Transcripts For CSPAN2 The 20240704

Our final panel today, which brings together a highly Impressive Group of scholars and practitioners dedicated to the preservation of the white house something thats very near and dear to us here at the White House Historical association, dr. Matthew costello Vice President of the David M Rubenstein National Center for white house history and Senior Historian at the White House Historical association will moderate the conversation. Our first panelist is leslie green bowman president of the Thomas Jefferson foundation which owns and operates monticello in addition to this work. She has served by president ial appointment on the committee for the preservation of the white house under president s Joe Biden Donald trump Barack Obama George w bush and bill clinton. Stuart mclaurin is president of the White House Historical association leading the associations nonprofit nonpartisan mission to support conserv. Station and preservation at the white house with private funding John Stanwich serves as the National Park Service Liaison to the white house overseeing the National Park services responsibilities for the care of the white house and its grounds as well as the park areas immediately surrounding the white house. Finally. We are joined by lydia teterick curator of the white house. She has been part of the white house curatorial staff since 1979. Tetrick has lectured and published articles on the white house collection and specializes in historic photographs of the executive mansion. Please join me in welcoming our panelists to the stage for our final panel today. Here put me in the middle here. I dont like this. Well, thank you sarah for that wonderful introduction. Its its been a pretty incredible day. I heard some fascinating insights from different people and i know this will be a fitting conclusion to our symposium. And before we get into our conversation about preservation with the white house, i figured i would share a little bit about the history behind these preservation efforts at the white house and in some of the challenges that we face. In addition to being the home and office of americas head of state the white house also must serve as a ceremonial stage and as a museum all while continuing to function on a daily basis as a home for the first family. The white house is not frozen in time rather. It is a Historic Place where history is constantly unfolding now. This makes the task of preservation even more challenging when the Historic Site you seek to protect and safeguard is used for large events, press conferences state dinners holiday parties. Those can be especially treacherous and in johns case easter egg rolls concerts picnics and tree lights and tree lightings all of these things. I would imagine can do a number on the long. Yeah. Also marine one landings, you know. Just your ordinary things that you have to deal with in a Historic Site. Yes, exactly. Visuals bring a different perspective on these issues. But before we get to our conversation, id like to summarize a brief history of preservation of the white house. For nearly a century the homes occupants constantly struggled to meet the expectations placed upon them by the American Public and press while congress appropriated funds for furniture and furnishings starting with john adams was 14,000 dollars. It was raised to 20,000 during Andrew Jacksons presidency and stayed that amount until the presidency of calvin coolidge. So as you can imagine the money went quickly and wasnt evenly distributed across the rooms. So since these funds didnt go very far this meant fixing broken items regaled in reupholstering shifting items between rooms to address different concerns and when necessary selling outdated or worn out items of public auction and using the proceeds to buy new items for the house in 1826 Congress Passed legislation that mandated that all furniture purchased for the white house should be as far as practicable be of american or domestic manufacturer. While this was included as part of the appropriations bill there were ways around this as we heard with for example, the China Services many of which were french made and were brought to the United States and then purchased from american firms. The white house was after all an office in a home in an extremely accessible one at that. This greatly impacted the house. Its appearance and its furnishings in 1842. Authored Charles Dickens. Yes that Charles Dickens wrote a wrote of his experience visiting the white house. He noticed that there were a multitude of all asserting their supremacy more than anything else as they had no particular business the white house or that anybody knew of while waiting for president john Tyler Dickens made note of the gentleman who were waiting with him and their affinity for chewing tobacco. They quote bestowed their favors. So abundantly upon the carpet that i take for granted the president ial housemates have high wages. No, one saw these carpets as artifacts were the preserving rather. They were seen more as household necessities and even though spittoons were abundantly placed. Some people were just not polite enough to put their spit into a bucket only later in the 19th century did citizens began to see these places and objects differently. They became imbued with historical significance and relevancy much like we heard earlier today this movement and the wider cultural awakening behind Historic Preservation was propelled by women. First ladies hostesses journalists photographers researchers and eventually curators caroline harrisons attempt to identify and catalog white house china as well as create a display for the public to see this china in the executive mansion transpired shortly after the centennial celebration of the constitution in the celebration of the first presidency in george, washington. This was not a coincidence and as we heard earlier with with lucy hayes this idea of commemorations and centennials are very much connected to this wider idea of what is American History who defines it who tells the story while it would take some time for this role to solidify as part of the first ladys responsibilities. There are some notable examples worth mentioning and ill just touch on them briefly because we heard a bit