The White House Historical Association, founded in 1961 through efforts of
First Lady
First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non- monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a woman seen to be at the ...
Jacqueline Kennedy
Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A p ...
, is a private, non-profit organization that works to preserve the history of the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
and make that history more accessible to the public. , the president of the association is Stewart McLaurin.
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. The goals of the association were to raise private funds for maintaining and renovating the White House and to create an official White House guidebook.
In 1981, under First Lady Nancy Reagan, the association began its current practice of selling a unique White House
Christmas ornament
Christmas ornaments, baubles, "Christmas bulbs" or "Christmas bubbles" are decoration items, usually to decorate Christmas trees. These decorations may be woven, blown ( glass or plastic), molded ( ceramic or metal), carved from wood or ...
to the public each year. Beginning in 1982, each year's ornament honors a different president. Since 1981, the ornaments are primarily manufactured at Beacon Design by ChemArtin Lincoln, Rhode Island. , hundreds of thousands of ornaments are sold each year. The White House Historical Association also produces the wooden eggs distributed during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.
Financier and former White House staffer
David M. Rubenstein
David Mark Rubenstein (born August 11, 1949) is an American billionaire businessman. A former government official and lawyer, he is a co-founder and co-chairman of the private equity firm The Carlyle Group, 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. 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. The association also created a monthly podcast, called 1600 Sessions, in 2017.
Scope
Maintenance and restoration
In its work, the White House Historical Association collaborates with the
first family
First Family is an unofficial title for the family of a republic's head of state. A first family usually consists of: the head of state, the first spouse and their children.
Related terms
The term ''second family'' is often used to refer to ...
Committee for the Preservation of the White House
The Committee for the Preservation of the White House is an advisory committee charged with the preservation of the White House, the official home and principal workplace of the president of the United States. The committee is largely made up of c ...
to curate and purchase new decorations and art for the White House. This includes funding the creation of unique state china tableware for several presidential administrations and funding one portrait of each President and First Lady. The association also helps fund maintenance and restoration of some rooms of the White House.
Education
The association publishes the official White House guide. In the
White House Visitor Center
The White House Visitors Office is responsible for public tours of the White House, for maintaining a facility where the public can obtain information about the White House, and for other White House events such as the White House Easter Egg Roll, ...
, the association operates a gift shop and book store. The association also creates and publishes media on the history, art, and architecture of the White House, and the quarterly journal '' White House History''. , books published by the association had sold more than eight million copies. The association sponsors scholarship, seminars, and exhibitions on the history of the White House. , the association awarded three White House History Fellowships each year in collaboration with the Organization of American Historians. It operates the David M. Rubenstein National Center for White House History at Decatur House.
Funding
The majority of the funding for the White House Historical Association comes from private contributions, in addition to corporate contributions and the sale of publications and gift items. The association manages the White House Acquisition Trust and the
White House Endowment Trust The White House Endowment Trust, sometimes also called the White House Endowment Fund, is a private, non-profit, tax-exempt fund established to finance the ongoing restoration and refurbishment of the state rooms at the White House, the official hom ...
.
Leadership
The association’s current president, Stewart McLaurin, has served since 2014, 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.
Previous top executives have been Nash Castro, Daniel E. Davis, Hillory A. Tolson, Bernard R. Meyer and Neil W. Horstman. The current board chair,
John F. W. Rogers
John Francis William Rogers (born April 15, 1956) is an American businessman, serving as Executive Vice President, Chief of Staff and Secretary to the Board of Goldman Sachs.
Early life
Rogers was born in Seneca Falls, New York on April 15, 1956 ...
, has served since January 2022. Previous board chairs were
Fred Ryan
Frederick Joseph Ryan Jr. (born April 12, 1955) is an American media proprietor, political adviser, and lawyer who serves as the publisher and chief executive officer of '' The Washington Post''. He was the president and chief operating officer ...
,
David E. Finley Jr.
David Edward Finley Jr. (September 1, 1890 – February 1, 1977) was an American cultural leader during the middle third of the 20th century. He was the first director of the National Gallery of Art, the founding chairman of the National Trust f ...
Hugh Sidey
Hugh Swanson Sidey (September 3, 1927 – November 21, 2005) was an American journalist who worked for ''Life'' magazine starting in 1955, then moved on to ''Time'' magazine in 1957.
He covered presidents, from Eisenhower to Clinton, and was auth ...