Edith Roosevelt's China Cabinet

A white egg cup and serving dish, each with a red C.

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site | National Park Service

Edith Roosevelt’s China Cabinet
As First Lady Edith Roosevelt created the first official White House China Cabinet. She built special cabinets to hold china used by each of the previous presidents when they lived at the White House. This exhibit honors her work by showing some pieces the family used in the Summer White House –Sagamore Hill. These pieces are connected to the family’s history, day-to-day life, and Roosevelt’s presidency, both at Sagamore Hill and in Washington, DC. Each piece highlights something different.

 

Egg cup owned by the Roosevelts. The monogrammed "C" stands for Carow, Edith's maiden name.

Audry C. Tiernan

The maroon monogram “C” on this set shows that it comes from Edith Roosevelt’s family, the Carows. The family used the china set at Sagamore Hill and it includes this eggcup to hold a boiled egg. Theodore apparently enjoyed using an eggcup and wrote in a letter to his sister Anna “Bamie” in 1899:

“As regards the table, I have had two life long convictions. First, that when I wanted to eat a soft-boiled egg, I wanted to eat it out of a cup, and not to peck at it inside its shell as if I was a magpie robbing a nest.”

 

Hot Chocolate Cup and Saucer

Audrey Tiernan

This colorful hot chocolate cup and saucer comes from Theodore Roosevelt’s childhood home in Manhattan. The family inherited the set and continued to use it at Sagamore Hill.

 

A photograph of the dining room at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace.  The Roosevelt hot chocolate cups and saucers can be seen on the dining table.

The hot chocolate cups and saucers show up in this picture of the Manhattan house . Some of the other items in this picture are on display in the first room of the Old Orchard Museum.

 

Roosevelt family china set used at the White House.

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site | National Park Service

These beautiful dishes were made by Royal Crown Derby between 1877-1890 and all show a monogram of Theodore Roosevelt’s initials ‘TR’. The family used this china set in the White House, but it is not the official White House set designed by Edith for her husband’s presidency.

 

Underside of china dish with Royal Crown Derby maker's mark.

Audry Tiernan

Makers MarksThe dishes show the Royal Crown Derby maker’s mark of a crown above a monogram of interlinked D’s, painted onto the bottom of each piece.Maker’s marks help to tell the story of ceramic pieces, often showing who made the dish and some information about when they may have made it. These marks can also help show if a piece is authentic or not.

 

Coffee cup with the seal of the New York Harvard Club.

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site | National Park Service

The seal on the front of this mug shows that it came to the Roosevelt family from the New York Harvard Club. While working as New York Police Commissioner, Theodore often stayed in, away from his family at Sagamore Hill. As a Harvard alum, he regularly ate at the New York Harvard Club. Theodore Roosevelt loved coffee and had these larger mugs custom-made so that he could more easily drink as much as he wanted.