United States House of Representatives: History, Art, & Archives
Search the website

Blog Search

Reset filters

People & Places

Institution & Events

Primary Sources

Special Topics

Authors

Publication Date Range

to
Reset filters

“The House of Representatives, in some respects, I think, is the most peculiar assemblage in the world,” Speaker Joe Cannon of Illinois once observed. Behind the legislation and procedure, House Members and staff have produced their own institutional history and heritage. Our blog, Whereas: Stories from the People’s House, tells their stories.

Learn More >

Displaying 85–96 of 389 results

Sort: Date Descending Date Ascending Title Most Recommended

Congressional Eagles

by Archives on November 19, 2018
Edith Nourse Rogers
In the early 1920s, one Member of Congress flipped and looped over the Capitol in a biplane. But after famous pilot Charles Lindbergh took Representatives up for a ride in 1928, aviation soared in the Washington imagination.
More >
Categories: Members of Congress, Photographs

Veteran-Artists in the House Collection—Part II

by Art on November 9, 2018
Fort Snelling, Minnesota
For our second blog post highlighting military veteran-artists in the House Collection of Art and Artifacts, we look back to the 19th century, at the careers of two Civil War soldiers.
More >
Categories: Capitol Campus, Committees, Art, War

“Planting Laws and Institutions”: The Election of Representative John Quincy Adams

by History on November 5, 2018
On November 6, 1830, former United States President John Quincy Adams spent the day at his family’s farm near Quincy, Massachusetts, planting trees. On the edge of what would become the orchard, he laid out five rows of chestnuts, oaks, and shagbark hickories. The final, casual line in Adams’s diary that day: “I am a member elect of the twenty-second Congress.”
More >
Categories: Members of Congress, Presidents, Elections

Post It

by Art on October 30, 2018
Clarence MacGregor Campaign Poster
The modern congressional campaign poster is a familiar sight, but it is nothing like the ones plastered all over town a century ago.
More >
Categories: Elections, Artifacts

House-Brewed Home Brew

by Archives on October 24, 2018
John Philip Hill and Guests at the Franklin Farms Party
Representative John Philip Hill tried very hard to get arrested by the Commissioner of Prohibition.
More >
Categories: Members of Congress, Legislation, Photographs

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

by History on September 25, 2018
In the summer of 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed into law an act that expanded Hispanic Heritage Week, first created by Congress in 1968, into Hispanic Heritage Month. Sponsored by California Representative Esteban Torres and Illinois Senator Paul Simon, the new law created an annual month-long celebration of Hispanic-American culture and history.
More >
Categories: Members of Congress, Women & Minorities on the Hill

Slam Dunk: Doughnuts and the House

by Archives on September 17, 2018
Dunking a Doughnut into Coffee
Doughnuts have long been a favorite Washington breakfast. Crullers cooked up debate both on and off the House Floor.
More >
Categories: Members of Congress, Photographs

Reporting Live from the House Chamber

by Art on September 10, 2018
Press Gallery Pass
Reporters have covered the House from its earliest days, providing a vital link between the people and their Representatives.
More >
Categories: House Chamber, Practice & Customs, Artifacts

Edition for Educators—Presidency and the House

by History on September 6, 2018
This Edition for Educators highlights the Presidency and its complicated relationship with the House of Representatives.
More >
Categories: Presidents, Edition for Educators

We’ve Re-launched Our Blog

by History on August 27, 2018
When we launched our blog in late 2012, a new world of storytelling opened. For the last six years, the historians, curators, and archivists at the U.S. House of Representatives have discovered and documented an eclectic mix of people, events, records, and artifacts that have helped reveal how the House has evolved over the last 229 years. This summer, after having published nearly 300 entries to our blog since 2012, we’ve given it an overhaul.
More >
Categories: Announcements

The Cowboy of Congress

by Archives on August 16, 2018
Percy Gassaway
The Congressman stuck both index fingers down into his cowboy boot and yanked it up under his pant leg, getting ready for another day at the office.
More >
Categories: Members of Congress, Photographs

"The Battle of the Portraits"

by Art on July 18, 2018
Newspapers called it “the battle of the portraits.” As many as 16 artists entered the fray of the late Speaker Henry Rainey’s official portrait commission, a tradition in the House of Representatives.
More >
Categories: Members of Congress, Speakers of the House, Committees, Art
Office of the Historian: history@mail.house.gov
Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk: art@mail.house.gov, archives@mail.house.gov