Started in 1997, Polk's America has become an excellent source of information on the period 1800-1850. This free service of the Polk Home provides the public with an interesting venue to learn about Polk's time period. Such topics as the Mexican War, expansion, reform movements, biography, politics, and material culture to name just a few, continue to educate and entertain those who attend. For more information about the program, please email us using the link below. It is a goal that the Polk Home will be able to offer video recordings of programs online in the near future.
The
2003 schedule is as follows:
Home
sponsors summer camps for 4th-6th grade students. The camp, called The
Polk Academy, lets children partake in activities that Polk would
have recognized as a young man growing up on the western frontier of Tennessee.
Activities like candlemaking, soapmaking, writing with a quill, tinsmithing,
open hearth cooking, panning for gold, and games will be featured. For
more information, please write or e-mail the Polk Home.In 2003, Polk Academy will be held on: June 2-6 (9am-2pm, cost $110), June 23-27 (9am-2pm, cost $110), July 7-11 (9am-12noon, cost $85).
James
K. Polk was not the first President to be photographed - William Henry
Harrison gets that distinction - but Polk was a highly sought after subject
for early photographers when portrait photography was really coming into
its own. The time-conscious Polk probably liked the new invention as it
did not require him to sit the many hours that portrait paintings did.
Several very important "first" photographs were taken during
Polk's presidency. This photograph of Polk and his cabinet (minus Sec.
of State James Buchanan) is not only the first photo of a President and
his cabinet, but it is also the first interior photograph of the White
House. The photograph was taken by John Plumbe in the State Dining Room
and shows new wallpaper and chairs purchased by the Polks. Reflected in
the mirror is a crystal chandelier and behind the group is an ornate Italian
mantle purchased by President James Monroe. Incidentally, the first exterior
photographs of the White House were also taken during the Polk Administration
and are housed in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Sarah Polk's Turban
Sarah
Childress Polk, a woman raised in the frontier West, worried Washington
society. Socialites were concerned that she would lack the grace, manners,
and style that a First Lady required. Instead, Washington was pleasantly
surprised. Sarah grew up amidst wealth in Tennessee and in her later years
she wrote that she was brought up wearing only silks and satins. Sarah
was also well educated for the time and she carried herself with refinement.
Pictured is a turban worn by Mrs. Polk. Indicative of her stylish mode
of dress, Mrs. Polk seems to have been influenced by Dolley Madison. The
fourth First Lady, Mrs. Madison was known for her fashion sense and her
wearing of turbans. Still alive in her seventies during the Polk Administration,
Mrs. Madison was a frequent guest at the Polk White House. Becoming a close
confidante of Dolley Madison, perhaps Sarah adopted the wearing of turbans
in honor of her illustrious White House predecessor.
Joanna Rucker Brooch
Although
they never had children of their own, James and Sarah Polk loved to be
with young people. Nieces and nephews often came calling for prolonged
visits at their home in Tennessee, and when they moved into the White House,
the trend did not change. During their four years in Washington, the Polks
were surrounded by family members. Polk's nephew Joseph Knox Walker was
employed as his private secretary. "Knox" and his family lived
in the White House and even expanded their family by having two more children
while there. Besides the Walkers, three nieces came to live in the White
House for extended periods. One, Joanna Rucker, spent nearly two years
there. Fortunately, Joanna was an avid writer, and her surviving letters
give us one of our best glimpses inside the Polk White House. The twenty-three
year old writes of the White House restoration project, meeting the famous
people of Washington, the heady days of the Mexican War, and lavish dinner
parties. This was great excitement for a young woman from Tennessee. A
favorite of her aunt and uncle, she was presented with this brooch by President
Polk. The three stones are french paste set into gold. Blue enamel inlay
adds detail to the piece. On the reverse is inscribed, "From the President
to Miss Rucker, 1845." Sadly this favorite niece of Mrs. Polk would
die while giving birth, just five years after receiving this gift.
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