Washington Winter Show 2012

37 Figure 9 First Lady Mamie Eisenhower’s “White House Toile” rain hat, ca. 1954 Textile design by Dorothy Draper National Park Service, Eisenhower National Historic Site The White House is an American icon. Its image in print, on china, and, here, as a patterned textile, exemplifies how important this building is to those who have lived in it. Photo by Carol Highsmith Leslie B. Jones works for the White House Historical Associa- tion and lectures independently. She received her master of arts degree in the history of decorative arts from the Smithsonian- Corcoran program in 2011. Specializing in historic American furniture, she wrote her thesis on the history of the White House’s Blue Room seating furniture. 1. Austine Snead [“Miss Grundy”]. “How Presidents Live,” Boston Herald, March 28, 1878. 2. For example, objects from the White House’s decorative arts collection are on loan at the exhibition Something of Splendor , the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, October 2011–May 2012. 3. Public Law 87-286, 75 Stat. 586, September 22, 1961, section 2, reads, in pertinent part: “Articles of furniture, fixtures, and decorative objects of the White House, when declared by the President to be of historic or artistic in- terest…shall…be considered to be inalienable and the property of the White House. Any such article, fixture, or object, when not in use or on display in the White House shall be transferred by direction of the President as a loan to the Smithsonian Institution for its care, study, and storage or exhi- bition,…and returned to the White House…on notice by the President.” 4. Margaret Brown Klapthor, Official White House China: 1789 to the Present (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1999), 24–25. 5. Ibid., 24. 6. For example, Thomas Jefferson’s invitation to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Nourse to join him for dinner at the President’s House on December 1, 1802, is in the collection of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, Dumbarton House. 7. The original drawings for this series of furniture are in the Maryland Historical Society’s Benjamin Henry Latrobe works on paper collection. 1961.130.1 “Drawing for a chair for the President’s House,” 1809. 8. William Seale, The President’s House (Washington, DC: White House Historical Association, 1986), 1:136–137. 9. Cat. No. 33.00005.000, United States Senate, Office of the Architect of the Capitol. 10. Randolph Keim and Frederick D. Owen, “The Executive Mansion; Sug- gestions by Mrs. Harrison for the Proposed Extension,” Architects’ and Builders’ Magazine , clipping, Open Course Ware, Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology. 11. Betty Monkman. The White House: Its Historic Furnishings and First Families (New York: Abbeville Press, 2000), 156–58. 12. Glenn Brown, Memories, 1860–1930 (Washington, DC: Roberts, 1931), 116–117. 13. Set Momjian, conversation with the author, October 12, 2011. This page is sponsored by Anne S. Hansen and Nancy Z. Sidamon-Eristoff