Details:

Theodore Roosevelt's White House, custom display featuring a swatch of fabric which originates from a White House love seat, removed circa 1954.

The affixed fabric swatch measures approximately 1 x 1" and has been affixed to an 8.5 x 11" University Archives certification display sheet. This display includes a reproduction image of the tag indicated that the frame was the "1114 Love Seat" with a mahogany finish and a furnished cover. The "Customer" is listed as "The White House," and it bears stamped dates of September 4, 1954, and October 29, 1954, presumably when the Roosevelt silk was removed.

Historical Background and Provenance:

In 1902, finding the White House somewhat decrepit and cramped, Theodore Roosevelt embarked on an extensive remodeling of the Residence. Plans had been in the works for years to build a new White House or expand the original, including some quite grand designs. TR wanted to tread lightly, and merely remove the Victorian decor accumulated over the previous thirty years to returned the White House to its Federal-period roots.

Work began in June under the supervision of the architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White with Charles McKim personally in charge. McKim held little regard for historical elements, and worked fast to strip the house of most of its floors and cover over old walls with new plaster. By the end of the year, the job was complete, although the result was more Georgian than federal.

McKim's most significant alterations were to remove the original grand stair in the west end of the Cross Hall—what is today the north side of the State Dining Room—and make the side stair by the Entrance Hall a grander affair (to be redone again by Truman). He also added bathrooms on the second floor and installed new elevator and electric lights everywhere to replace most of the old gaslight fixtures. Roosevelts proclivity for green is documented here http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/special/renovation-1902.htm especially in the "green Room" as well as the State Dining Room which shows some very similar fabrics.

Although under-appreciated because of her successor Jacqueline Kennedy's campaign to "restore" the White House with antiques, First Lady Mamie Eisenhower made significant contributions to the White House interiors during her husband's eight years in office.

From late 1948 to mid-1952, the White House was completely gutted and reconstructed with modern materials. While it was rebuilt on the same general plan, the house was very different, with two new basement levels and the addition of approximately seventy new rooms and a central air-conditioning system. The Commission on the Renovation of the Executive Mansion had set aside $200,000 to cover all interior work, from painting the walls to restoring or replacing old furniture. B. Altman & Co., a New York City department store, received the contract for the interior furnishings and committed to complete all work at cost.

In the New York Times, Bess Trurman declared that "Mrs. Eisenhower will step into fewer household headaches than any of her predecessors. She will move into the best-looking White House since Abigail Adams crossed its threshold...." Although Chief Usher Howell Crim requested the traditional $50,000 congressional appropriation given to each administration for purchasing and repairing furnishings for the White House, Congress denied the request. Instead, Crim accessed $200,000 left over from a 1946 appropriation of $680,000 for improvements to the Executive Mansion, before the renovation under President Harry S. Truman and its appropriation had eliminated the need for some of the improvements.

Although disappointed at the limitations placed upon her, Mamie Eisenhower had decades of experience in creating a home for herself and her husband with furnishings chosen by others. The White House was their thirty-sixth residence together, according to her calculations. Determined to make the mansion comfortable for her family, including grandchildren who visited frequently, Eisenhower established a comfortable master bedroom in Bess Truman’s former sitting room. She also accepted donations of furniture, especially if related to former residents of the White House, including a sofa and three chairs from Abraham Lincoln’s tenure, and a classical mahogany sofa used by President James Monroe in the White House. Eisenhower also accepted one of only five known copies of the Gettysburg Address written by Lincoln himself.

This fabric from a loveseat in the White House was found in the attic of a Washington Home wrapped in 1944 newspaper.

Sourced from and certified authentic by University Archives one of the foremost authorities on historical relics and artifacts.

Authentication:
Includes a full letter of authenticity from JG Autographs, Inc.

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Reference sku: 11256 1394799-1