White House Historical Association

The White House Historical Association, founded in 1961[4] through efforts of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, is a private, non-profit organization[5] that works to preserve the history of the White House and make that history more accessible to the public.[6][7] As of March 2022, the president of the association is Stewart McLaurin.[4][8]

White House Historical Association
AbbreviationWHHA
FormationNovember 3, 1961 (1961-11-03)[1]
FounderJacqueline Kennedy[2]
TypePrivate non-profit[3]
PurposeHistorical education and preservation
President
Stewart McLaurin
Websitewhitehousehistory.org
The White House Blue Room refurbished in 1995 with contributions from the White House Historical Association's White House Endowment Trust.

History

After moving into the White House in 1961, Jacqueline Kennedy founded the White House Historical Association, which was chartered on November 3 of that year.[4][2] The goals of the association were to raise private funds for maintaining and renovating the White House[5] and to create an official White House guidebook.[9]

In 1981, under First Lady Nancy Reagan, the association began its current practice of selling a unique White House Christmas ornament to the public each year. Beginning in 1982, each year's ornament honors a different president.[10] Since 1981, the ornaments are primarily manufactured at Beacon Design by ChemArt in Lincoln, Rhode Island.[11][12] As of 2019, hundreds of thousands of ornaments are sold each year.[13] The White House Historical Association also produces the wooden eggs distributed during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.[14]

Financier and former White House staffer David M. Rubenstein donated $10 million to the association in 2011 to establish the David M. Rubenstein National Center for White House History, an educational institute under the White House Historical Association's purview.[15][16] In 2016, the association created a Digital Library, currently hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS). The partnership between the association and AWS expanded the following year.[17] In 2018, the association shared a collection of roughly 25,000 photographs of White House history that it had organized and digitized for the first time.[18][6] The association also created a monthly podcast, called 1600 Sessions, in 2017.[17]

Scope

Maintenance and restoration

In its work, the White House Historical Association collaborates with the first family,[19] the White House chief usher,[20] and the curator of the White House.[21] The association focuses on maintaining and interpreting the state rooms of the White House Executive Residence and the rest of the White House Complex.[1] The association also works with the Committee for the Preservation of the White House to curate and purchase new decorations and art for the White House.[7][1] This includes funding the creation of unique state china tableware for several presidential administrations[22] and funding one portrait of each President and First Lady.[23][24] The association also helps fund maintenance and restoration of some rooms of the White House.[25][26]

Education

The association publishes the official White House guide. In the White House Visitor Center, the association operates a gift shop and book store.[27] The association also creates and publishes media on the history, art, and architecture of the White House, and the quarterly journal White House History. As of 1995, books published by the association had sold more than eight million copies.[7] The association sponsors scholarship, seminars, and exhibitions on the history of the White House. As of 2009, the association awarded three White House History Fellowships each year in collaboration with the Organization of American Historians.[28] It operates the David M. Rubenstein National Center for White House History at Decatur House.[29][16]

Funding

The majority of the funding for the White House Historical Association comes from private contributions,[17] in addition to corporate contributions and the sale of publications and gift items.[7] The association manages the White House Acquisition Trust and the White House Endowment Trust.[30]

Leadership

The association’s current president, Stewart McLaurin, has served since 2014,[31] focused on expanding its audiences, educational programming, development base and impact. He is the author of James Hoban: Designer and Builder of the White House.[32]

Previous top executives have been Nash Castro, Daniel E. Davis, Hillory A. Tolson, Bernard R. Meyer and Neil W. Horstman.[33] The current board chair, John F. W. Rogers, has served since January 2022.[34] Previous board chairs were Fred Ryan, David E. Finley Jr., Dr. Melvin Payne, Robert L. Breeden, Hugh Sidey, and Henry A. Dudley Jr.[33]

