costello teaches a class at american university about white house myths. he talks about the realities and legends about often repeated stories such as the gift alligator, decorating traditions began, and dolly madison rescuing george washington's portrait. >> so today's topic, white house myths and popular culture. you probably come across these things multiple times whether you are researching things on the internet, maybe even came across them as you are doing research for your papers on this class. but there are a number of stories that just continue to get circulated, and circulated, and perpetuated, and what i love about this is that you get to not only sort of debunked these things, but you get to try to figure out where they started and why people grew so attached to them. that also tells you a little bit more about how people understand the passed. and how they use it or misuse it. >> remember earlier in the semester we talked about the jackson magnolia. in, fact i think a number of you went into detail about the checks and magnolia. alex, was it you wrote about the jackson magnolia? okay you already know about this. but for everyone else think about when jonathan visited our class and we talked about the story behind jackson magnolia, and who remembers the story? not, alex he wrote a whole paper on, it anybody else? >> andrew jackson's wife died right before he went to office, he claimed the treaty because it's her favorite tree. >> he brought the seeds. do you remember what jonathan told us? >> he said that there is really no contemporary evidence. andrew jackson ever mentions planting a tree. there's no newspapers. it seems that they is a story that has these romantic origins, it's continued to grow ever since. this is the first ever known exterior photo of the white house. it was taken by all welsh known photographer named john junior, in about january, 1846. if you are looking at the white house, this is 1840, six so in theory jackson already planted his tree. right? i don't see a big now lia anywhere. this also bolsters the case that perhaps the magnolia came a little bit later than people think. this is a outdoor shot by lewis walter in 1857, it's a 58. here you can see the white house conservatory over what is the west colony going into the area today that is the west wing. you don't have all the green houses but you have the conservatory above the west colony, and, again in that place where you usually have the jackson big naegleria, i mean it just looks like a bar entry in the middle of winter. it certainly doesn't look like a jackson magnolia. however this is a photograph that was taken in 1861. and voila. that looks like the jackson magnolia. if we look at that tree, and it's probably at that point, maybe 15 to 20 feet tall, depends on when it was planted or if it was transported. but photographic evidence seems to suggest that that famous tree attributed to andrew jackson more than likely was planted leader, probably sometime in the 18 fifties. however, that story and legend has continued to grow and grow overtime. here is another shot. this is actually matthew brady. this is during the civil war. you can see the flag pole in the south lawn. then of course this part of jefferson's hall wall. and some of the union soldiers who were essential keeping an eye on the white house grounds. again, you look and you can see what looks like a young jackson with noaa. again, early 1860s. there is the famous tree that we all know. in 2007, you would probably remember this, december 2017 rather, the jackson magnolia made a lot of news because there were reports that the tree was going to be cut down because of safety issues. it's announced that it will be pruned. one of its major branches will be taken down and preserved. you remember from our visit to the white house that you could kind of see, yes, the jackson magnolia is still there, but it's being held up by a steel poll, by these cables. it's because a pretty extensive rot on the inside of the tree. what i did is pulled up some of the news stories from december of 2017. so it is interesting is, well i guess i will ask you, what media outlets do you think published each story? so read this one and who do you think published this information? any ideas? yes. >> [inaudible] >> no. alex. >> new york times. >> no. alex. >> [inaudible] >> no. the first one was cnn. what about this one? matthew. >> msnbc? >> no. christopher. >> [inaudible] >> no. daniel? >> the washington post. >> the washington post, yes. do you notice there is a key difference between the first and second one? what word they use? white house lore. if we go back, it just kind of repeat the story verbatim that we know. but at least the washington post acknowledges that there is lore to it. it might not be entirely true, we're just not sure. what about the final one? any ideas? alex. >> it's kind of using it as a way to be critical of the president. >> how so? >> because it's talking about how they are trying to take down not because it's old, but they are trying to talk about how it was taken out as a negative way to portray the president. >> so you think there is a negative portrayal of the president? it seems like this article is kind of putting blame on melania trump. is that what you mean? >> that's why people would read it. you know what i mean? >> what about the language before jackson magnolia? so called. this was actually the new york post. so regardless of your politics, you can see how these stories have not only continue to the president, but when they are even then recirculated and put out there, but there are slants to how that story is told. >> [inaudible] >> it was very different. but he was considered a democrat. right. so because of its historical significance and the living history that -- continues to happen today, public fascination with the white house has created many legends and myths, some of which are still perpetuated by social media, internet, journalists and even historians. yed not to simply discount or dismissed the stables, but to impact them and try to contextualize why they were created in the first place and reinforced time and time again. myth number one, the white house is white because of the british burning. have you heard that before? you've never heard that? alex. >> if i'm not wrong, they used like whitewash in order to hold the sandstone together, which is why it was been called the white house. >> exactly. so if you look at the exterior of the white house, that particular sandstone, much of it which came from virginia, particularly from the courts and stafford county, a lot of the stone being produced at this great color. so you would have to imagine the white house as a great building. what they did, because sandstone is so boris, would you have to do is you have to steal -- seal it to protect it from the winter months. because if the water gets into the stones pores, it freezes and then it cracks. right? because water expands in those pores. so with the scottish stonemasons did, and the workers who built the white house, and slaved workers who built the white house, they applied a coat of lime based whitewash in 1798. whitewash is obviously a lot different than the white paint they used today. but that was really sort of where the story began of starting to call it the white house. it's because it was a whitewash that was first applied. so they do add the first coat of lead white paint in 1818. this is after the burning. but that colloquial term of white house had already been established. so the idea that they started calling at the white house just because of the burning, no. there was a whitewash that existed before then. they kept applying coats of white paint up until the 19 seventies -- 1970s, under the carter administration was when they undertook a major project to strip all the layers of paint on the white house. in some areas of the house, we are talking between 30 and 40 layers of paint that had to be removed. the project ended up taking about 25 years. it was completed during the clinton administration. it started at the end of the cardin ministration. this gives you some visuals of what the white house looks like without its current variation of white paint. again, you can see it's primarily gray. it has bits of white in it. but there's also these tints of red. you've probably seen the smithsonian capsule on the national mall. so some of the stan -- sandstone quarries, when you dug too deep, you would eventually hit these deep red veins. sometimes the stone would turn completely blood red. so that is what we call it washington brown stone. a lot of that was made in the early part of the 19th century. that is actually sandstone. it's just read sandstone. from stafford county, it was primarily gray. you can still see the flecks of red within the stone itself. but by stripping all the paint, we can actually see the very intricate detail of the carving's. because you have to imagine layer of paint, layer of paint, later paint, all of a sudden all of this has glob. you can't really see the carving's or anything. so it took 25 years, but they ended up finishing it during the clinton administration. and there are still some parts of the white house, and they saw it when they started removing paint, that there are still scorch marks that you can see. on the exterior it's pretty much all painted. this is actually downstairs. we were on the ground floor corridor, but the area behind it, the service space areas, this is one of the doorways. you see they left it untainted. you can see some of these scorch marks still around the