page_title: Rebecca (raccoon)
hierarchical_section_title: Rebecca (raccoon)
caption_attribution_description: English: Grace Coolidge with Rebecca the raccoon
context_page_description: Rebecca was a raccoon kept as a pet by US president Calvin Coolidge and First Lady Grace Coolidge.
  Rebecca came from Mississippi.
  She had been sent to the White House to be served for the 1926 Thanksgiving dinner, but the Coolidges decided to keep her as a pet instead. For Christmas, an embroidered collar was made for her, inscribed with the title: "White House Raccoon". She enjoyed participating in the annual White House Easter egg roll.
  She was fed shrimp and persimmons, and eggs were a favorite; she was let loose in the White House, and walked on a leash outdoors. At times, she could be mischievous, and was known to unscrew lightbulbs, open cabinets and unpot houseplants.
  As First Lady Grace wrote:
  "We had a house made for her in one of the large trees, with a wire fence built around it for protection. We kept her chained when out of doors, but in the house she had her liberty. She was a mischievous, inquisitive party and we had to keep watch of her when she was in the house. She enjoyed nothing better than being placed in a bathtub with a little water in it and given a cake of soap with which to play. In this fashion she would amuse herself for an hour or more."
context_section_description: Rebecca was a raccoon kept as a pet by US president Calvin Coolidge and First Lady Grace Coolidge.
  Rebecca came from Mississippi.
  She had been sent to the White House to be served for the 1926 Thanksgiving dinner, but the Coolidges decided to keep her as a pet instead. For Christmas, an embroidered collar was made for her, inscribed with the title: "White House Raccoon". She enjoyed participating in the annual White House Easter egg roll. 
  She was fed shrimp and persimmons, and eggs were a favorite; she was let loose in the White House, and walked on a leash outdoors. At times, she could be mischievous, and was known to unscrew lightbulbs, open cabinets and unpot houseplants.
  As First Lady Grace wrote:
  "We had a house made for her in one of the large trees, with a wire fence built around it for protection. We kept her chained when out of doors, but in the house she had her liberty. She was a mischievous, inquisitive party and we had to keep watch of her when she was in the house. She enjoyed nothing better than being placed in a bathtub with a little water in it and given a cake of soap with which to play. In this fashion she would amuse herself for an hour or more."
  When the Coolidges took a vacation in the Black Hills, they brought Rebecca along in a basket, together with two of their dogs, Rob Roy and Prudence Prim as well as five canaries. In preparation for leaving the White House at the end of the president's term in 1929, the Coolidges donated Rebecca to the zoological quarters in Rock Creek Park (now the National Zoo) in Washington DC.
caption: First Lady Grace Coolidge holding Rebecca
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