Campbell Kids » Campbell House Goes to the Dogs

James’ young collies in Cambridge, MA. The solid brown one on the right is named Guy.

This Friday is Bring Your Dog to Work Day, and although we don’t want our staff’s pooches traipsing through the rose garden, tracking mud through the house and drooling on guests that come to the door, dogs have a long history at Campbell House.

The Campbells loved their dogs, particularly the youngest adult son James. He immortalized them not only in his Jules Lefebvre (pronounced “luh-FEV-ruh”) portrait that hangs in the Library, but he also had pictures taken of them. Lots of pictures. After graduating from Yale University, James attended Harvard from 1886 through 1888 for law school. The picture to the right captured his beloved pair of collies in the driveway of his Cambridge home. (Awwww…)

After he graduated from Harvard, James and his brothers Hugh and Hazlett took an extended trip to Europe. Of course, the pups went along for the ride:

Pups on the balcony in Geneva…..

…standing guard at the doorway to the Hotel Conradi in Italy, and…

…sitting nicely for the camera in an unknown European location.

The Campbells weren’t the only folks in history who were wild about their pooches. A black Newfoundland accompanied Lewis and Clark on their trek west. Captain Meriwether Lewis bought Seaman the pup for $20 in Pittsburgh before the expedition in 1803 while he was waiting for the boats to be completed.

The 1400-pound sculpture of Seaman that sits at Seaman’s Overlook in Washburn, North Dakota. (Seaman is also featured in a statue of Lewis & Clark in St. Louis next to the Eads Bridge!)

Robert’s friend Ulysses S. Grant also owned a Newfoundland named Faithful, and she lived in the White House while Grant was president! (Since the Grant and Campbell families were close friends, the Campbells surely spent some time with Faithful.)

President John F. Kennedy owned several dogs (Charlie, Pushinka, Clipper, Shannon, Wolf, White Tips, Blackie and Streaker), and he was the first president to request that his four-legged friends be allowed to greet him on the lawn when he arrived at the White House in the presidential helicopter.

Do you have a special furry canine friend at home? Grab your pencil, paper, markers and paint and make your very own portrait! After you’re done and show your family, email a picture of it to shelley [at] campbellhousemuseum [dot] org, and we’ll post the submissions on our blog! And you never know….we may decide to bring Harvey and Violet to work next year.