flame. but again, you can see the variations of the stone. that will also probably tell you that the storm was coming from different sources. here's a shot of the north portico. again, you get a sense of how white the building is. and really, you can't see the individual stones. as a as opposed that here you can see each individual stone. and again, blacks of red, streaks of red, throughout the north portico columns. this is during the reagan administration. here is a shot of the north side of the white house. again, you can see the individual gray stones. on either side. . but then the still painted portico in the north entrance. so let's just say i pathetically you wanted to paint your apartment or dorm room or something the color of the white house. the closest you can get is whisper white. that's commercially available. that is as close as you can get. all right, white house myth number two. white house tunnels. in fact, we were just talking about this before class. the existence of tunnels. who use them. why did they use them? one of the stories is there were tunnels under the white house that a lot for a quick escape. that one could actually get to the potomac river and that dolly madison used it, that abraham lincoln had an escape tunnel. unfortunately, these are not true. we know that james hagen, the architect of the white house, did build several sewer systems. my guess is dolly madison probably would not have climbed through the sewer. she would not have wanted to travel that way. and these were installed for running water, but there were really not any full sized tunnels anyone could've used. this is the octagon house. this is where the medicines lived for about six months after the burning. it's just down the street from the white house. during the civil war, general winfield scott did suggest the possibility of adding a tunnel between the white house and the treasury building. here's the treasury building at the bottom. up at the top you have the war department. at that point it would have probably been war. you would have navy and state using that space as well. but the treasury department was to the east of the white house. and the idea was that this could sort of be a citadel of sorts if the confederate army invaded washington and they did not want president lincoln to be captured. that they could move him quickly to the treasury building. he could seek to safety in one of the vaults. and then the people who were essentially guarding him would have to fight to the death. this was an idea that winfield scott had. it never really materialized because lincoln did not have to. but here's a picture of the treasury building later. again, you kind of get a sense of justice imposing spectacle that this would have been a good place. that if you are going to move to a fortress like structure in the 19th century, this was a good place to do it. not during franklin roosevelt's administration, there actually is an underground tunnel built between the east wing and the treasury building. in fact, they go so far as to even furnish a room in the treasury building or franklin roosevelt. here's a picture of that room. this is where we start to see the presidency entering that new age of world wars. and then the cold war and that presidential security obviously changes. but they need to have either structures in place to protect the president and the event of an immediate attack. or, in case there is a chance that there could be an aerial bombing or later a nuclear weapon targeting the white house and the united states, that the president has a place to go. during the truman administration, that is went to sub basements are added beneath the ground floor of the white house. so up to trumans time in the white house, there really was not central air conditioning. there was not central heating. this is a big part of the 1948 to 1952 renovation. it was modernizing the white house. they essentially got it. they rebuild it. they changed some things here and there. but it's pretty much made out of concrete and steel. but they also do is they dig further underground. part of the reason they do that is they need that space for things like utilities, air conditioning, electrical, plumbing. but also to add this walkway, which now runs the length between the west wing and the east wing. here is a finished version. this tunnel will now actually go all the way to the east wing. and it hooks up with franklin roosevelt bomb shelter. so roosevelt had that tunnel built for access to the treasury department. but remember that he also has the east wing built in 1942. that's the perfect time, if you are building a structure, to be also building something underneath it. so he actually has a bomb shelter made beneath the east wing. it's closer, he does not have to get to the treasury building. and truman now connects it between the west wing and that secure complex. so if the president is working in the west wing in the oval office, they have a quick way to get to the bomb shelter. and you probably actually have all seen it before. this is actually part of the presidential emergency operation center that was used on 9/11 by vice president dick cheney and several members of the bush cabinet. because remember that for sometime we were not quite sure where that last plane was heading towards. it certainly seemed like, when it turned in pennsylvania, that it was coming to washington d.c.. we knew it was not going to the capital or the white house. we don't know because the passengers on that flight decided to try and take control of the plane and it crashed. essentially what they did was they rushed white house staff and members of the administration down to the emergency operation center. president bush was away. he was visiting a school in florida at the time. he invites him to stay away from washington d.c. until they could figure out what was happening with the last plane. but for members of the administration there wasn't any real type of protocol for this type of scenario. you know, everybody that i've talked to or who has talked about the experience has essentially said that secret service came in and told people to get out, and get to a secure location and get away from the white house because we don't know where this plane as. and this is actually, this is the image of that day. and you can see that things look a little bit outdated. this has also spurred a new effort to modernize and put in new technology and communication systems in the presidential emergency operation center. and it's number three. dolly madison saves the gilbert stewart portrait. we had to read a selection of sources before today's class and hopefully you did that. now who -- you probably have all heard the story before. in green school and high school. so who wants to just tell us what you heard. alex. >> the british were coming and they were burning down washington d.c.. telemedicine goes back into the white house with a few people. takes down the portrait and runs out to save him. >> okay. in the version of events dolly madison. it's like a last second thing. she's there. the british you can see them on the horizon. she's about to leave but she runs back in. at least she did acknowledge that there were other people there. but she was there when they took it. off they sent it away. r x about that as we dig into the sources. source number one. these were the selected letters of dolly pain medicine. as anna cuts who is writing to her sister, dolly madison, circa august 23rd, 2014, remember, the burning takes place on the 24th. i will put it on the screen. so my sister, tell me for god sake where you are and what you're going to do. i have only time to ask mr. c to take the floor part of the carriages. put in the piano. trying to escape. right? anything we can get in there, we cannot hear anything, but what is horrible here, i know not who descend this, to and will say but little. it cuts. so what do you take away from leaked reading that letter? maybe how it is written. how it is phrased. yes. >> -- she's just trying to as much as she can write to her sister, it's going to be short and sweet, i've got to go. >> you can definitely tell it's very rushed. it also seems she doesn't finish and terror sentences. clauses, a, pause then she says something else. it's relatively short. she even says i don't know who to send this to. she just sent it to the white house. to dolly madison. she wasn't sure if should be there even or she was gonna be it with present medicine who at that point was out in the field to see the battle a plane spurred. she doesn't know. it seems rushed. that's fair. so what's about this. now you had to read this. this is actually within national portrait gallery of distinguished americans. published an 1836 by d.c. socialite and historian, margaret maynard smith. and what she publishes is based off of dolly medicines recollections. so there is no response to this letter. so this is the sister's letter. kelly says that -- there was one story that it was eaten by mice. one story that it was burned, so many years later, when she is writing her biography she asked dolly madison, can i see the letter? she said we don't have the letter. but i can give you a copy of what i remember. so this is what she gives her. so tuesday, august 23rd, 1814, dear sister, my husband left me, he question if i had the firmness to -- and on my assurance that i had no fear but for him and the success of the army he left me to take care of myself and the cabinet papers, public and private. she mentions that she received two dispatches. the enemy seemed stronger than expected. i have many -- our private property must be sacrificed. it's impossible to procure wagons for transportation. the letter goes on and on and on. what do you notice about this letter? >> yes alex. it seems she is making plans to make at escape. she's packing things away unless the british would come to the white house. >> let me ask you this. if this is supposed to be her response to her sister. remember how frantic her sisters letter was. does this letter seem frantic? does it seem like it was written after the fact? now the start to question whether or not how accurate the narrative is. think about it for a moment. if somebody, somebody sends you something, and you need to frantically get it done. then three months later, it's sort of like all right, tell that story again, but take your time. walk us through every step. you are going to add a lot more detail. by that point in time, this is 1836, the stories become very well versed. telemedicine save the -- stewart portrait. at this point you can't go back on that. she kind of has to align things on how the public perceives the whole story. what is interesting is, she goes into wednesday morning, 12:00, since sunrise i have been turning my spyglass in every direction and been watching with unwitting exciting. 