Thanks!

A number of people have contributed monetarily to WHM.org recently. With the recent leap in visitorship and associated web hosting costs (which are still pretty low, tho, to be honest), it's much appreciated.

• Rebecca
• Steven
• Robert
• Beth
• Latir

New WHHA online shop

The White House Historical Association has a new online shop that promises "several new sections and improved navigation." Take a look.

The site is still a bit slow, and the categories are a little too small ("Serving Accessories"?).

Open post: What this country needs....

After an e-mail exchange on the subject of Tade Styka's equestrian portrait of TR in the Roosevelt Room, it occurred to me that what this country needs is a dollar coin with TR's portrait. Was there ever a face better suited to the obverse of hard specie? I ask you, what face has this nation chosen to chisel in stone 60 feet high and yet not mounted on a minted round? And don't tell me he's already on the reverse of the South Dakota quarter. Theodore Roosevelt should not have to appear in the company of a ring-necked pheasant!

I know that he'll get his moment in a few years, but he'll be lumped in with McKinley, Taft, and Wilson, for pity's sake. Maybe TR's could be a two dollar coin. The man needs his own denomination! And for the reverse? A bull moose whacking a Spaniard with a big stick.

Dispatch from Fort Necessity

Lousy connectivity from the Doubletree in Pittsburgh this week is making it difficult to do any kind of online activity. Nevertheless, I managed to just acquire this fine miniature of the White House from the Danbury Mint via Ebay.

I already have the 5-inch version, which is considerably less detailed and accurate. This one is the 9-inch version and much better all around. I also recently acquired a 1950s-era plastic model that is quite accurate, altho it seems to have the 1917 roof.