of this earlier Edith Roosevelt overseeing a major white house renovation, but also suggesting that the portraits the first ladies be home on the ground floor corridor and that there be cabinets made to display pieces of president ial state service. We had edith wilson who created and designated the china room along the ground floor to house more of the collection Grace Coolidge who worked with a committee of experts to advise in the decor of state floor rooms and assessed donations to the white house and lou hoover who oversaw the first systematic study of white house artifacts their origins and even permitted documentary photographs to be taken of the private quarters. All of these women and we heard this in the late Morning Panel contributed these women and others to the evolving idea of preservation at the white house and after the truman renovation of 19481952 was first Lady Jacqueline kennedy who spearheaded a restoration at the executive mansion. Her hiring of the first curator of the white house Lorraine Waxman pierce as well as the support of congress through public law 87286 and act concerning the white house in providing for the care and preservation of its historic and artistic contents specified the need to preserve and interpret the museum character of the ground floor corridor and the public rooms on the state floor. It also codified that furniture fixtures and Decorative Arts of the white house are inalienable and considered the property of the white house mrs. Kennedy supported the creation of the White House Historical association as a cooperating organization with the National Park service, and we are proud to maintain that today six years 60 years later while mrs. Kennedys time at the white house was tragically cut short her successor Lady Bird Johnson and her husband president Lyndon Johnson further institutionalized these roles and are ongoing relationship president johnson issued executive order 11145, which officially created the position of white house curator and the committee for the preservation of the white house. And well talk a little bit more about what that is and whos on that the coalescence of these ideas and practices and collaboration between government private advisory practitioner all takes place in the 1960s and it sets a new standard for preservation of the white house. Today, well learn more about these roles these organizations and how we collaborate to carry out this critical work. So i would like to begin with a big question that im going to pose to all the panelists you all approach preservation from different perspectives in different capacities. But what would you say is your overarching philosophy when it comes to preserving the white house . Of who wants to begin . Ill jump in sure. Preserving preservation at the white house. I love this picture. Its not just material culture, right and and you so eloquently stated the different roles it has. And preservation has each of those roles as well. When you look at that executive order it talks about this place that its a place of democracy of ideas. So i think preservation at the white house is much more than our typical understanding of Museum Preservation material culture architecture, right . This is also preservation of a power of place. This is a place of preservation of ideas of american ideas that actually define us as americans the only thing that defines americans is ideas. Were not a tribe. Were not a religion. Were not a conquest. This is one of the nuclei of those ideas. So i think that for us on the committee and for the way those Historical Association Curators Office and john and and all the wonderful people that weve weve been able to Work Together on preservation all of those dimensions come together in a preservation standpoint, but then they also hit the practical right the the press who have to use this house the White House Christmas party is the all of the things that make this a breathing museum house on office. A stage set a theater that most of us in preservation wouldnt think about at our respective sites. I i would definitely thank you very much as a really eloquent start. Obviously the park service. Weve been involved with the white house since 1933. And then with this house itself and the collection some ways too since 1961 and i feel you know, its it really speaks to what the National Park service is about. Its about preserving protecting and telling the story of this nation for future generations. And i feel like thats what we do every day working here at the white house and i feel like you know, all those things that we see, you know are important for people, you know, we sometimes take it for granted, but people really see each one of those things as meaning something to them something theyve waited their whole life to see so its very very important to us that we all bear together and making sure that that place is very special for people when they come to visit it also too as weve said its its ever dynamic environment. Its changing. Great moment. Its changing with every administration. And so we have to be there to adjust and be able to be nimble and to work with it. But at the same time understand that trust thats been given to us from president s in first families before that. Those areas are there and you know a sacred to them and it will be sacred to those future generations of our leaders and their families as well that come you know in the future. So its a really important trust that we all have and we collectively share and Work Together collaboratively on i would say our approach is a little more practical because as you know, were not a traditional museum. Were first and foremost the home of the president of the United States and then a Historic House museum with an important collection of fine and Decorative Arts. So our objects are used people do sit on our 19th century chairs and sofas. We do have regular tours. There are a number of events that take place in state four rooms as weve been hearing food and drinks are served in these rooms. So the question for us is what can we do to help preserve this collection and the white house for the future and for a few future first families, and we do this in a number of ways, for example, we offer training sessions to resident staff