The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1921-09-08
WHITE HOUSE CHINA.
Dishes Used By All Presidents Are
Now on Exhibition.

Washington, -. C.-CH1ud uoeo o1
the presidents-from Canton porce-
lain plate belonging to George Wash
ington down to pieces of the Wilson
state dining set-is now on exhibition
in the white house.
A room in the executive mansion
off the ground floor corridor has been
set aside as a collection room and
fitted with colonial cabinets. Here
on shelves lined with ivory colored
velvet, are 236 pieces of historic
glass, silverware, and china-souve-
Mrs of every president up to Mr..
Harding, with the one exception OF
Andrew Johnson. AS President
Johnson is known to have duplicated
the Lincoln china for his use, he may
be said in a way to be represented Dy
some of the Lincoln souvenirs.
It is too soon for the present eX-
ecutiye and his wife to add their con-
tribution to the porcelain hall of
fame. Mrs. Harding has not yet Sc
lected any china for the white house.
Every presidents wife buys small
sets of china or odd pieces for family
use, but it is not likely that new
state set will be needed for several
years anyway, as the Wilson state
set was bought only in 1918. The
set used before that was bought IN
1908 by Mrs. Roosevelt and contain
ed about 1900 pieces. 1t stood tlf-
teen years hard service. but white
house china, like any other, gets
shipped and sets are broken.
Mrs. Wilson had seen an exhibit OF
American-made china and determined
To order from a New Jersey pottery.
Several presidents wives before this
had thought it would be a democratic
thing to buy homemade china, but
nothing comparable to the we'll
known foreign makes could be found.
That America has finally been able to
produce china that is at no disad-
vantage beside Haviland, Wedgewood.
Sevres, and Canton is shown by the
Wilson set which was made by Lenox
at Trenton, n. j., number of SAM
pies of which stand near the foreign
makes in the white house collection
room.
The Wilson set replaced the Roose-
welt china in wartime, when little
formal entertaining was being done.
Later, Mr.. Wilson's illness made big
white house dinners impossible; so
that the set is still practically new.
Collecting the Old China.
Finding authentic souvenirs from
the table Of every president has been
no easy task. 1t was not even easy to
identify the china in the white house.
The work was begun in 1903, when
Mrs. Abby Gum Baker, who has for
some years been interested in historic
Washington, began to catalogue the
white. house ware.
Up to that time, the old punch
bowls, platters, and other antiques in
the white house closets were but
vaguely associated with the past pres
idents. In some instances, the history
of valuable piece was not remem-
bered or recorded at all. When stock
was taken it was found that num-
Der of the administrations had left no
souvenirs of their tableware. Mrs.
Baker found china of only seven din
ing sets-those of Lincoln and later
presidents. Apparently old white
house china had not been regarded
with an eye to its historic impor-
tance.
President Washington set a pre-
cedent in this connection when he
held a sale on moving from the ex-
ecutive mansion in New York to
Philadelphia. All the furniture and
china that in his estimation were
"decayed" were sold at auction. At
ter that, white house sales of broken
lots of china and of damaged ware
were customary. Secondhand deal
ers were the chief attendants at these
sales. That things sold cheap is at
tested to by such stories as the one
that a cracked Lincoln pitcher sold
for $3.50.
Gradually, antique dealers saw
possibilities in white house china,
and in the copying of it. So many
stores in Washington were selling
authentic" white house plates by
Mrs. Roosevelt's time, that she put a
stop to the white house china sales.
The design of, the Roosevelt state
dining set was patented, SO that it
could not, like other historic sets, be
copied in cheap ware for general sale.
The copying became nuisance in the