3:00. do you believe? it we've a battle and i'm still here with an sand of the cannon. mr. medicine, they come bid me to fly, and i wait for him. in this late hour you megan has been procured. the part of global articles belong to the house, whether it will reach its destination or fall into the hands of the british, events must determine. i kind friend has come to my departure and i insist on waiting until the large picture of general washington is secured, and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall. i have ordered the room to be broken and the counties to be taken out. it's, done and the precious portrait placed in the hands of two gentlemen in new york for safekeeping. and now my dear sister, i must leave this house, or the army will make me a prisoner in it by filling up the road and i'm directed to take. so that is dolly medicines version of events circa 13 36. >> i find it weird that she says general washington instead of president washington. it is it because she knew him as general. and that's what she was to him? >> i think it's like today we -- president clinton. in those, days this was one of those precedent things that washington was after, there should only be one president. so when he left the presidency he preferred that people would address him as general. so typically they called him general washington. okay, so we have the frantic letter from sister anna cuts. we have dolly medicines response many years later as she remembers it. so not the actual response from august 23rd, 24th. and then we have. this this newspaper article from the baltimore sun, dated may 20, fifth meeting 47. so did you find anything interesting about this particular article? yes, matthew. >> it was sort of, i don't want to say, read it was a little bit critical of dolly madison, because it's one of the real dangers. -- wasn't a real savior. a little jab. >> sure. this is 1847. so this, is now we are talking about 33 years after the actual event. and there's still this scuttlebutt in the newspaper about what exactly happened. who did what. who deserves credit. it gets to a point for even dolly madison, who at this point is quite elderly, i think she only lives a couple more years before she passes away in washington, where she needs to weigh in, and sort of, as the article suggests, historical error corrected. but it talks about general john mason, because a new story had emerged that general john neeson was the one who saved the portrait. and the two gentlemen from new york that telemedicine mentions are these two guys. these were the two men from new york who did walk into the white house, and essentially, they were responsible for transporting it to safety. those men were there. that was their account. telemedicine agrees that was their or can't. but they do have some minor differences. there's also daniel carroll. remember she mentions daniel carroll. he had gotten more involved in saying that his family member, who had health essentially transport telemedicine away from the white house was also the one who saved the portrait. so, again no clear answer. but what's interesting is that only medicine writes a letter to downturn in 1848. again, this is towards the end of her life. you have a listen to this letter. do you, sir i didn't receive your favor containing the newspapers and therefore it's my impatience to ensure you of my gratitude and the interest you take in my defense in the little narrative of the picture rescue. you will see by the enclosed would've said at the time the impression that mr. carroll saves the portrait of washington is erroneous. the paper which was to accompany your letter is not to reach me but i heard that the family had reached. me -- let me to join mr. medicine, when i directed my servants, that is the interesting statement. i got my servants. -- was done. so she says she was there until it was done. i sought mr. bergeron yourself, two men alluded to, passing, and accepted your offer to assist me in any way by inviting you to help preserve this portrait would you kindly carried between you to the humble shelter. i acted this way because i acted in respect to washington, not because they should be loyalist but should there be a merit in -- to see the likeness of anything the merit in this case belongs to me. please accept my respect in those wishes. the merit in this case belongs to meet. now who here has heard of paul jennings? what do you remember about paul jennings when we talked about him earlier on in the semester? >> so he is a key player. >> he wrote recollections. some of his life experiences. but also his experience with the medicines. he was born in montpelier, in slave to the medicines, he traveled with them to washington when the medicines went there first as secretary of state, but then president. jonathan. >> -- at the time when it was published,ññ the civil war,févonc;l there wau know some questions about how authentic, or how accurate this account could be, it was partially because of his formally sleeve status because at that point it was a four african american man. it's very similar to what we've seen with elizabeth costly. -- their former social status, as formally enslaved people. but jennings has a very interesting version of the story as well. that was the last source that you had to read for today. it's a little bit longer. and it talks about the events of august 24th. so what did you notice about this last source? what did you pick out that was a little bit different from the other sources? >> a relaxed day. very relaxed, not rushed, took several hours. >> right. so one of the things that's interesting is because jennings is working to set the table for what's expect to be a victory meal at the presidents house. and a messenger rods up and says clear, out clear out. so it certainly gives the impression that the british are on the march, and they are going to be in washington in any minute. that is sort of the story. let's russian gather. they're the jennings seems to imply that it took a while for the british to actually get to washington. but we know from other councils that is true. the british didn't really reach washington until twilight. the first place that they want was the capital. to burn. that they don't burn the president has until much later. so his version sort of coincides with other eyewitness accounts. anything else jumped out at you about this eye witness account? >> he says that the idea that he himself took it down is ridiculous because he said she needed a ladder to do it. he says that all he did was get her silver and then run away. and then it was the gardener and doorkeeper were the ones that took it down and brought it home without her. she was not even there. so very different version of events. now why do you think jennings tells this story in the 18 sixties? yes. at that point dolly medicine was trying to get again in the spotlight it seems, and jennings after being enslaved by that family for multiple years and most of his life was kind of tired of it. i mean i would be as well. dolly medicine was trying to portray herself in the sort of heroic, heroin sense that she actually wasn't. she was like any other rich white girl. >> let's keep in mind that after james madison passes away he essentially leaves his enslaved people to dolly madison. he adds the stipulation that he doesn't really want her to break up families, she does and she sold him to a insurance agency. so she does sell paul jennings over to someone else. eventually it's daniel webster who eventually buys out his debt. and he enters into work agreement with jennings that he will essentially work for webster, pay off the debt, earn his freedom. so that's how jennings gets from being a slave to being free. also keep in mind, dolly medicine has been dead for a decade. by the time that this is published. so this isn't published well she still alive. it's very strategically placed later. but there are some interconnections between his account, and some of the things that she is saying. but there are also these unanswered questions. how would you get the portrait down? some people say that the portrait was cut out of the frame. that is not true. they did have to unscrew it from the wall and bring on the frame. when did it conservation work on it, they were not able to detect any edges