on how best to handle the collection gloves are worn to protect sensitive surfaces. From oils found naturally on hands for staff outside of the residents weve given presentation to new employees as part of an orientation session to tell them a little bit about white house history and about art collection, which now numbers about 60,000 objects. We emphasize to them that important objects can be found in all of the public spaces that they may see on a daytoday basis. So we ask them, you know, unless youre a guest at an event to please not so we ask them at an event to please not sit on the furniture, please dont walk through the rooms with your coffee cup, eastern shelley inviting us to preserve the collection. Any object that may be at risk that could be identified and suggest modification and monitoring the condition of all our options, arrange for conservators, to establish for objects in need of treatment and arrange for that conservation, the fragility has forced us to retire it from service. If this happens, it doesnt mean it will be sent off and destroyed. But we now have an opportunity to place on display at the white house Visitor Center. I thank you for putting this entire day together. It has been a marvelous day. On this panel, my ninth year here at the association and i dont think we have had these four perspectives, the curator, the park service, really an interesting and fundamental look at the continuity of care for the place, and 45 men as different as they can be, all of them but they have one thing in common. The one thing they have in common is that little white house about 200 yards from where we are sitting right now. So we exist, the White House Historical association as a living legacy of mrs. Kennedy, outlining what she did, shes 30 one years old when her husband becomes president , first lady for less than three years due to the assassination of her husband. She could have had four or 8 years to have something in place according to her vision, and now 11 president s and first lady since the kennedys have been able to benefit from and take advantage of things like a curator to care for the objects. A committee for the preservation of the white house to be the wises, sound voices of advice and counsel when the first lady is going to do something and in our case to be the nontaxpayer funder to make this possible. If you look at heads of state around the world, even Buckingham Palace and certainly number 10, if any british friends, if you going to number 10, the draperies are frayed and the furniture is frayed, you cant go to parliament and say give us this money. It would be a big screaming headline in the newspapers but missus kennedy at that young age. It was a short period of time, put in place the processes and procedures including us so that over this time we would fund and make possible the things that lydia and her team identified as needing to get done in the preservation of white house advisors, how they should be done to take it and that is an amazing privilege this country has in her organization has to do that on behalf of the American People. Some people think or says the check writers to make that possible but we are more deeply invested in the care of the house and all three of these aspects and being their biggest fans and cheerleaders, what they do, really a brilliant system and our country is very fortunate to have the structure in place. A great transition because we are talking about collaboration and how different entities and organizations have worked together. You all have distinct roles related to the white house but we work collaboratively on preservation and acquisition efforts so in terms of process i was wondering if you could enlighten us how does this work . How do these relationships work . Maybe sometimes they dont work as well. Just kind of full back the curtain and tell us a little more about the relationship . I will take that one. Obviously a lot of the stuff here is in different ways. I studied lawn diplomacy, and was anticipating going, working for the state department, going overseas, studying american diplomatic history and my concentration was on early Us Russian Relations and it got me to National Historical parks and the adams family home as well. I went there for research and i have been working for the park service ever since. But i looked back to that by training and diplomacy in every day i worked at the white house i can tell you i would never have used it as much. Every single day no matter what you do you need to be a diplomat, to remind yourself of your mission, what youre trying to accomplish, what that goal is but have to cooperate and appreciate everyone elses mission at the same time. 13 other federal agencies working on the complex and we have great partners like the White House Historical association who help us with the tasks we have to preserve this and tell the story. We couldnt do it without collaboration, cooperation and what needs to be done and sometimes those partners have totally Different Missions than we have. I am sure all of you know that we have been working on replacing the white house the project is a huge project we are working with the Us Secret Service on and their mission is to protect the complex and we collectively have to make them aware too that that fence was a very historic object that needed to be preserved and habits story told and so, lydia, the white house Curators Office, putting this together, we work with the secret service to let them know how important this was, to make sure it is protected and taken care of as much as the historic fabric that we have and we have the slide, you see what was in front of the white house and we are in the process of replacing that, 62 quote fence, with a 12 foot fence and you can see the project on the south side going on and here on pennsylvania avenue side. But along the way you can imagine to make sure and to be careful process we have to go through. And to understand and overlook that. There is one real simple to me of the success in this collaborative objective on the side of the white house complex along east street. Is a ginkgo tree we believe was there before George Washington served. We told the secret service we needed to make sure we preserve that, think about