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The White House Library is a room in the White House, the official home of the president of the United States. The room is approximately 27 by 23 feet (8.2 by 7.0 m) and is in the northeast corner of the ground floor. The library is used for teas and meetings hosted by the president and first lady. During the 1950s reconstruction of the White House, old building lumber from the house was salvaged and re-made into wall paneling for this room. Several basement rooms in the White House are paneled with salvaged building materials from the pre-reconstructed White House.

History

John Adams, the first president to live in the White House, used this room as a laundry room; at that time, it was said to have been filled with "Tubs, Buckets, and a variety of Lumber"; at the time, lumber meant "miscellaneous useless articles that are stored away". During Millard Fillmore's presidency (1850–1853), Congressional funding was requested to establish a White House library. The library was established during the Fillmore presidency, spearheaded by the first lady, Abigail Fillmore. This library was originally in the Yellow Oval Room and was maintained there until 1929, when the Hoover administration moved it to its current location. By the time of this relocation, almost no books remained in the mansion, so the American Booksellers Association donated books and continued to do so in subsequent administrations. The room saw slight modifications until the Truman reconstruction in 1952, when the room was paneled in salvaged timbers from the White House's former timber frame. These were left unpainted until the administration of John F. Kennedy, when decorator Stéphane Boudin recreated the room as a painted Federal style parlor.

To stand out, an unusual lighthouse clock was made by Simon Willard to commemorate the visit of the Marquis de Lafayette to the United States in 1824–1825. A likeness of Lafayette appears in a medallion on its base.

The library provides access to a men's lounge and restroom.

Further reading

• Abbott James A., and Elaine M. Rice. Designing Camelot: The Kennedy White House Restoration. Van Nostrand Reinhold: 1998. ISBN 0-442-02532-7.
• Abbott, James A. Jansen. Acanthus Press: 2006. ISBN 0-926494-33-3.
• Garrett, Wendell. Our Changing White House. Northeastern University Press: 1995. ISBN 1-55553-222-5.
• Leish, Kenneth. The White House. Newsweek Book Division: 1972. ISBN 0-88225-020-5.
• McKellar, Kenneth, Douglas W. Orr, Edward Martin, et al. Report of the Commission on the Renovation of the Executive Mansion. Commission on the Renovation of the Executive Mansion, Government Printing Office: 1952.
• Monkman, Betty C. The White House: The Historic Furnishing & First Families. Abbeville Press: 2000. ISBN 0-7892-0624-2.
• Parisian, Catherine E., ed. The First White House Library: A History and Annotated Catalogue. Pennsylvania State University Press for the Bibliographical Society of America and the National First Ladies' Library, 2010. ISBN 978-0-271-03713-4.
• Seale, William. The President's House. White House Historical Association and the National Geographic Society: 1986. ISBN 0-912308-28-1.
• Seale, William, The White House: The History of an American Idea. White House Historical Association: 1992, 2001. ISBN 0-912308-85-0.
• West, J.B. with Mary Lynn Kotz. Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan: 1973. SBN 698-10546-X.
• Exhibition Catalogue, Sale 6834: The Estate of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis April 23–26, 1996. Sotheby's, Inc.: 1996.
• The White House: An Historic Guide. White House Historical Association and the National Geographic Society: 2001. ISBN 0-912308-79-6.

External links

• Records of the White House Library, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
• White House Museum page

v t e White House
Official residence of the President of the United States (1800–1814; 1817–1948; 1952–present) Camp David (1938–present) Samuel Osgood House (1789–1790) Alexander Macomb House (1790) President's House (1790–1800) Germantown White House (1793–1794) The Octagon House (1814–1815) Seven Buildings (1815–1817) Blair House (1948–1952)
Executive Residence	Basement Chief Floral Designer Ground floor China Room collection Office of the Curator Diplomatic Reception Room Library Map Room Vermeil Room State floor Blue Room Cross Hall East Room Entrance Hall Family Dining Room Grand Staircase Green Room Red Room State Dining Room Chief Usher Second floor Center Hall East Sitting Hall Lincoln Bedroom Lincoln Sitting Room President's Bedroom President's Dining Room Queens' Bedroom Queens' Sitting Room Treaty Room Truman Balcony West Sitting Hall Yellow Oval Room Roof Flagpole Solar panels
West Wing	Cabinet Room Executive Office Oval Office desk call button clock Oval Office Study Press Briefing Room Roosevelt Room Situation Room
East Wing	Office of the First Lady Graphics and Calligraphy Office Presidential Emergency Operations Center White House Family Theater Social Secretary Visitors Office White House Military Office
Grounds	The Ellipse Jacqueline Kennedy Garden Lafayette Square Andrew Jackson statue Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben statue Comte de Rochambeau statue Tadeusz Kościuszko statue Marquis de Lafayette statue Navy Yard Urns St. John's Church North Lawn President's Park Rose Garden South Lawn Horseshoe pit Putting green Swimming pool Tennis and basketball court White House to Treasury Building tunnel White House vegetable garden
Annex	Eisenhower Executive Office Building New Executive Office Building White House Conference Center Blair House Peter Parker House Trowbridge House Presidential Townhouse
Nearby streets	Constitution Avenue East Executive Avenue H Street NW Jackson Place Madison Place Pennsylvania Avenue West Executive Avenue
Related	Artwork Christmas Tree Reconstruction Replicas Security breaches Solar power at the White House White House Historical Association Decatur House whitehouse.gov President's House, Ninth Street, Philadelphia New York City Government House

38°53′51.6″N 77°2′10.8″W / 38.897667°N 77.036333°W / 38.897667; -77.036333

• Libraries in Washington, D.C.
• Rooms in the White House
• 1853 establishments in Washington, D.C.