and they were not any, so that boast a hole in that theory. so ultimately what we end up coming away with is that these men, remember, telemedicine mentions her servants. and at that time, oftentimes, people did not use the term slave. they just refer to anyone who work for them, whether it was for wage or for free as servants. so we don't know who specifically she's talking about but when she mentions -- it's john, the stewart of the white house. and thomas mcgraw, who is the gardener. but those two positions would have been paid. so to use the word servant seems to suggest that perhaps at least one of her and sleeved workers was responsible. and jennings is there. he is part of the account. he has the eyewitness account, and the paste are actually says when he labels the people who were there. he mentions servants, and one of the dining room servants, he says. so ultimately, which we take away from all of this is the only madison didn't cut of a portrait, shouldn't stand up and a letter and tried to remove that portrait herself. you guys have all seen the portrait in the white house. it's a massive portrait. you would need a group of people to take it down. so let's just think about it in terms of basic physics. you're going to need at least three or four people. but dolly medicine for most of the 19th century got the lion's share of the carpet. since then we've reevaluated that. and i usually like to go with only madison ordered the portrait to bc. because you cannot deny that she was the one who said we need to save that portrait. really, you can think of it is it was the first major act of art preservation innocence in american history. but yourself to give due to the other people that participated in it. so if you ever hear anybody talk about telemedicine saving the portrait, you can fill them in on all of this background information, and you can tell them, it's probably more appropriate to say in order to be saved. now let's think about it from delhi medicines perspective. why perpetuate this story? it looks good for her. >> it looks good for her, it also looks good for the president, and it tells a story when the british were attacking washington, which was obviously a huge embarrassment. so to have, this yet does paint her, well it also shows that the country is going to last past the burning of the white house. >> so we have it makes telemedicine look good. this was obviously a low point for americans in terms of morale and the war effort. any other reasons? let me ask you this. ryan. >> [inaudible] she was kind of lost in the fact that once she is given credit, she's kind of -- she would get slandered after. >> sure. >> should less attention towards the white house being burnt down and focus on something positive. >> something more positive. that is what americans needed to hear about. i just want you to match for a moment. let's think about this in today's terms. if a foreign army invaded the united states and burned down washington d.c., how do you feel? probably not great. but also, what would you think of the president who is leading the country at that time? and their leadership? so let me ask you this. close your eyes for a second. when i say james madison what is the first thing that popped your mind? >> short guy. >> constitution. >> constitution. was the first thing that popped in your head? >> university, constitution. and obviously james madison deserves credit in his do. but if you ask anybody on the street, oh, james madison, was he not president when the city was burnt down? would anybody say that? no. everybody talks about a constitution. it's almost like an addition to the world of 1812 being sort of a forgotten war, we have also kind of relinquished that james madison was president when it was destroyed, or nearly destroyed. i think part of that was his role in saving a important piece of american history. i think that probably also helped when they were talking about should we rebuild. should we move somewhere else. you, now it was worth putting themselves at risk to save a piece of american history if we move and build a new american capital, what does that say about us? this was a positive story. several of you made that point. the war of 1812 was not a particularly decisive war for the americans. in fact, a lot of the issues that we had with the british continued beyond the war. but we don't really remember that part. it seems like when you mentioned the war of 1812 people remember dolly madison, and saving the portrait. yang this is probably in my time of being a white house historian, this has been the one that's been the hardest to try and untangle for popular culture because it's everywhere. so again, if you run into someone who want to talk about telemedicine and the burning of the white house you can talk to them about the correspondence, it was a recollection, it was a memory, so on and so on. all right, let's shift gears to the white house alligator. not much of a transition in between, but, the story goes that president john tc adams received a pet alligator from the lafayette when he did his grand tour of the united states in the war. when he visited the white house for the first time, james monroe was president, and he visited again for a birthday celebration in september for himself. september 1825, john quincy goes to a birthday ball and reception for him at the white house. and there is this story that he presented john adams, john quincy adams with a alligator. and john quincy adams not knowing what to do with that put the alligator in the east room. i guess that is where alligators wh6fl> stored because at that point in time remember the eastern wasn't finished yet. it was a surgejgcñi space, so i guess that sort of hold up. but if you know anything about john quincy adams, he was meticulous with his no taking and his diaries, and he was the kind of guy that when he won for a walk in the city, he would identify plants and trees and flowers and then try to remember their lot names. and he would record them. it was the way that he was teaching himself the latin names of the plants and trees. so i find it hard to believe the john quincy adams would not have mentioned in his diaries that he received a alligator. it seems like a pretty standout event. right? but let's keep digging. a gust levassor who was lafayette secretary and then published accounts of travels, what they said, and, did he mention seeing alligators during the voyage to savannah in march of 1825. okay, so they did see alligators. it's possible. they went to savannah, maybe they captured one of the small baby alligators and then they went to the white house. it's a pretty big gap between march and september somewhat were they doing with alligator for six months? so that doesn't really make much sense. but what i found when i was doing a little bit more research into this particular math was i couldn't find any more newspaper accounts related to it, but when i did find was this 1888 children's magazine called wide awake by harriet taylor of ten. and what it said, and this is a quote from that particular article. when general lafayette made his visit there, his famous east room was given up to him to deposit the many curiosities sent him. some live alligators being a meng. them really in he teen 88, that's the first published instance of alligators in the east room. that's about? wet 60 some years after lafayette. this is an article from the evening start from 1867. it mentions a mr. jean grocery store from georgetown, and you can see, it is the crocodile excitement. the alligator, i mentioned in yesterday's star created eight excitement in town and many have called today to see it. so there were people that were putting alligators in stores, in d.c., in the late 18 sixties. so is it possible that one of these stories sort of morphed from that? probably. there's really no evidence that there were alligators in the east room, so i consider that to be a pretty big math. myth number five. theodore roosevelt and christmas trees. has anyone ever heard of this story before? yeah. oh i was going to -- what do you know about the story or what do you remember hearing about it? >> i don't really remember like the full story. all i know is that the christmas tree is a nomadic tradition that was taken over to the united states. that's just what my family has told me but they are also german. >> the whole idea of putting a christmas tree in your house is a much more modern tradition. in fact, the first documented instance of christmas tree in the white house was during the benjamin harris administration in 1889. so that tells you that the first documented instance was much later. it's of course become much more consistent and the 20th and 24 centuries. and of course now we have annual christmas decorations. we have the christmas tree lighting, the christmas tree in the blue room, which is a lot more compared to with the presidents in the 19th century did. oftentimes if they had anything it would be a small tree up in the second floor in the private quarters. they didn't really put things on the state floor. that is where people were constantly going. but the story goes that theodore roosevelt, because he was such a big conservationist, didn't believe in cutting down christmas trees. that's why the roosevelts didn't have christmas trees. so the story goes, one of the roosevelt boys, archie, snuck a christmas tree up into the white house, and he put it into the closet and one of the upstairs rooms, and decorated it. of course this is later the image that sort of captures the story that it was archie who