all the stories it could tell about where this special place is and obviously a little hesitant because it would cost a lot more money, more time and ultimately we prevailed. So to have time to look at that very large ginkgo tree that sits there and say we collaboratively Work Together, we all can still enjoy that and future generations can enjoy it as well. You want to speak about how that process works with acquisition or how these projects are processed and moved . We need to work collaboratively, to add an object to the collection but it becomes part of the permanent white house collection theres a process we have to follow. We have the collections policy approved by the committee for the preservation of the white house. It was first passed in 1992 it has been revised twice since then. It outlines our objective, to acquire something for the white house and describes the types of objects but we should be looking for for the collection. For example live portraits of president s and first ladies and famous americans, landscapes and cityscapes that show different parts of the country, works by leading american artisans, objects in the white house, something we desperately want to acquire for the collection, things that have a strong white house connection. With the exception of connections of first lady portraits, we do not except for living artists, the artist has to be deceased and the work at least 25 years old. Often objects are brought to our attention, offered as gifts or donations. When this happens, we will compile images and all information about that object including conditions, exhibition history and put it together as a packet and present the information to the committee, which leslie has been a longtime member of. In hopes that we get their approval. There are times when we do not. As i said the policy has been amended a few times since it was passed in 1992. And working with future committees, changes to the policy are possible to help us adapt to the future. I should also mention priorities on what we are choir are sometimes determined by the administration and by first families. During the Obama Administration there was a desire to collect more modern works for the collection and with the public many, we acquired some wonderful paintings by artists like, thomas, lloyd lichtenstein. During that administration, the family dining room on the state floor was refurbished, to specifically showcase modern design. I think we have a photograph of that. I do. We will segue if you want to weigh in . Really quick. It starts usually with the curators who are the professionals, not only caring for the collection but you understate your incredible role and the rest of the team in finding those things and trying to stay under the radar while you try to find them because depending on how much is known, it will change the price so there is an incredible role the curators in the office play and the committee is really i think meant to do two things, to protect the first family from having to make tough decisions or decisions that would carry favor so theres a political role that the committee needs to play to protect the first family from the slings and arrows and political gain and if we have expertise. I love the fact that we have had some folks on the committee with such deep experience in neoclassical material culture. We might advise on price, on condition, i think theres one of those at the met, in general lydia and her team already know that and have gotten it but its a wonderful collaborative it has been a great joy. It does begin princely with the curators, what is needed and wanted and something they identified, then goes to the committee for the preservation of the white house for advice and counsel and cover if need be and the association perhaps to do research from time to time to fund this project or this acquisition and because the white house itself does not yet have the authority we deliver it to the park service which receives it and restores on behalf of the government until such time as it is used by curators on the state floor. Thats the quick summary of how we all Work Together. One other piece to this part, its not always when something is spotted at auction or have an opportunity to acquire something which we have two ways of working with the Curators Office, there are those episodic opportunities but we have annual experience as well where they look to see something that may need to be taken care of. The most interesting example was the previous presidency when the first lady and her designer realized so many historic doors in the white house had scratches. This was a major project. To take down 30 some doors for four days at a time and take them away and refinish them and bring them back it was disruptive to the flow for the family and Everything Else in the white house but that was something that had to be done that someone going through the white house would say those beautiful doors but it was necessary and to have someone caring about those things on a day today basis and having a first lady who gets that and supports that income source is a great thing. Next question for stuart, the mission is to educate the public about the history of the house but it also plays an Important Role in supporting preservation and acquisition efforts. Can you tell us a little more about the raw and through the recent project, you mentioned the doors. You could talk through some of the other ones. The slide you see now is a summary of our acquisitions. This is four presidencies of 12 and some of the items we acquired during those presidencies. Roughly 111 million of investment in that period of time. The most extensive acquisition during laura bushs time as first lady, in the green room next to the door going into the east room. That was 21 2 million, alva thomas is in line with the top of the acquisition which was 300,000 and so we are very fortunate to have the resources that have been accumulated through private support, individual support. We have no government funding whatsoever. All private support and it comes from regional products, private philanthropy and all of this builds together to make these resources are available when needed so this is a wonderful example through this list here of the types