“I arrived at the White House Thanksgiving morning”

Ellen Riley as Rebecca Raccoon: possibly 1926.

This is a humorous story written by White House housekeeper Ellen Riley detailing the arrival of Rebecca Raccoon. Riley writes from the raccoon’s perspective. Rebecca had been sent from Mississippi to serve as part of the White House Thanksgiving dinner, but the Coolidge family decided to keep her as a pet instead. Riley describes Rebecca’s various antics, whereby she won the hearts of the first family and staff alike, even that of the “solemn-looking man”— Rebecca’s title for Coolidge.