Incollect Magazine - Issue 2

2022 Incollect Magazine 95 1.  Letter from Jacqueline Kennedy May 9, 1961, Winterthur Archives. 2.  Hugh Sidey, “The First Lady Brings History and Beauty to the White House,” LIFE Magazine , September 1, 1961. 3.  Oral history with Harlan B. Phillips, April 11, 1962. 4. A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy aired on CBS and NBC on February 14, 1962, and then on ABC on February 18, 1962, and reached an audience of an estimated 80 million viewers. 5.  For more information on the Kennedy-era restoration of the White House, see James Archer Abbott and Elaine Rice Bachmann, Designing Camelot: The Kennedy White House Restoration and Its Legacy (Washington, DC: White House Historical Association, 2021). geometric forms, and delicate inlay. Du Pont strongly preferred this style over the French- inspired Empire style used in the Blue and Red Rooms, but this direction for the Green Room resulted in part from a pair of card tables that he noticed in the room when he first visited during the Kennedy administration. As Mrs. Kennedy shared in her February 1962 A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy, she and du Pont later discovered that du Pont’s sister, Louise du Pont Crowninshield, had donated these tables to the White House during the Truman administration when she had served as an advisor on his committee to redecorate the residence. 4 With inspiration from these tables, du Pont set about furnishing the Green Room with objects like those he had carefully selected for some of his own rooms at Winterthur. Visitors to Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library today can take the “Walk in Jackie’s Footsteps” tour of the house to see how the Baltimore Drawing Room and other Winterthur rooms inspired the White House interiors. In the galleries, the exhibition Jacqueline Kennedy and H. F. du Pont: From Winterthur to the White House, on view through January 8, 2023, provides an in-depth look at the partnership between Mrs. Kennedy and Mr. du Pont . Curated by Elaine Rice Bachmann, co-author with James Archer Abbott of Designing Camelot: The Kennedy White House Restoration and Its Legacy , the exhibition explores this transformative design project that brought together important designers and scholars of the twentieth century. 5 Previous page, upper left: Fig. 3: First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy admires objects on a Federal period sideboard in the Du Pont Dining Room at Winterthur. A set of six tankards made by Paul Revere, Jr. exemplify the type of important historic objects she hoped to acquire for the White House collection. May 8, 1961. Robert Hunt Whitten, photographer; Action Photo. Courtesy, the Winterthur Library: Winterthur Archives. Previous page, upper right and center: Figs. 4 and 5: Window hangings in the Baltimore Drawing Room at Winterthur are installed inside the woodwork according to Henry Francis du Pont’s preference. He insisted on this treatment for the curtains in the Green Room in the White House. Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library. Photos by James Schneck. Previous page, bottom: Fig. 6: Reproduction curtains created by Natalie Larson of Historic Textile Reproductions for Winterthur’s exhibition Jacqueline Kennedy and H. F. du Pont: FromWinterthur to the White House exemplify du Pont’s preference for curtains to be installed inside the woodwork. Photo by James Schneck. Fig. 7: The Green Room of the White House (ca. 1962) featured two card tables (one shown here left of the door) donated by du Pont’s sister Louise du Pont Crowninshield during the Truman administra- tion. Du Pont selected other Federal period furniture to go with these pieces and covered them in cream grounded fabrics to contrast with the dark green walls. White House Historical Association Kim Collison is Curator of Exhibitions at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library.