• The President's Levee at the White House
    Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion
    inauguration
    East Room
    This engraving is of the inaugural reception of President Franklin Pierce at the White House in 1853. It was published in "Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion" on March 11, 1853, shortly after his inauguration. Pierce, whose son Benjamin had died just prior to the inauguration, decided to hold a reception in the East Room rather than the usual formal inaugural ball.
  • Jane M. Pierce
    John Chester Buttre
    portrait
    First Family
    This engraving of First Lady Jane Means Appleton Pierce was completed by John Chester Buttre in 1886. As the daughter of a Congregationalist minister, Mrs. Pierce discouraged her husband's political ambitions, fainting at the news he was selected as the Democratic nominee for president. During her husband's years in office from March 4, 1853 to March 4, 1857, Mrs. Pierce had to exert herself to meet the social obligations of a first lady. A devout woman, she suffered heavily from the deaths of all three of her children including her son Benjamin, who was killed in a train accident just prior to his father's inauguration.
  • Jane M. Pierce
    Consolidated Cigar Company
    portrait
    First Family
    This illustration of First Lady Jane Means Appleton Pierce was created by the Consolidated Cigar Company. This portrait of Mrs. Pierce, along with several other first ladies, were featured on a series of tobacco cards printed by the company. The daughter of a Congregationalist minister, Mrs. Pierce discouraged her husband's political ambitions, fainting at the news he was selected as the Democratic nominee for president. During her husband's years in office from March 4, 1853 to March 4, 1857, Mrs. Pierce had to exert herself to meet the social obligations of a first lady. A devout woman, she suffered heavily from the deaths of all three of her children including her son Benjamin, who was killed in a train accident just prior to his father's inauguration.