Caroline Harrison First Spouse Gold Coin First Lady, 1889—1892

First Lady, 1889—1892

Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison was born October 1, 1832, in Oxford, Ohio. She enjoyed painting for recreation, including china painting, which became one of her passions when she taught ceramic painting at her church. Along with her German teacher, Paul Putzki, she taught china painting classes. The classes were made up of Washington wives and daughters. She painted a “White House Orchid” with water colors and dedicated it to “mothers, wives, and daughters of America.” She decorated White House candlesticks, milk sets, platters and other pieces, as well as those owned by women in Washington wanting a White House memento. Her signature was a tiny four-leaf clover.

As first lady, Caroline Harrison began the effort to organize pieces of past Presidential china still in the White House into a systematic collection for later display. She uncovered, identified and tagged china, grouping pieces together for eventual public display. She had a china cabinet made to display all past Presidential china she found.