Today’s blog post comes from Katrina Wood, a summer intern with the Public Affairs Office. As I took a self-guided tour of Embassy Row in Washington, DC, and paused at the statue of Winston Churchill at the British Embassy on Massachusetts Avenue, I thought of all the diplomats and representatives who have made homes in … Continue reading Facial Hair Friday: Sir Frederick Bruce
It was a long, hard journey to the United States in the early 20th century, but even a successful voyage did not guarantee that the immigrant would be able to enter or stay. Deportation was a threat. When immigrants were deported, it could be because of serious crime like murder or petty crime like theft. … Continue reading Facial Hair Friday: Mustaches and Moral Turpitude
It gets harder to find worthy examples of bearded and mustachioed Americans in our holdings after the first decades of the 20th century, when facial hair went out of fashion. Fortunately for us, we can look into a decade known for groovy facial hair: the 1970s. This is one of our most popular images, though … Continue reading Facial Hair Friday: Vagabond Goatee
Oh, President Taft. It was your birthday yesterday, and I just had to feature you here on Facial Hair Friday. You were one of the few Presidents that seemed to stick my brain when I was studying for the AP History exam. Important dates, key battles, our founding documents—I could barely keep those facts stuck to my … Continue reading Facial Hair Friday: A really big mustache—and bathtub
What can you say about a man, his accordion, a clock, and a bottle? We went to guest judge and social media coordinator Jeannie Chen, who once featured a infant President Ford holding a tiny accordion on the Presidential Libraries tumblr blog. Congratulations to Mickey! Your caption won Jeannie's heart and got that Croce tune stuck in … Continue reading Thursday Photo Caption Contest
If this Friday's facial hair star lived in present times, he would be so very easy to Google. Yes, "Bezaleel Armstrong" would be pretty easy to find on Facebook and the Internet. In fact, even now a quick name-check in the Google search box pulls up plenty of hits on his unique name. He would also be pretty … Continue reading What a beard! What a name!
Earlier today, I was searching for images with "bicycles" to create a Facebook album after being inspired by the commuters of DC, who took to the streets on their bikes to celebrate DC Bike to Work Day. I was thrilled to see this image, which is not only a fine example of a nineteenth-century velocipede, … Continue reading Friday Facial Hair: It’s Date Night!
It's very rare to have an example of a recent beard, and even more rare to have a bearded President after, oh, 1890. So I was shocked when John Keller, an archivist at the Clinton Library, sent a link to this picture of President Clinton. He explains the unusual find in this guest post: Here … Continue reading Thor? Is that you?
Edward Bates was living quietly and comfortably in 1860. He had been out of public life for two decades but now was being courted by backers for the highest office in the land. The new Republican Party's nomination for President of the United States was wide open, and a number of contenders were vying for … Continue reading Facial Hair Friday—Edward Bates
After a brief hiatus, Facial Hair Friday is back with a special Valentine's week post! When Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri wanted to encourage Americans to emigrate to the west as part of the Manifest Destiny movement, he decided that eyewitness descriptions of the landscape were necessary. So in 1842, Benton sent off his son-in-law … Continue reading Facial Hair Friday: Grow West, young man!