brought christmas to the white house. and even though president roosevelt did not believe in cutting down trees, he let this one slide. so goes the story. now, roosevelt was on record opposing destructive lumbering practices. but he never appears to have singled out the practice of harvesting christmas trees. it is worth noting that one of the people he worked with, chief forester actually saw nothing with the practice, and by 1907 was urging the creation of businesses specifically for growing christmas trees. a few contemporary newspapers note how family tradition held the roosevelts never had a christmas tree. it was expected that roosevelt, the father of six children when he was president, would have a tree in the white house to spite this. but he never did just because the roosevelt did not celebrate christmas with a tree. to the earlier point, some families did and some families didn't. so there was no band. some people say roosevelt band trees. it was just not how the roosevelt celebrated christmas. archie change that in 1907. the president got a kick out of it and let his son continue to do it. but this whole idea that there was a ban on christmas trees is a myth. here's an image of one of the earliest renditions of a christmas tree. this is actually upstairs in what is today the yellow oval room on the second floor. and of course, this is the tradition today with the annual christmas tree in the blue room. it has been consistently in the blue room since 1961 when the kennedy's started that tradition. there were two times when it was moved elsewhere in 1962 when they were refurbishing the blue room, and then in 1969 when the nixon's moved it out to the entrance halt. other than those two years, since 1961, it has always been in the blue room. william. >> news recently came out was that melania [inaudible] there's trees all over the white house. >> great question. it was actually something i was just asked by someone else. so i know the answer. i would say up to the eisenhower's, what most families typically did was they had a christmas tree up in the residence. and then, there was a large christmas tree in the east room. of course, the east room is the tallest room. that is usually where they would put an 18 foot or 20 foot tree. a lot of presidents just did this practice because it made the most sense. if you are going to do christmas receptions or parties, it's in the east room, it's the biggest space. the usually had annual receptions for white house staff as well. the first instance of a christmas tree in the blue room is in 1912, the tactics do it, but it does not become consistent thing until the kennedy's. when we get to the eisenhower's, mamie eisenhower love to decorate for the holidays. she's the first one who really jumps into halloween. so the annual halloween celebration you probably remember reading about, that kicks off with her. but she also loved christmas. and all of a sudden the white house went from having maybe eight few trees too, i think one year they had 16 trees, and then towards the end of the eisenhower administration they had 29 trees. that's a lot, but i know last year the trumps had 81 trees. so it has grown every since the eisenhower's. we're all of a sudden now christmas decorations are not just isolated to the quarters or the east room. they are everywhere. they are on the outside of the white house. they are all over the state clerk. they are on the ground floor. they are in the east wing and west wing. so we have really seen the expansion of how the first family and staff decorate for the holidays since the eisenhower's. yes, alex. >> who's in charge? who has been in charge in the past of decorating? is it the circles association, the curators, the first lady, or a whole bunch of people? >> all of that is done internally. so i would say primarily a lot of the decorations are overseen by the office of the first lady. you will see the east wing staff primarily. after thanksgiving is when they have these volunteers. you usually talking about upwards of 500 people who will come to the white house. they will help decorate. and they get all of those decorations down right after thanksgiving. then they reveal the decorations the next week usually. so they need to have this. they need to have it pretty much orchestrated, planned, organized, and then be able to have all of those people turn it around and get all of these decorations ready for the following week. and they -- and the decorations themselves, the either end up at the presidential libraries or go off to the executive support facility. one of the things people often wonder is, are they buying new decorations every year? sometimes they will repurpose previous years decorations. they can change the ornaments. they can change the colors. but sometimes they do use, they do get new decorations as well. okay. myth number six. the naming of the white house. you heard this one? who called it the white house? >> i think it was theodore roosevelt. >> so the story goes, and you can find this online pretty much everywhere, that it was president theodore roosevelt who officially changed the name of executive mansion to the white house. even though, as we've already covered, people were sort of referring to it as the white house because it had the line based whitewash. but it was not an official name change. here is one of the instances that i was able to locate. so what you have is on one side, on the left side, that is the executive mansion washington stationary. you can see that is september, 1901. that is later, that's november 1901. so there is that gap in that month of october. right? what do you notice about the paper on the left? anything in particular? how is it different? i mean, besides executive mansion and white house. yes? >> the one on the left is signed by the secretary of the president, the one on the right side by the president. >> okay, that is one of the differences. yes. >> the one on the left is darker. >> okay, so we have different signatures, different color fonts. still typewritten. yes? >> the paper itself. the one of the right looks more white, the one on the left looks more cream. >> okay. different color paper. >> there is more wording on the paper on the right than on the left. >> you guys are finding all these great differences, but fog one. anybody know what that is? the border. yes, what is it? >> yes. so why does this letter a presidential correspondence, why does it have black trim around it? any ideas? >> easier to send? >> it's free mail when it is government. what just happened in september 1901? >> oh! oh, wait, sorry. >> so close! >> i'm thinking about the black hand, that's a totally different thing. >> that is a totally different thing. that's later. >> president mckinley just died. >> president mckinley just died in september 1901! remember he's assassinated. then he kind of lingers for a while. they think he's getting better. then it turns out he has a terrible infection and dies. would you usually have is a month of mourning. so all of the stationary that is used at the white house for that month is going to look like that. right? so you have the black trim. executive mansion. washington in black. we call this mourning paper. >> is that really an effective mourning [inaudible] ? >> it is what people did. >> bright blue ink definitely screams mourning [laughs] . >> we know in late september 1901, they are using this mourning paper which must have been made shortly after mckinley died. they used it. then in early february, we move to the white house. so that tells us, okay, october 19 a one. something happened between those two. -- october 1901. >> this is actually a document that is in the national archives. and again, what do you see? we see the trim. we see the mourning paper. we see executive mansion in black. but it says, my dear sir, i was directed by the president to bring your attention the desire to change the headings or datelines of all official papers and documents requiring his signature from executive mansion to white house. in view of the approaching session of congress, it will become necessary in preparing nominations for the senate as well as messages for either house of congress to observe the above change. very truly yours, george bruce, secretary to the president. the letter is dated october 17th, 1901. so we have the president's secretary telling the secretary of state, for future reference, any documents you sent to the president for him to sign, official documents, the heading should the white house. >> you can still go out and buy mourning paper today? >> of course you can. >> 20 dollars on amazon. >> so october 17th, 1901, that is when that directive is sent. but there's really no executive order. there's no law. so when they say that roosevelt officially changed the name from executive mansion to white house, it is true, but it's kind of hard to pin down exactly when it happens. we know it's october 1901. but is it when they start sending those letters out? is it when the other department -- i mean, there's only one letter to the secretary of state. did everybody else just fall into line about a week later? i don't know. but there is more to the story there. again, and this is part of the reason why people just say october 1901, because we are not quite sure about the exact date. okay. myth number seven. lincoln bed in the lincoln bedroom. so this is actually a painting that was done by an artist named peter -- he did a series of these portraits that showed different moments in white house history. obviously, out of the white house was decorated in certain