Treasure troves

Google has recently released their Museum View of the White House as part of their Google Art Project. It’s pretty cool and, altho it’s not exactly an all-access pass, the nature of wheeling a set of cameras thru the building shows some interesting views that we don’t normally ever see.

They’ve also documented a fair number of art works in the White House, ranging from paintings to furniture to swords. They even categorize them by location, which is interesting, altho it seems hard to maintain, since art and furniture get moved around quite a bit.

Also the Gerald Ford Library has posted a big collection of images in, as one would guess about such matters, the least convenient format available to humans. They are PDFs that contain lists of links with no thumbnails to high-resolution* scans of crude contact prints of rolls of slide film, organized by day, complete with grease pencil circles obscuring the best shots.

* High enough resolution that they take forever to load but not enough to be useful to me, since each frame ends up being only about 280 pixels across. *sigh*

 

Thanks to Mike B and Jason B!

So long, Betty Ford

CNN is reporting that Betty Ford has died at the age of 93. Gerald Ford died in June 2009 December 2006, also at 93. Outspoken about women’s rights and breast cancer awareness, she was also inspirational for her personal struggle against substance abuse, which left a legacy in the form of the Betty Ford Center. Best wishes to the Ford family.

Ford Museum roadtrip

I managed to drive up to Grand Rapids, Michigan yesterday to visit the Ford Presidential Museum. I’m still processing the photos, including some I shot in 3D (you won’t need glasses).

UPDATE: Pete’s floor plans look great and are a terrific addition to the White House in Miniature exhibit; they provide some context that is a little lacking. Find the photo gallery here.

Pete goes to a presidential museum

I’m very pleased to announce that Peter Sharkey is:

…very excited and honored to announce that my work will be on display from February 9th to May 24th, 2009 at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.

Check the pics and details one Wingnut’s Workings! Weather permitting, I will make a hasty trip up there on Friday. Pete, I’m mortified that I haven’t been checking Wingnut’s Workings every day! (In my defense, I’ve been busy shortening Hamlet).

Speaking of which, check out the recreation of the Cabinet Room rug!

Zweifel White House opens in Ford Library

The Zweifel White House in Miniature exhibit just opened at the Gerald Ford Library and Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

January 20 through May 24, 2009
GRAND RAPIDS — The White House in Miniature exhibit will be back at the Gerald R. Ford Museum.  Americans will now have the chance to get an insiders tour of “The Presidents’ House” without the hassles of traveling to the nation’s capital. That is why John and Jan Zweifel have labored since 1962 to create The White House in Miniature, a breathtaking scale model of the White House that is 60 feet long and 20 feet wide. The replica took more than 35 years to research, design and construct.

Among the features are tiny, working televisions, hand-carved chairs and tables, crystal chandeliers, portraits and miniature carpets that reproduce the originals stitch by stitch- each nuance of the White House is painstakingly reproduced to capture the elegance of one of the world’s most recognized residences.

If it took me 35 years to do something, I wouldn’t be bragging about it. Then again, working miniature televisions? Whoa.

I live 2.5 hours away from this, so if the weather is good in the next couple of weeks, I’ll probably find some time to visit.

Ford home

Seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms, and, presumably, a view of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant… own your own home of former President Gerald Ford.

Ford auction

Jack M passed along the details of the Guernsey’s Gerald R Ford auction being held this weekend. The catalog (PDF) consists of 45 pages of items from the Ford home in Beaver Creek, Colorado, including engraved gives from Lucille Ball, golf memorabilia, and several elephant collectibles.

Thanks, Jack!

Guernsey’s is also separately selling a genuine JFK rocking chair.

Happy oldest day to Jerry Ford

On Sunday, President Ford became the oldest living person to have been president of the United States: 93 years and 121 days. Ford’s impact on the White House was mainly the installation of an outdoor swimming pool and redecorating the Oval Office with decor that lasted thru Carter and into Reagan’s second term.

A Navy man and a football player in his youth, the president was fit and competitive thru his White House years; his motto was simply “WIN.” Surviving two assassination attempts while president and a devastating wolf attack that many thought would prove fatal, Ford moved to Springfield, USA, across the street from Homer Simpson in the former Bush residence.

Before and after his White House years, he was, by all accounts, an admirable and decent man. Best wishes, Mr. President.