White House

White House

(1981-PRESENT)

The official White House Christmas Ornament program began in 1981 with an Angel in Flight. The White House Historical Association had been founded in 1961 with the support of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, but the ornament program arrived twenty years later. Its first design was successful enough to lead to a new historical subject each year.

Since 1982, most annual ornaments have honored a president, while selected years have marked a White House anniversary or tradition. The date on the ornament does not simply point to the president then in office. A design may look back to an earlier administration, the 1792 laying of the cornerstone, the 1800 opening of the building as a presidential residence, the bicentennial of the presidency, or another chapter of Executive Mansion history.

Every year receives a new design, yet manufacturing has remained with ChemArt, a veteran-founded business in Lincoln, Rhode Island. Metal, enamel color, layered construction, pierced areas, and moving sections allow both sides of an ornament to carry symbols. The included historical booklet often explains details that a front view cannot.

The program is official because it is issued by the nonprofit, nonpartisan White House Historical Association, not because every ornament showing the White House belongs to it. Association identity, annual title, year, packaging, and historical insert separate the official sequence from commercial presidential souvenirs or Lenox holiday pieces.

Sales of the official ornaments support the Association's preservation and education mission. That purpose connects each annual object to the care and interpretation of White House history while distinguishing the program from ordinary presidential souvenirs.