moments. this is supposed to be a picture of what is today the lincoln bedroom. and lincoln's time, it was his cabinet room in his office. if you've seen the movie lincoln, you probably remember that space. there were maps on the wall. he had his desk. he had a large rectangular table right in the middle. that is usually where the cabinet gathered. so he actually used the lincoln bedroom space as his office and the cabinet room. but just pay attention to these details and what it looks like because it changed pretty rapidly over time. now one of the first visiting foreign dignitaries to come to the white house was prince albert. when he came to the white house during the lincoln administration, the white house did not even really have a guest suite. they just sort of had a spare room with a bunch of different furniture in it. one of the things might top lincoln does is she purchases a specific suite furniture for this new room that is supposed to be for visiting head of state or dignitary. >> were there sightings in the lincoln's room? >> we will get to that. because the lincoln bedroom is supposedly very haunted. i think it was president reagan's dog who would not cross the threshold to go into the room. so that is again one of those stories. here is the lincoln bedroom. this is a bit later. probably in the late 19th century. it's still a bedroom at that time. actually, some of the presidents used this furniture for their own presidential suites. so that is what it looked like in lincoln's time. here you can see this is the sweet of furniture that mary todd lincoln purchased. the chairs, the table, but the bed in particular is often called the lincoln bed. part of the reason they call it the lincoln bed is because it is eight feet long and six feet wide. so it's a pretty big bed. most people just assumed that the bed is eight feet long, so president abraham lincoln must have slept in it. right? he did not. it was supposed to be for visiting distinguished guests. so even though it is called the lincoln bed, he did not actually sleep in it. but there were presidents who did. theodore roosevelt, woodrow wilson, calvin coolidge, they all moved this bed into their own presidential bedrooms and used it. so other presidents have used it, just not lincoln. now, truman repurposes the space as the lincoln bedroom post renovation and puts the lincoln era objects and memorabilia in their. so it looks more like this. so keep in mind that lincoln's time, this is the late 19th century being used as a bedroom. then later the space is used as a sort of private office for the president. this is primarily where the presidents work until they and building the west wing. today we call it the treaty room. it was between the treaty room and the lincoln bedroom. those are the two spaces that presidents often used for their office in cabinet rooms. this is a little bit later. i think this is during the wilson administration. but again, you can see the lincoln bedding used their. i think this is actually during the coolidge, or no, i think this is actually during truman. but eventually we get to this moment in time where truman, who's obviously very interested in american history, he learns the lore behind this. that there are these objects in the white house. remember, we don't have an official collection yet. just sort of things that are in the house. things that have some sort of association with abraham lincoln. when he decides to do is designate a space on the second floor as the lincoln bedroom. up until that point in time, there was a lincoln study, the lincoln room, but it is with truman where it really becomes a guest bedroom, the lincoln bedroom. it pretty much stayed the same from truman up until the association funded a major refurbishing and renovation project during the george w. bush administration. this was a big thing that laura bush really wanted to do. she wanted the space, yes, it could still be the lincoln bedroom and could still house the furniture that mrs. lincoln purchased, but she wanted the interiors, the carpeting, the walls, to reflect more of what the room looked like in lincoln's time. so again here you can see it i think this is later during nixon. here's clinton. and then bush. one of the things we had to do was do the research in the background on this bed canopy. so you can actually see from the images that it disappears because at some point it was lost. we just don't know what happened to it. here it is in the late 18 nineties -- 1890s. when we essentially had to do was use photographs and do research to recreate a reproduction as somewhat as possible. but there is the lincoln bedroom. the lincoln bed and the accompanying furniture. so just a quick recap. the white house was not painted white to cover the burn marks, it was because whitewash had been used before hand and become the accustomed color. that is why people often referred to it as the white house. andrew jackson likely never planted the famous magnolia tree. only later did in underground white house emerge beneath the building. markey to lafayette never put a alligator in the east room. roosevelt never banned christmas trees. people have been calling the white house the white house before roosevelt ordered a new official stationery. and lincoln never slept in the bed named after him. the biggest one probably is dolly madison did not save the painting by herself. but she ordered it to be saved and it was through the collective efforts of several people including at least one inflamed man, paul jennings, that this was done. so what do these myths tell us about the white house? because of the white house rich in deep history, the conditions are optimal for inventing lore and legends. as we've seen, history is often complicated and complex. there's always more to the story than meets the eye. there's more agents. there's more factors and variables involved. interests and motivations. at the same time, these myths are incredibly difficult to untangle from our popular culture in the public conscience. the fact that many of these tales still persist to this day tells us more about how americans have approached and understood, invented in shared, history and historical anecdotes in many different ways. these traditions themselves underscore a deeper truth about what it means to be in american, the we are constantly defining and redefining who we are as a people. in attempting to ground those constantly shifting realities about our shared national past, myths can indeed serve the greater good. generating more interest in history, promoting civic engagements and education, as well as compel individuals to critically analyze the historical record for more answers like we did with dolly madison's correspondents today. but it can also be extremely detrimental furthering falsehoods or mischaracterizations that are harnessed, manipulated or distorted for a variety of purposes. the key is to use your learn skills in this course as a lens to understanding the world around you. that is part of the reason why i showed those media accounts but cnn and washington post and the new york post. so that, even when people are talking about history, you have to be very aware of the sources and who's writing and for what audience. it's no different than when we study history. the key is to use theseuae only then will you see how powerful and prolific myth making can be, and how it has been at the epicenter of our american identity ever since the american revolution. any questions about white house myths? anything you took away in particular about some of the stories we heard? yes. >> no? >> christopher. >> how do we know -- we know the bush family restored the lincoln bedroom. >> they actually did quite a bit of work in the white house, but that was one of the big projects because generally speaking, the association does get more involved in things that are more on the state floor because those are the public rooms. those are the rooms that people see on tours. and those are the rooms that steak they're -- fairly consistent in terms of changing things and having the association assist in that. but because the lincoln bedroom is up in the residence, there's different rules. because the lincoln bedroom is one of the most famous spaces in the white house, we made a very compelling case that this is something that should be done and needs to be done, and the committee for the preservation of the white house agreed. yes. >> what about funding? >> generally speaking, for those types of projects, no. government money really goes towards maintenance, basic upkeep, necessary renovations, like the truman renovation was a necessary revenue -- renovation. but the types of things where it's more cosmetic or you want to change the look of a room, those things have to be privately funded. will? >> this is about a white house myth. is it true that president zachary never voted in any election? >> that sounds right. but i'm not positive. >> so there are some myths that say that abraham lincoln was bisexual. do you think ... >> does that qualify as a mid? >> because ... >> or is it just a claim? >> some of them were brought up in newspapers. one of them was a bodyguard. one of them was one of his very close friends. >> oh, wasn't it like because lincoln was a traveling lawyer? because sometimes he had to share a bed with a man that some people have said that's who he was? think about it in those days. people did not get their own rooms. we get our own hotel rooms today. that was not a thing in the 19th century. you split costs. that means you shared beds. that's just