Preserving the Personal Side of the Presidency
From top hats and pocket watches to oyster plates and a presidential handkerchief, personal belongings from Bonhams’ Louise Taper Presidential Collection reveal a more intimate side of White House life.
The presidency is usually remembered through great events. Collectors often preserve something else entirely: the ordinary objects that were present while those events unfolded.
The Louise Taper Presidential Collection, offered by Bonhams as part of its America 250 celebrations, contains its share of historic artifacts. Yet among the documents and presidential treasures are objects that reveal a more personal side of life in the White House. A top hat worn by William McKinley, a pocket watch owned by Franklin Roosevelt, a handkerchief belonging to Dwight Eisenhower, and even a dessert plate once owned by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis remind us that the people who occupied the nation's highest office also lived remarkably ordinary lives.
If there is a common thread running through these objects, it is that many survived not because museums preserved them, but because people did. Trusted staff members and family friends became the accidental custodians of presidential history.
Perhaps nowhere is that more apparent than in the collection's remarkable assortment of presidential headwear.
William McKinley's silk top hat, preserved in its custom leather case, represents an era when formality was expected of public figures. The hat carries a story nearly as interesting as the object itself. In 1917, it was presented by McKinley's secretary and confidant, George B. Cortelyou, to White House doorkeeper Charles D.A. Loeffler, a Civil War veteran who served multiple administrations beginning with Ulysses S. Grant. It became a treasured keepsake, one that remained in the Loeffler family for generations.
Several decades later, a Knox straw boater worn during Franklin Delano Roosevelt's early political career and the silk top hat reportedly worn during his first inauguration were both gifted by Eleanor Roosevelt to Lester and Elizabeth Entrup, caretakers and cooks who worked for the Roosevelt family at Val-Kill for 15 years. Rather than becoming part of a museum exhibit, the hats became family heirlooms preserved through personal relationships. Their survival says much about the people who cared for the Roosevelts.
The variety of hats across the collection offers an unexpected glimpse into changing American culture. William McKinley's silk top hat reflected the formality of the Gilded Age, when public figures were expected to project dignity and social standing. Franklin Roosevelt's straw boater represented a more modern political image, while the top hat worn during his first inauguration accompanied him into office during the darkest days of the Great Depression.
By the 1950s, Dwight Eisenhower's Caxton fedora mirrored the style of millions of American businessmen, veterans, and commuters. Lyndon B. Johnson's custom-made linen fedora suggests a president who balanced Washington power with his Texas roots, while Ronald Reagan's signed Marine One baseball cap, an artifact of the television age and a presidency frequently photographed aboard the presidential helicopter.
Taken together, the hats represent more than changing fashions over 90 years of presidential history—almost a century of American cultural change sitting on a hat rack. They trace the evolution of the American presidency itself. Somewhere between McKinley's silk top hat and Reagan's baseball cap, the image of presidential leadership became considerably less formal and far more accessible.
Not every object in this collection was worn. Some were carried. An 18-karat gold pocket watch by renowned London watchmaker Charles Frodsham is a memento from Franklin Roosevelt's early life. Originally owned by Alfred Pell, a member of a prominent New York family, the watch passed to Roosevelt in 1901, a transfer recorded by engravings on its backplate. The date places the piece at a pivotal moment, the same year Theodore Roosevelt ascended to the presidency following William McKinley's assassination, and the young Franklin Roosevelt was beginning to establish the social and political connections that would shape his future. The watch later became part of the collection of Roosevelt's son, James Roosevelt.
Other pieces are notable precisely because they seem so ordinary. Among the items in the collection is a white linen handkerchief embroidered simply with the initials "D.D.E." It is difficult to imagine a more everyday object accompanying a man who served as Supreme Allied Commander during World War II and later as president of the United States. Unlike a campaign banner or state gift, the handkerchief was never intended for public display. It serves as a reminder that collectors often preserve what history overlooks.
The collection also offers a look at life around the White House dinner table.
Five oyster plates produced for the administration of Rutherford B. Hayes were commissioned under the direction of First Lady Lucy Webb Hayes. Decorated with American flora and fauna and featuring a presidential eagle motif, the plates are a reminder that the White House has always served as both a center of government and a home. Long before modern state dinners became carefully choreographed diplomatic events, entertaining guests was an important part of presidential life.
A Lenox dessert plate created for Franklin Roosevelt's 1934 state dinner service later belonged to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who appears to have viewed it as more than a piece of White House dinnerware. To her, it represented a connection between two influential political families and two presidential eras. Following her death, the plate appeared at the landmark Sotheby's sale of her estate, carrying a history spanning decades of American political life.
Collectors of political memorabilia are often drawn to objects associated with historic moments. But the most revealing pieces are not always tied to speeches, elections, or military victories. Sometimes they are tied to dinner. Sometimes they fit in a pocket. Sometimes they sit forgotten in an attic until someone recognizes their significance.
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, many exhibitions and auctions are focusing on the events that shaped the nation. The Louise Taper Presidential Collection offers a different perspective. Through hats, watches, tableware, and personal effects, it reminds us that history was not made solely by events that made the news, but also by the ordinary objects that were present as it unfolded.
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