and was removed when the courthouse was demolished.
The architect was George Maetzel, who also built many other courthouses in the mid-west and I'm trying to research who made this window. There are similar windows made in the Madison County courthouse in London, Ohio and I'm guessing that they were made by the same person.
I'd appreciate any info you might have and would be grateful if you can point me in the right direction.

LibriVox presidential projects

LibriVox, the free audio book site supported by volunteers, is looking for readers for a couple of presidential projects: A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln by John Nicolay and Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography by, one supposes, Theodore Roosevelt. Consider volunteering for a couple of chapters or take note of them to listen to later when they're finished.

PS I never did read any of the Kennedy-Khruschev telegram exchanges from congratulations to missile crisis to condolences. They found two readers to do them all(!)

Happy 90th, Mrs. Ford

Today, Betty Ford turns 90 years old. Best wishes to her and her family.

Resolute desk

Time has a really nice photo of the Resolute desk plaque.

Art question

Océano Pablo Navarro from Spain writes:

I found the enclosed picture of the Reagans with Prince Charles and Lady Diana in the Yellow Oval Room [actually the West Sitting Hall] and though I've searched all the web, I couldn't know who is the painter of the impressionist beach scene hanging on the wall.
Could you please give me this information?

Update: He got a reply back from Hillary Crehan of the WHHA that...

The painting in the image is entitled: At the Seaside by Edward Potthast. This painting was borrowed from a private collection and is shown hanging in the West Sitting Hall.

Road trip: Reagan Library

I'm currently working in far-flung Rancho Cordova, California, near Sacramento, which Google places 6 hours away from the Reagan Library in Simi Valley and 6-and-a-half from the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda.

I think I'll plan to stay over one weekend and visit those locations as well as San Francisco. Does anyone who has visited those libraries have any travel tips? Traveling on business, I have the luxury of staying overnight in that area, giving me a jump on the next day.

Soldiers' Home opening

After a $15 million renovation, the Old Soldiers' Home presidential retreat beloved by the Lincolns is set to reopen tomorrow (for tourists, not soldiers). Apparently, it took a lot to get the old soldiers out.

• CBS News
• Washington Times
  

Movies and the president

I've started a special thread over at White House Fanatics on Facebook regarding movies and the president. If you live in near NYC, DC, or LA, please take a look.

Presidents' sleeping habits

I ran across a curiosity a couple of weeks ago and haven't satisfied it yet. Today, I googled it again and came upon a blog post that actually phrases it in reference to presidents. I know that in "the old days" many people slept sitting up because they thought it was healthier, and it was so common that beds were built quite short. But when did it start and when did it end?

Specifically, which presidents would have slept sitting up and which would have slept flat?

New front page - Trumans

Changed the front page to one of Truman being sworn in in the Cabinet Room, with Bess and Margaret by his side.

Front page gallery.

South Portico sun room?

Along with the better image of the 1911 lights picture, Robert Martin sent along a good one of Cortelyou in his bay-windowed office in the old West Wing and an interesting one of Coolidge with bankers outside the South Portico, where there appears to be a glassed-in room built between the columns. (LOC page for a higher-res look.)

Open post: White House 6-11

Becky sent along this photo from oldpicture.com (the source of some good WH photos in the past) with the caption "White House at night, 6/11". I'm not sure if the bright glare is from fireworks or just from a streetlamp due to the long exposure or what.

UPDATE: Robert Martin sent a better image that he found in the LOC which includes the full date: 6/14/11, prepping for the Tafts' silver wedding anniversary party on June 19, 1911, which we know was lit up with search lights.

Two score electricians are now at work in the White House grounds, as thousands of electric lights will be placed among the trees and festooned across the lawns and terraces. The White House itself will be outlined completely by electric lights. No cornice, angle, or gable will be overlooked. On the west lawn of the White house an electric flag will wave. This will be a wonderful sight, the red, white, and blue colors flashing into the night.

Buildin' a remedy

Volunteered to be the voice of Krushchev in the first few exchanges between JFK and the Crusher in a new audio project at LibriVox.

ESTEEMED MR. KENNEDY, Allow me to congratulate you on the occasion of your election to the high post of the President of the United States.

Photoshop 1903?

Just added a suspicious pic of TR with his Cabinet in his "executive office" in the old West Wing. How many of these characters do you think were actually in the room with him at the time?

The legend reads

Cortelyou, Knox, Payne, Moody, Hay, Roosevelt, Hichcock, Root, Shaw, Wilson. The President reading his message to the Cabinet before sending it to Congress.

Update: Let me stress that the photo is a genuine 1903 print. I haven't done anything to it myself, and I doubt the Library of Congress did. But clearly the original publisher optically printed in several of the figures.