the way it worked. yes. >> what do you know about where the gilbert steward portrait was when the white house was being refurbished and burned down the first time? between when it left the white house and then when did you get back? >> we can fill in a little bit more credit to telemedicine because dolly medicine to secure some of the silver pieces. she does take her papers that her husband leads behind because she does not want this to be captured. and she also takes the red velvet curtains from what is today the blue room. she takes the curtains with her as well. we know that it seems likely based on other eyewitness accounts that jennings was right, that there was looting at the white house, but it was probably americans who were in a panic frenzy. they were on their way out of the city anyway. some of them did swing by the white house and grab some things. so dolly madison does get some credit there. the gilbert stewart portrait was put on the wagon. they got it out of the city. my understanding is they hit it in a barn in maryland and kept it there. they let the property owner know it was there and it stay there until the british left and then they brought it back to the city and gave it to the secretary of state, who was james monroe at that time. so it's a way from the white house a little bit. obviously, it cannot go back to the white house because it is burned out. but it eventually goes back in. and then when james monroe moves in, he's president in his own right in late 1817. >> you mentioned white house tunnels as like white house security myths. the biggest myths i ever heard was that there is really no red phone that connected to moscow that a lot of people claimed cold war presidents had. do you know? >> i know johnson had that tele-type machine. that was one way they were constantly communicating with the russians. when they were planting the rose garden in 1962, they had one of the strategic air command phones. when they were planting and digging, they actually severed the line. so immediately alarms going off. they thought something happen to the white house. what happened? they just cut the phone line by accident. >> but there were no physical red phones that a lot of people said there was? >> i don't think so, i mean, i don't remember seeing that. they would have been able to connect with their counterparts in moscow. i don't think they needed a specific phone just for that. but it's something i would have to double check. but it does not sound right to me. yes? >> [inaudible] >> right, ghost stories. we just had a halloween. there's been a number of ghost stories. i will not ask what your opinions are, or if you believe in ghosts or if you don't believe in ghosts. some people do in some people don't. you remember when we had bill all men, the white house curator, he went to the white house for 40 years. he said he had no experiences. he did not believe in them, etc. but some of the other ones, there's one story about the ghost of what looks like a young boy, a teenage boy. he was called the thing. that was during the taft administration. they talk about the story that people said they saw this boy and then taft basically told his staff do not like this to the press. it's ridiculous. we're not going to talk about it, basically. there are stories of some people saying they've seen a specter of a british soldier carrying a torch. the david burns, the original landowner that the white house is built on, that he shows up and tackles and glass here in there. andrew jackson the same. it seems like everybody saw abraham lincoln's ghost. churchill, that was probably, maybe you've heard that story, churchill was actually naked at the time. he was sort of, mister president, you've got me exposed. then it was like the lincoln ghost kind of smirk and then disappeared. so there's all of these different stories ... so during truman's time, truman believed the house was haunted. and he talked about the fact he could hear footsteps. he said sometimes the chandelier would just start swaying. and then sometimes he would even be in bed and all of a sudden he would hear pounding at his door. he would get up, he would go to the door, he would open it and there was nobody there. so there are all of these unexplained noises and phenomenon that truman experienced, and he believed the white house was haunted. yes? >> that was before the renovation, right? >> yes. >> it turns out because the white house was so shot at that point so things were creaking, things were falling apart, a piano leg fell through one of the floors. that is how they discovered it. >> the idea of the chandelier just swaying. i mean, some of the chandeliers were literally pulling the floor down. and remember, a lot of the interior structure was made of wood. so i've always thought that the loud pinging noise could have been would stress literally popping. because, remember that in 1927 when calvin coolidge adds a new roof, it is made of steel and concrete. all of that weight is put on that old wood. you are going to start hearing noises and not normal noises. the white house was literally crying out in pain because of the weight it was carrying. yes? >> not to go too far with this, but i think truman probably had enough ghosts of his own after having to deal with dropping the bombs on japan twice, and kind of having to reconcile with how they went about the war. i think president truman had his own demons inside of him that he had to reconcile, whether or not that was fair. >> yeah, i mean my general understanding is that i've not really heard about ghost stories since the renovation. that is my other argument to that point. these stories are constantly in the press, or people talk about experiencing unexplained things, but it seems like a lot of the stories go right up until about 1952. and then you don't really hear a whole lot after that. there is the story of president reagan's dog not going into the lincoln bedroom. he just stood outside the door and would bark. i'm sure some of you have dogs like that. i have a dog like that. i don't think it's necessarily haunted, you just have a dog like that. some people say that they see the ghost of william lincoln. >> that's another one. >> and that he died. do you think that's a possibility? >> so do i believe in ghosts or -- >> i'm just saying, you know what, never mind. but i will say as a historian who's supposed to look at evidence and documentation i think that a lot of these things could probably, probably are not real, at the same time, there have been so many instances where people experience something that they can't explain. so it's possible. i'm not going to take a definitive stance on -- no they don't exist. i think it's one of those things that depends on your experiences. i'm leaning that way. the old man who worked there for 40 years and he never had any of those types of experiences. yeah dan. >> [inaudible] is it true that secret service can stop lyndon b. johnson from using that short cut? was it the same passage in the media that bill clinton used? >> my understanding is that monica lewinsky was the white house intern. so i don't think that she needed to sneak through a tunnel. she probably had a pass. my guess is that presidents have used the tunnels if they want to get away from the white house and not be seen. keep in mind, we talked about the growth of media and press coverage. the president leaves the white house, it immediately becomes news. think of one president trump left the white house to go to walter reed, and that became a immediate story. i am sure that there were instances when they used the tunnel. i would think that it was not a regular occurrence. >> alex. you're next. >> two quick things. first thing that i wanted to know is -- for lincoln? >> i believe so. stories that president kennedy would sneak up on mistresses at the white house. >> i was going to ask about that. >> you know, yes you did ask about that before class. i can recommend books if you would like to read those. generally speaking, i don't get too bogged down in personal lives. so that was your question as well? my own personal opinion is that -- >> did he kill marilyn? >> now we are wandering into crazy land so let's pull it back a little bit. >> it was in people, >> open it must be true. >> oh it was on cnn, it must be true. it was on the washington post, it must be true. my point is and what i want you to take away from this classes that you should always be asking questions. you should always be looking at evidence. don't just accept something at face value because it is put out by this media outlet or this historian. dig deeper. form your own conclusions. it's important to think about these things and not just accept these things. yeah brian. >> i feel like that's probably more mrs. trump. she's the one who does the decorating. first ladies generally have -- they overseen that part of it. i mean, if we go back, eisenhower, they were in the 20s, i think the bushes and the clintons were up in the thirties. so it's higher, but the white house is a big place. it's easy to decorate with trees all along the public tour. >> the used wouldn't dentures. is that true? >> no. he didn't. yeah he did. the set of complete dentures that i believe mount vernon has were made out of metal. and the teeth that were in there were human teeth, and sometimes animal teeth. and sometimes the teeth came from his own enslaved people. >> what? >> yes. i believe he paid for them. but still. yes william. >> you talked about questioning a lot of stuff, white house staff, not taking it at the same value, is there