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 Home > News & Policies > June 2002

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 28, 2002

Appointments
President Bush to Appoint Eleven Individuals to Serve as Members of the Committee for the Preservation of the White House

President George W. Bush today announced his intention to appoint eleven individuals to serve as Members of the Committee for the Preservation of the White House.

The Committee for the Preservation of the White House, created by Executive Order in 1964, establishes policies relating to the museum function of the White House, its state rooms and collections. The Committee makes recommendations on acquisitions for the permanent collection of the White House and provides advice on changes to principal rooms on the state and ground floors of the Executive Residence.

The Executive Order states that the Curator of the White House, Chief Usher of the White House, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, Chairman of the Commission on Fine Arts, and Director of the National Gallery of Art serve as Ex-Officio members of the Committee. The Director of the National Park Service serves as Chair of the Committee, and the First Lady serves as the Honorary Chair of the Committee.

Leonore Annenberg of Pennsylvania, President of the Annenberg Foundation, has spent most of her life working toward the enhancement of cultural appreciation. Mrs. Annenberg served as Chief of Protocol under President Ronald Reagan. She has served on the Committee for the Preservation of the White House since 1993.

Kenneth Blasingame of Texas is President of Blasingame Design. Mr. Blasingame is a residential designer and artist. He also serves as decorator and advisor to the First Lady.

Helen Cooper of Connecticut is the Holcombe Green Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture at the Yale University Art Gallery, where she has served since 1975.

Wendy Cooper of Delaware is the McNeil Senior Curator of Furniture at the Winterthur Museum, Library, and Garden. She previously served as Curator of Decorative Arts at the Baltimore Museum of Art. She has served as a Member of the Committee for the Preservation of the White House since 1989.

Lonnie Bunch of Illinois is President of the Chicago Historical Society. He served at the Smithsonian Institute for more than 10 years and in his final year co-curated the exhibit, The American Presidency.

William Kloss of the District of Columbia is a writer, curator, lecturer and art historian. He previously served as Assistant Professor of the University of Virginia, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. He was Co-founder and Director of Tours for Washington Art Associates. He has served as a member of the Committee on the Preservation of the White House since 1990.

S. Roger Horchow of Texas is Chairman of Roger Horchow Productions. Horchow was founder of the Horchow Collection, which was sold to Neiman Marcus in 1988. He is Co-Producer of the three-time Tony Award Winning Musical "Crazy for You" and five-time Tony Award Winning Musical "Kiss Me Kate." He previously served as Vice President of the White House Endowment Fund and is a former board member of the White House Historical Association.

Elizabeth Gerschel of New York specializes in historic home restoration. She is a member of the East Hampton Historical Society, the Friends of the Collection at Mount Vernon, the Historic House Trust of New York City, and the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in Decorative Arts, Design and Culture Executive Planning Committee.

Leslie Neuhoff of Delaware is Director and CEO of the Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library. She previously served as the Executive Director of the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She has served on the Committee for Preservation of the White House since 1993.

Richard Nylander of New Hampshire has served as Chief Curator and Director of Collections at the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities since 1967. He has served on the Committee for the Preservation of the White House since 1990.

John Wilmerding of New Jersey has served as the Safrofim Professor of American Art at Princeton University since 1988. He is also Visiting Curator of the Department of American Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Prior to 1988, he served as Curator of American Art and Senior Curator at the National Gallery of Art. He has served on the Committee for the Preservation of the White House since 1989.

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