of things in the collection. Some of the most recent project if you want to click through these, lydia mentioned the dining room off the state floor. And on the left, alba thomas on the right, significant about, thomas, first africanamerican female office, artist to be in the white house collection. This is her work titled resurrection and we then take that and through our Education Programs and retail products, amplify the message of the story and the history of that product so it is not just a painting hanging on a wall in a room in a house with a limited number of people to see. We use that to teach and tell stories about acquisition, about this artist, why missus obama selected this and it is put in this wonderful room in the context to me is fascinating which some of our Board Members are considering support for this project, this doesnt look like the white house. It doesnt have this federal appearance. Given the collection policy lydia mentioned where the artist has to be deceased, the work has to be 25 years old or older, the work we get in the 20 first century, the artist of the mid and late Nineteenth Century are eligible to have their works in the collection. Here they are. They have the opportunity to be showcased as well. You have the early 20th century tea set over there from the worlds fair and the outlets the elvis inspired rug on the floor, it creates a different dimension and another first lady may come along and change that and that is their prerogative but this is an example of a specific type of unique project we were to privilege to work on with a first lady and her team, the red room, you recognize this part of the project. The most extreme part of this project that was noticeable to those of you who happen to be in there often, you are looking at the western wall going into the state dining room and the sunlight coming through those southern windows had faded that western wall almost to a pinkish color. It was really bad and so this is fabric, not wallpaper or paint so it was reupholstered and the furniture was reupholstered with us as well and completed during the trump presidency. It was a project in the trump presidency. This was a wonderful project, the double medic Reception Room lose the item we are talking about is the rug that is on the floor and as you know, this is the room the president goes through to get to the helicopter so it can run a little path from the downstairs hallway out to the south wall so it wears. It is a lot of where. So mrs. Trump replaced that rug with this rug which the significant element of it is really beautiful. So fat worked with missus trump on this. The previous rug at the state seal around the perimeter and this replaces those with the state flowers so it is really a beautiful addition, this is americanmade rug in michigan and is really beautiful in the diplomatic Reception Room. Spectacular photograph, extraordinary image and amazing work. Is melissa still here . Right over there. This represents the blue furnitures, i was going to mention james monroe. James munro returns to the white house as the first president after the fire in 1817 and brings with him this extraordinary 53 piece suite of furniture from the french cabinetmaker and it is in the white house, originally a red color, not a blue color. Over time it becomes worn and out of fashion and by the time of the buchanan presidency, just one piece of the 53, which is tragic, there was a time before the kennedy presidency when there was no collection. An item could come into the white house for one president , the next president could come along and it could go away, nothing required that stay in the white house collection. At this point, this beautiful 53 piece suite of furniture comes in, by buchanan it is all gone except for one piece. Missus kennedy undertook initiative to try to reclaim as many pieces as she could. We worked with her on that and other first ladies since. To this day i believe there are ten original pieces now in the white house collection. Is that right . 11 pieces in the collection including that table and the fire screen you say is the most recent. If you had seen that if it was acquired, looks like a piece of junk that had been in the trash somewhere. It has been extraordinarily restored and this entire suite, thanks to melissas leadership, that entire team put together to restore this furniture back to its original state is exquisite and spectacular and an investment of 700,000 to do the 11 piece original piece plus some duplicate pieces that have been created over time to complement this but privilege of hours to do. You would have looked at the furniture and thought this is beautiful furniture but if you look at a refurbished piece next to a piece that had not been refurbished it is like night and day. And amazing accomplishment by the Curatorial Team with affirmation of the committee and support of the American People to make this possible. Probably the most stunning example in the great thing about the story is it transcended presidencies. It started under missus obama and continued, no interruption, continued under mrs. Trump and now you can see it in the white house. The blue room is a good transition for leslie. We heard in the introduction, you served for multiple presidencies for the preservation of the white house. Can you tell us about a specific preservation project that really resonated with you and why . It was this room. 1993. I think i came on the committee, this room actually at missus clintons request was submitted to the committee and the curators for refreshing restoration, things were afraid. I am not sure, this was 1991. To give people an idea how much even the blue room has changed so this is post truman, after missus kennedy restored the room and even that didnt last very long because mrs. Nixon came along and that was the last major refurbishing of this space until i just like this photo, looking ahead to the future. Here is owner clinton meeting with president reagan, one of the governors conferences, a foreshadowing of history and now. Going back to the wonderful the centerpiece of it architecturally and in the popular mind, if you go there, a Christmas Tree in the white house in that room, it is the heart and soul of the home, the office, and all