Program areas at White House Historical Association
The Association opened the people's House: a White House experience at 1700 Pennsylvania avenue. This cutting-edge educational museum experience tells the story of the executive mansion, its inhabitants, and the people who have dedicated their careers to its functions. It is free and open to the public seven days a week, and in its first year of operation welcomed more than 275,000 visitors.
Education, conferences, seminars, and other programs: the White House Historical Association has several programs to educate the general-public. In partnership with the smithsonian national museum of american history, the Association hosted a symposium on food history and the White House in may 2025. The rubenstein center continues to host White House history live, a monthly virtual program. This program had more than 1.8 million views in 2025. In july 2025, the Association hosted its annual White House history teacher institute to help provide teachers with information and lesson plans regarding White House history. Nearly 1,000 teachers have been through our professional development programs, and through them we have reached more than 520,000 students.
Sales of books, the official White House ornament and other items help to educate the public about the White House and preserve the history of the White House.
Website and digital assets: the whha digital library holds more than 30,000 images of the White House spanning its entire history, including exterior views, images of rooms and furnishings, and photos of events including inaugurations and holiday celebrations. In support of the Association's educational mission, each image has accompanying Historical information, provided free to the public. In october 2025, it was relaunched as the White House history digital archives.
Publishing: the White House Historical Association's scholarly press produces award-winning titles on a wide range of subjects related to the history of the president's House, from its architecture, gardens, fine and decorative arts to the presidents and first ladies who have lived there over the years. Significant new books for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2025 were: asian heritage chefs in White House history: cooking to the president's taste, White House memories 19702007: recollections of the longest serving chief usher, the people's House miscellany: a treasury of White House history, fun facts, and things to know, coloring the White House, official White House china: from the 18th to 21st centuries, the official White House christmas ornament: collected stories of a holiday tradition (6th edition), how to draw the presidents and first ladies, and first ladies make history (2nd edition). White House history quarterly issues included "animals at work in White House history," "the White House and world war ii," "memorials, cemeteries, and White House history, and "the White House that wasn't." The Association's books received 30 national and international awards in the following competitions: best book, benjamin franklin, communicator, independent publisher book awards (ippy), national indie excellence, next generation indie, and nyc big book.