Designing Camelot:: The Kennedy White House Restoration

Firsthand accounts and photographs chronicle the restoration of the White House during the Kennedy Administration.Designing Camelot recounts one of the most influential interior design projects in American history, the restoration of the White House during the Kennedy administration. Fueled by the intense fascination with the charismatic First Family, the project had a profound effect on the popular American imagination and taste in interior furnishings. Emphasizing the historic restoration of each room and the efforts to have these rooms reflect the personalities and tastes of Jack and Jackie, Designing Camelot features a wealth of first-person quotations, personal and public correspondence, media accounts, and photographs. Included are detailed room-by-room analyses of the restoration, anecdotes about the people involved, and insights into the choices made.James Abbot (Baltimore, MD) is currently Curator of Decorative Arts at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Elaine Rice (Wilmington, DE) is an independent consultant on American fine and decorative arts.

Table of Contents:
The Kennedy Style. Restoration: Idea and Organization. Maison Blanche. The State Dining Room. The East Room. The Red Room. The Green Room. The Blue Room. The Ground Floor. Halls. The Private Dining Rooms. The Yellow Oval Room. Guest Rooms. The Victorian Taste. The Private Rooms. The President's Office and Cabinet Room. Epilogue: The Legacy. Appendix. Endnotes. Bibliography. Index.

About the Author :
About the Authors James A. Abbott is considered the expert on the Kennedy restoration of the White House. He was curator and author of the exhibition and catalogue, A Frenchman in Camelot: The Decoration of the Kennedy White House by Stephane Boudin, on the subject. He received his B.A. in American History from Vassar College, and his M.A. in Museum Studies from the Fashion Institute of Technology. He is currently Curator of Decorative Arts at The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland. Elaine M. Rice received her master's degree from the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture at the University of Delaware. Her master's thesis was the first critical examination of Henry du Pont's role in the Kennedy White House. With James Abbott she is the co-author of the exhibition and catalogue, A Frenchman in Camelot: The Decoration of the Kennedy White House by Stephane Boudin. She received her B.A. in Art History from Indiana University. From 1992-1997 she was the curator of Artistic Property at the Maryland State Archives. She is currently an independent consultant on American fine and decorative arts living in Wilmington, Delware.