of it. Lucky for me, i had just come on the committee and the committee and the curators were really looking at how to take on this room and rather than just restore what had been there, there was a sense of making it more historical. Everything that was done had a historical basis, the crown jewel of all that is the furniture which i think actually monroe did not bring that from france. I think he ordered it and it wasnt supposed to be gilded. He actually requested plane would. And why . Because he knew it shouldnt look like a monarch. He shouldnt look palatial. It shouldnt look, so much politics even from the very beginning of president s trying to furnish, when it arrived and it was gilded, cant see it. It was a real shock and a real concern that this furniture fit. And of course ultimately when theres a backlash after jacksons expenses in the white house and Congress Passes a law that everything has to be made in america but this furniture sets that in motion because it is too opulent and too gilded. So it is the centerpiece, the historical period. Richard and i found this wonderful period, documented, what we could use and produce and then the upholstery, slightly deeper blue, closer to those shares and with literally the we had the image of monroe standing next to one of these new what the desk should have and a piece that was we will ask you to go back to stewarts slide, if we could go back. There you go. Everything looks pretty much falling into place, with the upholstery and amazing chairs and sofa but the rug, what do you do for the rug . Every committee in the white house always includes the first family decorator. It was khaki hocker smith. Kathy was asked quite appropriately what do we do about the rug and there was the presumption that we didnt have any period rugs so we had to design something that would look like it and she was designing something lovely. Wendy cooper and i at that point i was still a candidate going in the door. And said that i did some cant we find something that is not a pastiche, which is not meant to be negative but it would be made up and we discovered there were the historical point papers in england of the period rugs that had been made in that period and many of them sent to america through philadelphia, through a vendor so we were able to find the point paper that wasnt over a rug and have that made by an american firm, had to honor, but i do think the rug is a huge historical asset in pulling it together as it would be i think pretty accurate to the period. I was wondering now that we have talked a little bit about preservation efforts, what all goes into producing a room like the blue room, where are these things kept . You mentioned 60,000 items so i was curious if you could tell us more about that. Fortunate to have an onsite Storage Facility and much larger offsite facility that maintains our friends at the National Park service. One project we wanted to tell you about today involves the territorial onsite. It is a longtime storage room and hadnt been renovated since the 1980s so as you can imagine, as time went by, we outgrew our space. The front of the slide showing how it looked prior to the renovation. The opportunity presented itself in 2019 to make some changes. We were directed by the chief usher to make the space as functionally and aesthetically pleasing as we could. So anyone would feel comfortable taking a first Family Member in their or a researcher in this space to look at objects. So what started out as a refresh, new cabinets, maybe a little paint developed into a complete renovation from floor to ceiling, we were very fortunate to have a partnership with the White House Historical association because without their support it would not have been possible. All the rooms that needed to be done in this space again would not have been possible with the white house without the White House Historical association. An Architectural Firm was hired to design the new space, help us make better use of the space that was available to us and with other vendors we were able to plan for new cabinets, compact shelving, open shelving, paint racks, painting racks, new lighting system, flooring and a new hvac system, to improve environmental monitoring, wireless data logging systems would be added. So as daunting as this project was it was one that we definitely wanted it to undertake. Everybody in the Curators Office had a role but the one person i really wanted to bring attention to is our associate curator of collections, donna smith our accreditation is scheduled next year. We knew this would be a feather in the. For over a three week period, approximately 1400 objects were removed from the room, packed in custom boxes and transported to an outside facility for temporary longterm storage. This included 256 frames worth, 280 cases of glassware, numerous looking glasses, lighting fixtures, furniture covered documentation and photographs, even our collection of 18thcentury italian figures. We also use this opportunity to assess which objects should be stored in the room. Each object before it was packed was examined, photographed, and a determination was made as to whether this should remain onsite or off to the offsite facility. One section of the space i wanted you to see, if you wouldnt mind going back, that one. Just a little cluttered. If you go to the next picture you will see what it looks like now. This whole section, we added compact shelving in it. A wonderful spacesaving device to decrease storage capacity. Next slide. We also found that some of our storage cabinets could be saved including the ones that have our 18thcentury crush figures in it. Next slide. Probably one of the most dramatic changes occurred from packing them. I dont have a before picture to show you but there was an old air handler, rather large, noisy thing that used to be in this room. By replacing it and reducing the footprint we were able to add additional painting racks on the far side of this section so here you see the old packing room today, the new air handler is similar in size to a refrigerator and is located behind the screen in front of the image with the painting on it. In addition to having a packing and receiving object space, we can display works for researchers, the lighting