• Lid of Humidor Presented to President Hoover
    Bailey, Banks & Biddle Company
    sports
    south view
    pets
    South Lawn
    South Grounds
    This illustration is etched onto the top of a silver humidor, or cigar box, which was presented to President Herbert Hoover on March 3, 1933. Presented to Hoover during the final days of his administration, the humidor was given to the president by men who frequently joined him for Hoover Ball. Made by silversmiths Bailey, Banks and Biddle, the design for the lid of the case features a Hoover Ball court on the South Lawn, two of the president's dogs, and a southern view of the White House in the distance. Elsewhere on the silver case are the engraved names of the regular Hoover Ball players, including Dr. Joel Thompson Boone, Arthur A. Ballantine, Roy D. Chapin, Arthur Mastick Hyde, Ernest Lee Jahncke, William D. Mitchell, Walter H. Newton, Lawrence Richey, Harlan Fiske Stone, and Ray L. Wilbur. Incorporating aspects of volleyball, tennis, and medicine ball, Hoover Ball was a sport created especially for the president following a recommendation by White House physician Dr. Joel Thompson Boone that the president increase his physical activity.
  • The President of the United States
    Auguste Hervieu
    portrait
    pets
    This lithograph by A. Ducôte is from a drawing by French illustrator Auguste Hervieu of President Andrew Jackson on horseback from 1829. President Jackson bred horses at his home near Nashville, Tennessee, The Hermitage, and kept a racing stable at the White House. Jackson had horses named Bolivia, Lady Nashville, Emilie, and Busiris.
  • The Confidant: First Lady Lucy Hayes and Her Maid, 1879
    Peter Waddell
    First Family
    pets
    This modern painting of First Lady Lucy Webb Hayes and her personal maid, Mary, was commissioned by the White House Historical Association and painted by artist Peter Waddell. The painting captures Mary assisting Mrs. Hayes in a bedroom in the White House. Mary was the daughter of Winnie Monroe, who also worked in the White House as a nurse and cook. Both Mary and Winnie were close members of the Hayes household staff, moving with the family from their home state of Ohio to Washington, D.C. upon President Rutherford B. Hayes' election. On the purple chair beside the two women rests Siam, the Hayes children's pet Siamese cat. Siam was sent to the children by the American consul in Bangkok and was the first Siamese cat in the United States. ***Interior use only for publications***
  • Timmy (Tiny Tim)
    Laura Gardin Fraser
    pets
    sculpture
    This bronze figurine by Laura Gardin Fraser, sometimes referred to as Laura Fraser, is of one of President and Mrs. Coolidge's many pets, Timmy (Tiny Tim). Fraser was an American sculptor but also successfully designed artwork for coins. She was married to sculptor James Earle Fraser.