any part of white house history that nobody should question, like there should be any questions at all, just except it. >> anything i say. now, now, that's a good point. obviously there are things that we can factually prove and say and we have evidence of. i can even say in my experience in this job, i am constantly finding things that slightly change the narrative or at a different layer of complexity that has been there or presented before. that something about the white house. it encapsulates all these different relationships and interactions. with people and we are learning new things. the same principle should apply when you are in your classes. when you're working internships or jobs, when you're taking that approach, don't take anything at face value. we think hard about evidence. thank. critically form your own opinions. don't just accept someone else is. the >> many presidents, family members, and the white house, are any of them buried in the white house grounds? >> family members or family members pets? >> anyone living in the white house. >> i'm sure it's possible that nobody has ever directly asked me what pets have died in the white house. >> were there any grave sights on the white house grounds? >> none that we know of. right when they were building the white house there used to be a cemetery on lafayette park. they had to dig up the graves and move that coffins and who the tombstones. there is suggestion that there are some people buried in the grounds. everybody says it jefferson, i guess if you say the first child related to when born in the white house, but actually it was one of his cooks, and one of his baby's got really sick. and we know based on jefferson's account books that he paid a doctor for multiple visits. and we know leader that he paid the man out to make a small profit. i so i don't think that they would have gone back to monte cello. i think they probably would have buried the enslaved baby on the ground somewhere. but as far as i know, i haven't seen, there is no other reference beyond just they built a coffin. so did the baby go back to much? hello with the baby buried somewhere else in d.c.? buried and the grounds? we just don't know. >> yeah madison >> we want to see if it's true. cadaver dogs. >> this is 210 years ago. but i also think that between the renovations and the digging up of the white house grounds, if they did, maybe they would have found something by then. we just don't know for sure. >> what's your favorite. many white house conspiracy theory that you've gotten. especially if you are working in the white house, i'm sure you would get people emailing you with their theories. >> all the time. so what are some of like the best moments i? sometimes people will write him say i was led to believe that my great great grandfather worked in the white house and was very close to the president. he was an adviser. can you tell me more about that person? we just don't have the records. oftentimes, disappointingly, we have to direct them to the national archives, the congress, or the library in that instance. a number of people right and they want us to authenticate folks, which we do not. do they essentially want us to tell them that was in the white house. yes i get it maybe it's a personal mental, but you don't know, they could be thinking about selling at a auction and to have the stamp of approval they might think that could help to give it a little bit more juice. >> a conspiracy theory. >> you have those kinds of things i don't even try to, it's one of those things where if you make the choice to respond, it is probably going to keep going. so you have to be very careful about what you respond to and what you don't respond to. william. >> going off of that, have you ever been contacted by bond stars team. >> i have not. but that would be great. i would love to talk to rick. we >> he's dad? >> he's too young to die. >> i will say that there are some times were people have interesting things, even though we don't authenticate it we are able to connect them to people who specialize in a particular period of furniture or light fixtures, and sometimes it turns out these were from the white house. that's toughest ill out there. people are still finding it. that was a big part of why i thought that the white house artifact assignment would be fun, but also give us a better sense of what is out, there and maybe with association could see what it could do in terms of returning it to the collection. any other questions? i just want to thank you all for a great semester. [applause] it's hard to believe that it has gone this quickly. but i appreciate you putting up with me, and it's been fun, but you know will obviously stay in touch. if you need anything you can always reach me by email and i will get the rest of the papers done. i do have a parting gift for all of you. in boxes over there i have 20 copies of one of our books. we did a book on the executive mansions of the world. so obviously the white house is one of them. but then buckingham palace is one of them. the presidential palace in paris is one of them. so it's our gift you. as you are walking at feel free to grab a copy. we will be in touch in the next week. if there is anything else that i can help with remember, just email me your final version of the paper, that way i can do the creating that way. >> there's no final. just a research paper. right? any questions? final statements? anyone feel like they have to get something out. you have to share something. no you had plenty -- you shared plenty. >> the c-span still get that? don't worry, they will added that out. >> please don't added that out. what would you like to say? i'm still in charge of your grade, so thanks for letting me know. that's a fun game. anything else? but i'm also planning to do is as we move into spring, i will be about our website. so keep that in mind when you submit the final version of the paper. and if you do submit an exceptional paper, i would be happy to work with you to publish it sometime in the spring. the final thing i just wanted to show you is that for the past 18 months, myself and my team at association has been working hard on this initiative. slavery in the presidents neighborhood. we talked about this earlier in the semester but now we have reached the point where the initiative is starting to come together. and this is actually the temporary collection that we have. so if you are interested in learning more about the subject, we have information about the history of slavery in d.c. itself. slavery at george washington's presidential homes. scrolling down the enslaved households of james madison, thomas jefferson. then we have individual stand-alone pieces that specifically focus on enslaved individuals who either worked at the white house, had some association with the white house, and their stories and their families stories. now we did not get to visit dictator house, so this article right here is the article i wrote about it. but part of what is coming along with this is we actually have a new website being designed. and we're planning on launching it in february. so just stay tuned for that. it's going to have essentially a virtual tour of the slave quarters. we have a new exhibit paneling. we have an interactive timeline that's going on so you will be able to literally scroll through and see key moments in history relating to slavery. also where the individuals fit on the specific timeline. i do believe that this is a subject that needs more exploration, that needs more research. so as ... how many people are history majors? anybody? okay, just a couple. but if you are thinking about going that direction and maybe someday down the road you are thinking about you want to write a research paper or just be aware of this resource. because i'm really proud of the work we've done. i just want people to know about it so that they use it. [applause] >> all right. have a wonderful exam week. luckily you don't have to take an exam here, you will just email the papers. and if you need anything, you can reach me by email. >> are you teaching any classes in the spring? >> not in the spring. yeah, take care. next on american history tv, a look at the history of the white house easter egg roll from the first one in 1878 under president referred haze, all the way to the easter egg rolls of the trump white house. >> jonathan pliska, you worked with the white house historical association to write a young readers book about the white house easter egg roll. before we get into history, tell me about it today. how large is it in 2018? >> well, it would be a lot larger than it actually is, except the popularity is so high. and everybody wants to be a part of this that they actually kept the attendance to about 30 to 35,000 people. >> where is it held?

Related Keywords

Germany , New York , United States , Moscow , Moskva , Russia , Japan , Tennessee , United Kingdom , Washington , Stafford County , Virginia , Buckingham Palace , Westminster , Maryland , Pennsylvania , Mount Vernon , Americans , British , German , Russian , Russians , American , William Lincoln , Lyndon B Johnson , Theodore Roosevelt , Thomas Mcgraw , Christmas Archie , Margaret Maynard Smith , Paul Jennings , Andrew Jackson , Quincy Adams , George Bruce , Dolly Madison , Thomas Jefferson , Jackson Magnolia , Whitehouse Easter , Mamie Eisenhower , Gilbert Stewart , Abraham Lincoln , John Quincy Adams , Whitehouse Andrew Jackson , Daniel Carroll , Calvin Coolidge , Magnolia Alex , James Madison , James Hagen , John Adams , Matthew Brady , Franklin Roosevelt ,