in this room is adjustable so we can mimic daylight if we need to. We have a nice space for photographers and conservators to work on projects. Much like the home kitchen renovation project, there were things that slowed us down including covid, and a president ial transition. They were not installed until early last year. I am pleased for you to see these images of the finished room and thanked the association for their generosity. One of the last things, one of the last things i want to talk about, in part because it is another good example of a collaborative project that involves all of us as partners in this organization, on our invitation, you probably noticed that the lincoln bedroom, after a major project was undertaken during the george w. Bush presidency, i wanted to show a fusillades with the lincoln bedroom looks like, Abraham Lincoln did not sleep there. It was his office, his cabinet room, post harry truman renovation, president truman ordered all these different lincoln era items and associated lincoln items be moved into this particular space so this photograph is from the Eisenhower Administration and periodically, there were different changes to it but for the most part it remained the bedroom even though Herbert Hoover called it the lincoln study and the lincoln bedroom after harry truman, but there was this interest about what to do with this room to restore the historical elements, calling it the lincoln bedroom, why no why not go back to the true lincoln era when lincoln used the space. I wanted to ask our panelist to talk us through this project. What all went into it and how it came about and how it was executed. I will leave the floor open. During lincolns time, that room was not the bedroom, it was the office. The lincoln era furnishings placed in the lincoln bedroom created in 1945 under president truman, so the early 2000s, the room hasnt changed much, the carpeting you were seeing in those early photos was installed in that room in 1952. As you could imagine by the early 2000s, it was time to replace it. It was First Lady Laura Bush who decided to take this project on and it would have been easy for her to have brought a decorator in and brought in a nice victorian looking setting for the lincoln furniture but she decided if the room should be restored along historical lines, passed as much as possible so january 2002 she approached the committee for the preservation of the white house and asked that they lend their expertise and participate in this endeavor. It is not an official room so this, outside their purview, the room achieved special status over the years, important that they be involved and that there would be a lot of interest in anything done to this room so we were fortunate that the committee agreed to take this on and a subcommittee of experts was appointed to work on the project and leslie was a member of that. It is an example of the challenges of preservation. You have furniture that wasnt in the room originally for a period we are trying to interpret, actually in a room down the hall, the prince of wales bedroom, and you have that furniture which is among the most opulent furnishings and slight conflict with this photo which is what the room was, so you have lincoln, how he used it and it was in a different bedroom that tried to get that in your head and knows the difference between that carpet and the carpet that you just saw. This carpet is relatively authentic to that furniture. We were really bristling with slightly convicting conflicting aesthetic. Here we have the photo we determined was green, the rug that you saw with a cabinet print of the cabinet, what a moment so wendy cooper, and bill, we kind of went through this, how do we put it together . The bed is clearly may be we moved the headlines, the bed is outstanding, center stage object to. This is how it has looked. Lincoln had it in the bedroom, this crown, this canopy, and upholstery, the draperies, this was pretty opulent and how you square that with incredible moment of gravitas, and a Pivotal Moment in history when lincoln is using that in the office and where we do that, we find wallpaper as close as what we find and determine greenwood be too dark without furniture. We worked on a rug like the one that has been in lincolns office and lydia jumped in and we found the order for the carpet that had been in that and they describe the colors, green and oak, the golden color and it, i think we put little purple and or did it have it . We had to get that purple in. It was in the original. I cant remember. We got some purple in there. And with the wallpaper we test the designs but made it more neutral, the rug and the furniture, aesthetically have the presence that they needed. If you go to that slide whichever way you want to go, theres the canopy, they are finally disappeared, has the original canopy, could be the great aunt nellie. To the next one. The metal mirror, not easy to follow. This was not in the connection and clearly had a dialogue with surveillance for the windows and the canopy, accurate to what is in the room. And as lincoln thought. What happened was the same level of detail and carving, fortunately, the nanny collection of furniture, will and donated from winter. To go with it. Was recarved out because of photographs you have, they had not survived either. To help the carver to determine what it looks like. How it appears now. But the desk was important. Talk about the desk. It was lincoln used it and 1930s, part of the collection since then. And bookcase that. It is a great photo. We integrated that and vocab but not, with that. If you visit president lincolns cottage. Part of the interpretation is in the summers, this is contemplated ideas, and drafted the area. It is lou hoover, it was a very fitting way to end, for the panel. The questions for the panelists. Keep in mind. I wonder when the barricades went up on pennsylvania avenue in front of the workforce. It would have been after the oklahoma bombing when pennsylvania avenue after that. Really unusual, partnering between different agencies and multijurisdictions, it is dc city streets. We take care of that in pennsylvania avenue, with jurisdiction for the white house in Lafayette Park on the other side. For security reasons to participate