Lincoln-era memoir

Full text of Elizabeth Keckley's 1868 memoir Behind the Scenes, or, Thirty years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House. There doesn't seem to be much description of the White House itself, but there is an awful lot of this sort of thing:

Mrs. Lincoln was especially severe on Mr. Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State. She but rarely lost an opportunity to say an unkind word of him.

Getty image trove

Christina has passed along a passel of photos from the Getty archive that I neglected in my searches (I was focused on the new Situation Room at the time). It's a dizzying collection of candid moments thruout the Residence mainly from the Johnson and Ford years. I'll be posting them over the weekend.

In the past, I've scraped the brutally ugly watermark off the handful of Getty images I've used, leaving a blurry smudge that isn't necessarily better (the process involves using parts of the tiny thumbnail version). But I'll post most of these as they are, with links to Getty for proper credit. Hopefully, publishers who can actually afford to pay for images for commercial projects will find them here and jump to the Getty site to buy them and thereby make up for my (credited, noncommercial, educational, public service, fair use) appropriation.

UPDATE: Added several photos from Johnson to Bush 1. I'm not 100% confident about the Ford Beauty Salon photo and I'm baffled by one that I initially thought was the Living Room (formerly president's bedroom). It doesn't seem to match the one I already have from that era and the space under the window is missing the characteristic pattered vent.

To Christina, I award the Jackie Kennedy There's-Got-Be-Some-Decent-Antiques-Here-Somewhere Award. Thanks, Christina!

UPDATE: The votes are in on the Ford sitting room photo; it is surely the Presidential Suite of the Bethesda Naval Hospital after Mrs. Ford's surgery.

Open post: Lincoln on ice

ABC chose the statue of Lincoln outside the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, IL to illustrate the nasty weather in the Midwest. I wonder sometimes if George Washington had weather in mind when he chose the site for DC: a nice mix of four seasons without too much snow in the winter. The heat might have been more than he counted on tho, altho it can't be much different at Mount Vernon.

UPDATE: my own photo of an icy branch.

Bear chair

I stumbled across a page with some information about the fantastic grizzly bear chair that Andrew Johnson had in the his library (the Yellow Oval Room).

Made from two grizzly bears captured by Seth [Kinman]. The four legs and claws were those of a huge grizzly and the back and sides ornamented with immense claws. The seat was soft and exceedingly comfortable, but the great feature of the chair was that, by touching a cord, the head of the monster grizzly bear with jaws extended, would dart out in front from under the seat, snapping and gnashing its teeth as natural as life. This chair Seth presented to [President] Johnson, September 8, 1865.

Yes, the head would dart out from underneath... natural as life....

White House audio

I've been visiting LibriVox lately, first as someone interested in free audio books and then as someone interested in recording audio books for free. As one of my first contributions, I recorded a very short 1962 sci-fi story that takes the form of teletype messages between the WH and "Pacific Space Command." The collection isn't done yet, but my part is available. (Don't worry, I didn't try to emulate JFK's accent for the WH end of the communications.)

Of course, everything recorded must be public domain, but so far all I've found that interests me in terms of WH material is TR's letters to his children. I suppose most presidential speeches are public domain, but can anyone think of something more closely related to the White House? Ike Hoover's memoirs would be fun, but I don't think they've fallen out of copyright (everything before 1923 is PD and anything until that wasn't renewed after 28 years is PD; more recent stuff has different protection).

UPDATE: After another quick search, I think I might do Herbert Hoover's wildly-optimistic 1929 State of the Union address, altho it's rather long (they got much shorter later on).

Idle curiosity

Poking around the WH website, I came across a photo of Barney on the south lawn next to what is described as a "drainage ditch." I recognized this from the HABS collection as almost certainly the Andrew Jackson "milk trough" and felt superior for a moment before realizing that I have no idea what that is either.

Jefferson's White House and ours

Finally got a chance to read thru WH History #17, which explores Jefferson's White House and includes a few terrific recent photos, which I've added. The part on Jefferson is rather thin on details about the house itself and deals more with servants and dining, but it did provide some interesting tidbits that I added to the 1803 first floor plan. I've also added a separate page for Jefferson's enhancements to the house.

UPDATE: New Green Room from Time.

WH in HD

Stephen M writes:

I have been watching C-Span's Presidential Libraries series. Tonight on the segment from President Truman's library, the moderator and Richard Norton Smith were discussing Mr. Truman's renovation and it was announced that a new White House program will be released in the Spring.

They are supposedly filming in HD at the White House currently, according to the moderator. They also said it would "show the White House like you've never seen before." We'll see about that I guess.

They said to keep watch for future information releases on the video, that it should be sometime after the primaries in the Spring.

Lincoln Museum

I spent a few hours at the Lincoln Museum today, and the experience was terrific. The exhibits consisted of life-like figures, multimedia displays, and lots of giant documents. There wasn't a lot in the way of personal memorabilia, tho; I think I could have fit everything they had that Lincoln actually touched in the trunk of my car. It would have been nice to see, you know, Lincoln's limousine or helicopter or something, like at the Reagan museum. They did have an impressive recreation of his funeral, tho, which is something I guess. You won't find that at the Clinton museum. Also, by the end of it, I really wanted an interactive experience where you get to spank Tad Lincoln.

