This oil on canvas painting was created by Gordon Phillips in 1966. It depicts First Lady Abigail Adams and her granddaughter, Susanna, watching a servant hang laundry in the unfinished East Room. When President John Adams and his family moved into the White House in 1800, many of the rooms and hallways were incomplete. The East Room could not be used as a place to host receptions, so Mrs. Adams used it to dry laundry. Susanna was the daughter of Charles Adams, the President and First Lady's second son and younger brother to future president John Quincy Adams.
This oil on canvas painting was created by Gordon Phillips in 1966. It depicts First Lady Abigail Adams and her granddaughter, Susanna, watching a servant hang laundry in the unfinished East Room. When President John Adams and his family moved into the White House in 1800, many of the rooms and hallways were incomplete. The East Room could not be used as a place to host receptions, so Mrs. Adams used it to dry laundry. Susanna was the daughter of Charles Adams, the President and First Lady's second son and younger brother to future president John Quincy Adams.
