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 contains over 2,700 books, representing classic works in American history, literature, and philosophy.
The room is sometimes used for interviews and televised addresses by the president. Dive into the history of the Library with White House Historical Association historian, Dr. Matthew Costello in this short video, made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The Library contains over 2,700 books, representing classic works in American history, literature, and philosophy. The room is sometimes used for interviews and televised addresses by the president. This section describes the features of the Library.
The White House Library, looking west. Clinton Administration. Public Domain.
For over a hundred years, the 27' x 23' room was used by staff for various purposes. Then in Theodore Roosevelt's 1902 restoration of the White House, the room was finished and transformed into a servants' locker room. The Library "Tubs Buckets and a variety of Lumber" cluttered Room 17 of the basement in February 1801, according to the first official White House inventory.
The room served mainly as a laundry area until Theodore Roosevelt's renovation of the ground floor in 1902, when it became a servants' locker room. The White House Historical Association (WHHA), a private, non-profit organization founded in 1961, holds primary responsibility for the maintenance and integrity of the library. The WHHA works closely with the Curator of the White House to preserve the room and its collection as part of the overall White House museum collection.
The present-day White House Library was constructed as President Franklin Roosevelt's personal library in 1935, but was not permanently stocked until 1963. Before 1935, the ground floor room currently in use was a laundry room, cluttered by "tubs, buckets, and a variety of lumber.". 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 7.0m) 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.
This room on the ground floor was originally a laundry room, then a waiting room, and finally, in 1935, the White House Library.