Some of the multimedia displays were really, really cool. Projectors threw shadows of rain on the wall or images of naysayers in mid-air. There was a gallery of political cartoons that could have been boring, but they were framed in crooked frames and hung on crooked walls, which created a disorienting effect that would be fun to replicate with my own photos. The whole White House part had a funhouse atmosphere that made me half-expect to see ladies' dresses flipped up by a blast of air at the end (accompanied by the disembodied laughter of Tad, naturally).

There was a recreation of the Blue Room, guest bedroom (where Willy lay in a fever), and Lincoln's office, all of which gave me a deeper appreciation of Victorian style.

I would have taken more pictures, but they don't allow photos in the exhibits, because they don't want people stealing all their juicy history or possibly learning anything outside the museum. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was the same way. Hey, if you want to see Roy Orbison's lousy spelling* or Britney Spear's denim-and-leather-flames ensemble, you'll have to go to Cleveland. That kind of knowledge isn't free.

* To be fair, every example of original song lyrics had lousy spelling, even Robbie Robertson's.

Road trip: Lincoln Museum

Finding myself with some time on my hands and access to a fast car and plenty of Mountain Dew, I've decided to take a day trip to Springfield, IL tomorrow to see the Lincoln Museum.

Here is a portrait of Lincoln that I colorized a few weeks ago when I was bored.

Artifacts

Added a few artifacts from White House History collection 1, including a recreation of the second floor around 1801 that I based on the 1801 inventory detailed in the Adams article.

UPDATE: Link to the photo Patrick mentioned regarding the remnants of the original and later grand staircases.

Ike staff book and Nat'l Geo article

Just stumbled across an amazing page from the Eisenhower Library with scans of the staff book and Nat'l Geo article. There are staff photos and bios, a whole chronology, and then the whole WH article with color pics. Keen, as they said back then.

Unfortunately, the scans are rather... cajun-style; so blackened they've lost all detail in the shadows (they're Monroe Room; my Monroe Room).

I've already added JB West's picture to his Wikipedia article.

Where in the world is Calvin Coolidge?

Added a few more strays. But where the heck were these taken?

Coolidge and the ghost of Harding
Coolidge alone
Coolidge outside in antique chair
The Mrs., sittin' and knittin'
Coolidge in mourning

The Story of the White House

I just received Esther Singleton's 1907 tour de force two-volume The Story of the White House. I got the two volumes from different sellers, and they are obviously different editions. V1 is inscribed with an elegant hand with a Christmas greeting and dated 1907, so it's a first edition. The other is likely 1960 vintage.

V1 includes a couple of very interesting circa 1800 engravings that seem to be a bit fanciful. V2 has numerous interior photo plates that are just stunning in their sharpness and detail. I'll capture them this weekend and add them after I finish with the NYPL stereographs.

Thanks again to Christina, who pointed me to the copies available (cheap!) on Alibris.

Third on Reagan's right

Third on Reagan's right in this photo is Otis R Bowen (Wikipedia), secretary of Health & Human Services and former governor of Indiana. 89-year-old Doc Bowen attended the 2nd Annual Bremen Old-Timers Softball game yesterday to throw out the first pitch, and your intrepid reporter is there. Doc pitched men's softball in Bremen in the 1940s. While governor and secretary, he was known to write out prescriptions for cold and flu remedies for colleagues and reporters.

The ghost of White House past

Christina R sent a link to Google's scan of Esther Singleton's The Story of the White House, a 1907 two-volume examination of the history of the executive mansion (the link goes to volume 2). The image scans aren't good enough to make use of here, but most are well-known LOC images. Still, it would be nice to get hold of a copy by honest means.

She also mentioned how nice it would be to get color photos of Mamie Eisenhower's bedroom. And it occured to me that, as proud a woman as she was, photos probably do exists. With the release of the new photos on the Eisenhower Library site, maybe we'll eventually see ones of the bedrooms too. Then it occured to me that it would really be something if the WHHA worked with the Ike Library to create a "retro" An Historic Guide, seeing as how the Eisenhowers just missed having one. There are apparently enough good color photos after all. They might even be able to do Truman and FDR eras.

UPDATE: Found a cheap copy on Alibris.

History

While making some other, minor changes, I accidentally uploaded new Overview and Residence pages where I had started to break out the various stages of White House history. I'll continue breaking out the history in more detail, with pages on the 1902 and 1952 renovations and construction and expansion of the wings. However, the structure isn't working out quite as I intended (we discussed in an earlier post how it would be nice to have detail on each of the major renovations), so these pages will continue to shift.