JOURNAL REVIEW – White House History

White House History, the journal of the White House Historical Association, is a perfect blend of scholarship and accessibility that will appeal to both the casual history buff as well as the serious presidential historian. Each issue is lavishly illustrated with photos from the White House collection, as well as prominent museum and private collections.

Each issue focuses on a theme. Recent issues include (article highlights listed):

Fashion
Presidential Valets, Frances Folsom Cleveland’s White House Wardrobe, Livery at the White House: The Failed Plan to Establish a Whiff of Monarchy, The Press was not Impressed: President Nixon’s Stylish Security Uniforms

Presidential Journeys
President Grover Cleveland’s Goodwill Tour of 1887, Motor Cars Come to the White House, The Airborne Ambassador: Ronald Reagan and Air Force One, Gettysburg and Golf Courses: Ike and the First Presidential Helicopters

The Presidents and the Theater
The Curse of the Presidential Musical: Mr. President and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Ford’s Theatre and the White House, Opera for the President: Superstars and Song in the Early White House

Special Spaces
A Room of Their Own: The Solarium, A Special Space Lost and Found: Images of Abraham Lincoln’s White House Stables, Secret Spaces at the White House?

The White House Neighborhood Revisited
The Willard Hotel, Unraveling the Dolley Myths, Notable Prominent Neighbors: Personalities of Saint John’s Church

Future themes include:

The White House Neighborhood at the Time of the Mexican-American War

The White House and the West

After the Fire: Rebuilding the White House 1814-18

Presidential Kin

The White House Press Room

The White House in the Movies

Presidential Libraries

Each issue features approximately six to ten articles, including topics on White House architecture, art and furnishings, the gardens, and biographies of presidents, their wives, and their families. Crisp writing holds the reader’s attention, while sumptuous illustrations keep you turning page after page. Photos, paintings, artifacts, and documents bring each story to life on the glossy pages of the journal.

White House History is available by subscription for one or two years. Limited quantities of recent past issues are available for purchase individually, but the entire run is bound in four “collections sets” you can purchase. White House History is published twice a year.

The author’s subscription to White House History is paid for by her employer. She was not paid or otherwise compensated to write this review.