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Mary Evans Seeley is a collector, historian, lecturer, author and publisher of two books about Christmas at the White House. She and her husband, Ronald, have the most extensive collection of Presidential Christmas memorabilia in the country. Parts of The Seeley Collection have been on display at the White House on two occasions and have been on exhibit at ten Presidential Libraries (Nixon, Reagan, Eisenhower, Bush, Truman, Hoover, FDR, Carter, Johnson and Lincoln). Mrs. Seeley has lectured at each of these libraries, the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach, the Fresno Metropolitan Museum in California, Festival of Trees at the Orlando Museum of Art, Florida Republican Convention, Omaha Leadership Conference, and at several luncheon meetings and teas. The author was filmed for C-span while speaking at the Richard Nixon Museum in 1996 and filmed for the Fox News Channel at the Carter Library for the program “Christmas at the White House with Laura Bush” aired in 2001. Three times she was a guest on James Dobson's radio broadcast for Focus on the Family.
Encouraged by White House Curator, Rex Scouten to write "Season's Greetings from the White House," Mrs. Seeley has visited 12 Presidential libraries and birth places, met Presidents Reagan and Bush, interviewed Laura Bush, Barbara Bush, Nancy Reagan, Rosalyn Carter, and Betty Ford, received communications from Lady Bird Johnson, the Clinton White House and the First Ladies Office of MelaniaTrump White House, and talked with First Family children, including John Coolidge.
Mary Seeley has interviewed the artists and photographers whose works grace the Christmas cards and gifts of the presidents. Both Hallmark and American Greetings cooperated in supplying the behind-the-scenes details of producing these over the years. The copious research so evident through the book's pages came naturally to Mrs. Seeley, who holds an M.A. degree in American History from the University of Nebraska.
The book, "Season's Greetings from the White House" is now in its eighth edition. It tells the stories of Christmas at the White House from Calvin Coolidge through Donald J. Trump, documenting nearly a century of presidential Christmases.
An entrepreneur, Mrs. Seeley is President of A Presidential Christmas Corporation. Mary has created a collection of patriotic and presidential ornaments, hand painted in the USA, Poland, Austria and China. For an ever increasing number of clients, she has developed custom ornaments to meet individual needs. Included in this endeavor were Vice President and Mrs. Cheney, the RNC, The Old Courthouse in St. Louis, the Broadmoor Hotel, Sons of the Confederacy, the Sophienburg Museum, Mount Vernon, Samford University, Valley Forge, Governor and Mrs Haslem (TN), Sticks Furniture, the Library of Congress, and the Bible Museum (DC) to name a few. In 2008, she was asked to submit a prototype ornament for Laura Bush.
To complement her books, Mary Evans Seeley has created an annual line of White House Holidays brass-like ornaments Made in the United States by ChemArt. In 2016 the ornament featured the commissioned art of the White House as seen from the South Lawn on the cover of the book by Thomas William Jones. In 2017 in honor of the anniversary of President John F .Kennedy's 100th birthday, the ornament featured the Creche in the East Room, chosen by the Kennedy's to grace their 1963 Christmas card in which 30 were "signed but never sent" after their tragedy in Dallas. In 2018, the White House Holidays ornament features the Red Room, one of three State Rooms in the White House, chosen by four Presidents to adorn their Christmas cards and gifts: 1962 John and Jacqueline Kennedy, 1982 Ronald and Nancy Reagan, 1994 Bill and Hillary Clinton and 2004 George W. and Laura Bush.
Her exclusive product, the Great Seal of the United States Accent Rug appears in American Embassies, Congressional and business offices and private homes as well as political conventions and retail settings. The rug has adorned the sets of television shows, such as Corey and The White House, the Ellen Show, and the Beth Moore Bible Study series.
As a retailer Mrs. Seeley has participated in political conventions, Inaugural marketplaces, various Jr. League Shows, the Houston Nutcracker Market and managed a successful internet store, www.whitehousechristmas.com, before launching a second website with collectibles spanning more holidays, www.whitehouseholidays.com.
As a wholesaler, she has marketed products in a showroom at Atlanta's AmericasMart and a booth at the New York Gift Fair. In the past, she has participated in gift markets in Dallas, Chicago, Washington DC and Los Angeles For three years, her books, rug, presidential gift prints and handmade ornaments were featured in Frontgate's Holiday catalog and website. She has participated in Disney's “Holidays Around the World” signing books and sharing anecdotes with tourists.
Mary Seeley is the wife of Ronald Seeley, an Ophthalmologist in Tampa, FL. They have four children and ten grandchildren.
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