References
  1. Garrett 1995, p. 238.
  2. Kennedy, Caroline (Summer 2012). "Remembering My Mother in the White House". White House History. No. 31. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  3. "About Us". White House Historical Association. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  4. Moyer, Steve. "The White House Historical Association Tells the Saga of a Living Museum". Humanities. No. Winter 2017, Volume 38, Number 1. The National Endowment for the Humanities. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  5. "Trimming the tree with presidential history". CBS News. 17 December 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  6. Treviño, Julissa (28 February 2018). "See Rare Images Depicting Life, Work at the White House". Smithsonian. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  7. Garrett 1995, p. xiii.
  8. "Stewart D. McLaurin". The White House Historical Association. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
  9. Abbott, James A.; Rice, Elaine M. (9 October 1997). Designing Camelot: The Kennedy White House Restoration. New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold. p. 41. ISBN 0-442-02532-7.
  10. Lowe, Lindsay (8 December 2018). "How the White House Christmas Ornaments Have Changed Through the Years". Parade. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  11. "'Tis the season: White House Christmas ornaments". CBS Sunday Morning. 17 December 2017. CBS. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  12. "RI Company Makes Official White House Ornament". Eyewitness News. 13 December 2012. Nexstar Broadcasting. WPRI. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  13. Ashworth, Samuel (29 April 2019). "An ornament honoring Eisenhower is sponsored by Lockheed. Would he have approved?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  14. Bennett, Kate (16 March 2020). "Melania Trump announces cancellation of White House Easter Egg Roll". CNN. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  15. Trescott, Jacqueline (31 October 2011). "White House Historical Association receives $10 million from David M. Rubenstein". The Washington Post. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  16. "The Rubenstein Center". White House Historical Association. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  17. Chappellet-Lanier, Tajha (5 July 2017). "White House Historical Association dives into more digitization". FedScoop. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  18. Klein, Betsy (24 February 2018). "Librarians digitally archive rare White House images". CNN. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  19. Rogers, Katie (27 July 2020). "Melania Trump Will Revamp White House Rose Garden". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  20. "Who is the Chief Usher?". White House Historical Association. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  21. Kennedy, Randy (15 March 2011). "This Museum Has a Lived-In Look". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  22. Koncius, Jura (27 April 2015). "Obamas' $367,258 state china draws inspiration from Hawaii and history". The Washington Post. Retrieved 7 November 2019. The $367,258 cost of the china, all 3,520 pieces, was paid for with private funds donated by the White House Historical Association's White House Endowment Trust. ... The Bill Clinton and George W. Bush china services were paid for by the White House Historical Association.
  23. Bumiller, Elisabeth (1 August 2005). "A Gallery Where All the Paintings Have Familiar Faces (Except, Maybe, Buchanan)". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 November 2019. The White House Historical Association, a nonprofit group, pays for only one presidential and first lady portrait for each administration...
  24. Grier, Peter (31 May 2012). "George W. Bush presidential portrait is unveiled. Who paid for it?". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  25. Superville, Darlene (18 September 2019). "White House makeover: Melania Trump upgrades, refreshes and restores for state dinner". USA Today. Associated Press. Retrieved 7 November 2019. ...the White House Historical Association, which helps finance upkeep of some rooms in the 132-room mansion.
  26. Koncius, Jura; Thompson, Krissah (10 February 2015). "Michelle Obama redecorated a White House room — and it's much more modern". The Washington Post. Retrieved 7 November 2019. The new burgundy window treatments, four gilded bronze sconces, a repainting of the room from yellow to gray, and other refurbishments were paid by the White House Historical Association.
  27. "White House Historical Association Visitors Center". American Heritage. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  28. Patterson 2009, p. 363.
  29. Marfil, Jude (31 October 2011). "Carlyle Co-Founder Gives $10 Million for White House History Center". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  30. Patterson 2009, p. 379.
  31. "Stewart McLaurin Appointed President of the White House Historical Association". WHHA. 2014-05-01.
  32. McLaurin, Stewart (2021). James Hoban: Designer and Builder of the White House. The White House Historical Association. ISBN 9781931917964.
  33. Boorady 2021, pp. 70–85.
  34. "Board of Directors". WHHA.

Bibliography
  • Garrett, Wendell D. (1995). Our Changing White House. Boston: Northeastern University Press. ISBN 9781555532222.
  • Patterson, Bradley H. (2009). To Serve the President: Continuity and Innovation in the White House Staff. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 9780815701798. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  • Seale, William (2001). The White House: The History of an American Idea. ISBN 0-912308-85-0. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  • The White House: An Historic Guide. 2001. ISBN 0-912308-79-6. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  • Boorady, Luke (2021). Sixty Years, Twelve Visionaries. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
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