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From the Archive: What Jackie Kennedy Did for American Decorating
House Beautiful ^ | Mar 2026 | Louis Oliver Gropp, Martin Filler

Posted on 06/30/2026 2:19:19 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege

She called me just prior to the inauguration," remembers Leroy Davis, a New York art dealer who served on Mrs. Kennedy's Fine Arts Committee for the White House. "She had heard about a Maurice Prendergast show at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and though she didn't know much about him, she was intrigued. So I talked to her for quite a while and encouraged her to see the work. And when the show went to the Whitney in New York, I took her to see it."

Several months later, in 1961, during the Kennedys' triumphant state visit to Paris, their gift to President Charles de Gaulle was a Prendergast watercolor of a Paris scene, Boulevard des Capucins. It seemed to be a subtle way of saying that the art of America was equal to that of France.

Of course, Jacqueline Kennedy's greatest artistic contribution was her restoration of the White House. She took the Executive Mansion from a drab, hotel-like institution ("Early Statler," as she mordantly put it), virtually devoid of historical furnishings and paintings other than presidential portraits, and transformed it into one of the foremost collections of American decorative and fine arts. Although she made the White House into a museum, it was also very much a home—welcoming, unpretentious, and livable.

(Excerpt) Read more at housebeautiful.com ...


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Gardening; Society
KEYWORDS: america250; architecture; bouvier; dnctrolls; interiordesign; jackie; jackiekennedy; jackieo; jackiewho; jfk; louisolivergropp; martinfiller; whitehouse
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To: Pelham

We have a couple of islands where the old folks still retain a lot of the English speech their ancestors first brought here.

They are fast disappearing, due to death of the old folks, relocation of young people, and the influence of mass media:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Tider

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AIZgw09CG9E&pp=ygUcdGhlIG9kZCBhY2NlbnQgb2YgdGFuZ2llciB2YQ%3D%3D


41 posted on 06/30/2026 11:04:28 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

I remember those years. Jackie did well with her decorating.

Then LBJ and Ladybird decided to “Beautify America” by placing fences around junk yards and doing Urban Renewal on decaying parts of cities.


42 posted on 07/01/2026 6:48:43 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (REOPEN THE CLOSED MENTAL HOSPITALS! Closed in the 1970s, murders by crazies sky rocketed!)
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To: Jamestown1630

I didn’t mean she supported it

Women until recently weren’t associated by default as majority liberal like now


43 posted on 07/01/2026 7:50:40 AM PDT by wardaddy (If u hate Trump you’re stupid Tor clueless and what’s going on We’re fighting for our civilization s)
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To: Jamestown1630

Tangier Island was famous for it. I hope it doesn’t vanish.


44 posted on 07/01/2026 1:30:31 PM PDT by Pelham (President Eisenhower. Operation Wetback 1953-54)
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To: Pelham

Tangier itself is disappearing as we speak...


45 posted on 07/01/2026 1:36:17 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: CondoleezzaProtege
JFK negotiated to bring The Mona Lisa to the White House, 1962.


46 posted on 07/02/2026 10:32:39 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege (🩰🎬)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Beautiful dress.


47 posted on 07/03/2026 4:26:41 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam ( "Trouble knocked at the door, but, hearing laughter, hurried away". - B. Franklin)
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To: MayflowerMadam; mairdie
Frances Folsom Cleveland was a noted hostess. She and Grover Cleveland were the first presidential couple to marry in the White House.

Helen "Nelly" Taft initiated the planting of Cherry Blossoms around D.C.

Grace and Calvin Coolidge owned collies during their time in the White House. Today (July 4) was President Coolidge's birthday.


48 posted on 07/04/2026 9:38:00 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege (🩰🎬)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Wonderful pictures of history. Especially love the collie, which looks so different from collies of today.


49 posted on 07/04/2026 10:31:08 AM PDT by mairdie
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