in the future, happening anytime soon and the white house is all about continuity, those things have changed, the security is such that it might not be happy in such situations or in a different way to allow for the us to happen differently. With other partners and different opportunities to avail themselves at the same time. They impact that as well. On the south side, working after 9 11, to the public at that time. I have a question about looking for word, with renovation priorities with respect to the rooms in the jurisdiction of White House Historical association, with 18 acres outside with the compelling priorities of future president our first lady might work on in the next five years . One of my dreams is appropriate and i will use the word appropriate entrance for gaps and visitors to the white house complex. Weve done a lot of work to restore the white house to bring historic character to it but the approach is so beneath that. Getting that advocacy, to bring attention to that situation, to the complex that we think we could be proud of, they are learning about what this is rather than this sort of approach we have. Moreover it is being done in a historic area in its own right. It detracts from peoples ability, to learn about that story as well. What we all would want to make you aware of but that is something we wouldnt try to advocate for and work for a vision to create a better situation. In addition to that, we take a more holistic view of the entire experience from Visitor Center all the way to come up and modernize some of the things we offered to the public and see things. Amen to both of you. This our message, accessibility, how close you can get to the white house itself, not only from the Oklahoma City bombing but the most recent activities, where the large fence was put on the north side of the park, we are fearful this new normal is the way it is going to be and a lot of voices take that down and push it back with flex ability to come into the house, knowing what you are about to see. And that is what we are looking at. People have come into the used wing door, secret Service Agent there. 90 of them say is this the white house . Yes, you are in, come on in. Theres a real need. We all talked about this, plans for this. This is something that needs to be done. We are offer that too. That gives people access to that. We are experiencing unfortunate circumstances at present but that gives people that access to understand, what they could the sea and the events that are going on. I would love more of a story. I think this isnt about staffing, it is about obviously future first families and the stories they wish to shine a light on. It has been more inclusive and more honest. We have been tackling this too. There is more that could be done and it could be exciting and would manner to america. You will see that. The conversation is underway. On that side of the park, we are actively engaged in that work. We have a scenario where there is interest in making that known too. Any other . Wanted to follow up on lines that wait to get into the white house tours, the new bicycle lane the mayor put in going to team street. The electric scooters on the sidewalk, and they arent a soft target, there is so much going on in front of the sherman monument from a Security Point of view needs to be addressed for these citizens who have waited so long to get into the white house and i have to compliment you on the white house garden tour. It was wonderful seeing multicolored flowers and the rose garden. Love this. With the issue you raised, it is not an ideal situation at all. Secret service has worked to bring as many tours into sherman park, so they provide a soft target and they decided to expand and it becomes more challenging. And hopefully this is a situation that will forestall any of that in the future. And when i first came here i couldnt believe you could get a ticket and go inside, to look at the white house grounds, walked around and listened to fans that have to sell a used car, come back and hugged me because this is amazing because this is incredible, thank you for telling me. Please enjoy, we love that we brought them back online. In the spring and hopefully that will continue. Thank you. Any other questions . Join me in a round of applause. [applause] this brings us to the close of our entire day. I want to thank our panelists and everyone who participated all day long. It has been an extraordinary occasion. Our shop is open. If anybody would like to take advantage of the shop, it is there for you and hope that you will follow the mission of that we all undertake in all our slides and locations through various social Media Channels and programming. One thing i love about this it brings together various perspectives, we are not competitors with one another. We are supporters and an inspiration to each other. Even when theres a particular donor we know and love who might give us a generous gift, i think giving it to you, it puts wind and the sales of all of us, it is a violent critical important thing, to teach and tell and as i said earlier today, the 45 men who have been president of the United States had one thing in common, that is this white house and its history and so much of American History can be taught and learned through the prism of white house history. Even science and technology, Alexander Graham bell, all that has happened in this amazing building we call the white house. Thank you for the interest and your support and generosity to all of us and to those who put this on again. Was there any other announcement . The book signing, we have this wonderful book, designing camelot, one of the more recent publications, the first order of business given by mrs. Kennedy since 1961, she had been to the white house, there was no guidebook, publishing a guidebook, we publish four to six books a year and had our quarterly magazine and one of the offers of this beautiful book, she was going to be doing a book signing here at the end of the program. We have the white house. Which is about the white house gardens and white house grounds and extraordinary issues. Have a safe time. American history tv, saturdays on cspan2, exploring the people and events that tell the american story. At 6 00 p. M. Er