Event White House History Live: Coming to Terms with John F. Kennedy
Join us in learning more about White House History right from your own home. Our Facebook Live series, White House...
Main Content
The State Dining Room, which now seats as many as 140 guests, was originally much smaller and served at various times as a drawing room, office, and Cabinet Room. Not until the Andrew Jackson administration was it called the “State Dining Room,” although previous Presidents had used it for formal dinners.
Compiled June 2015 by the White House Historical Association. Please credit the Association by its full name when using this as background material. Specific sources consulted available upon request.
A State dinner for the British High Joint Commissioners in 1871 illustrated by Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper.
White House Collection/White House Historical AssociationThe State Dining Room in the 1870s after the installation of gas chandeliers.
National Archives and Records AdministrationA state dinner during the Grover Cleveland administration for diplomats in 1889 showing the long table, the splendor of the decorations, illuminated by gas chandeliers that seated sixty at the time.
White House Collection/White House Historical AssociationThe State Dining Room was enlarged in 1902 and redesigned with oak paneling, animal heads, and tapestries that evoked a stately English home.
Library of Congress The State Dining Room in 1948 still reflected the 1902 Roosevelt renovation.
White House CollectionState Dining Room redecorated after the Truman Renovation as it appeared set up in 1960 for a dinner for the King and Queen of Denmark.
National Geographic SocietyThe State Dining Room in 1962 after the Kennedy redecoration.
White House Historical AssociationThe State Dining Room in 1991.
White House Historical AssociationThe State Dining Room after refurbishment during the William J. Clinton administration, 2000.
White House Historical AssociationThe State Dining Room in 2001.
White House Historical AssociationThe State Dining Room after refurbishment in 2015.
The White House Historical AssociationThe State Dining Room after refurbishment in 2015.
White House Historical AssociationThe State Dining Room after refurbishment in 2015.
White House Historical AssociationThe State Dining Room after refurbishment in 2015.
White House Historical AssociationThe State Dining Room after refurbishment in 2015.
White House Historical AssociationThe State Dining Room after refurbishment in 2015.
White House Historical AssociationThe State Dining Room after refurbishment in 2015.
White House Historical AssociationThe State Dining Room after refurbishment in 2015.
White House Historical AssociationThe State Dining Room after refurbishment in 2015.
White House Historical AssociationFor all media inquiries, contact press@whha.org.
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy envisioned a restored White House that conveyed a sense of history through its decorative and fine arts. She sought to inspire Americans, especially children, to explore and engage with American history and its presidents. In 1961, the nonprofit, nonpartisan White House Historical Association was established to support her vision to preserve and share the Executive Mansion’s legacy for generations to come. Supported entirely by private resources, the Association’s mission is to assist in the preservation of the state and public rooms, fund acquisitions for the White House permanent collection, and educate the public on the history of the White House. Since its founding, the Association has given more than $100 million to the White House in fulfillment of its mission.
To learn more about the White House Historical Association, please visit WhiteHouseHistory.org.
Join us in learning more about White House History right from your own home. Our Facebook Live series, White House...
The White House Historical Association is seeking a Store Manager to work on location in our Washington D.C. Gift...
Paul Jennings, an enslaved man in the James Madison White House, was an eyewitness to history as British troops approached...
Join us in learning more about White House History right from your own home. Our Facebook Live series, White House...
The White House Historical Association released a new episode of “The White House 1600 Sessions” podcast today featuring a conversation with Dame...
The White House Historical Association, in partnership with the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, hosted its...
Britain and the U.S. have long had what Prime Minister Winston Churchill called a “special relationship.” From adversaries to alli...
Join us for our virtual History Happy Hour program on Thursday, April 27th at 6:00 pm to hear Dr. Donald Fixico...
Lady Bird Johnson was a groundbreaker, a savvy business woman, an indispensable right-hand to her political husband, a mother, an...
The White House Historical Association debuted a new virtual exhibit today, Slavery and Freedom in the White House Collection, that...
The White House Historical Association released a new episode of “The White House 1600 Sessions” podcast today featuring a conversation with Iain...
The fight for emancipation throughout the antebellum era is also represented in the White House Collection.