Ida M. Allen

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"Ida M. Allen," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/781.

Position: Cook
Years in President's House: 1933 – circa 1940
Legal Status: Free Person
Gender: Female
Race/Ethnicity: Black or African American
Presidency: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Biography: Ida M. Allen was born in Pennsylvania around 1905. (1) Allen cooked for Franklin D. Roosevelt at the Governor’s Mansion in Albany, New York, and joined the White House staff just after President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Inauguration in March 1933. (2) Allen lived at the White House and served as head cook; she reported to Housekeeper Henrietta Nesbitta and was assisted by Second Cook Elizabeth Moore (who had also worked at the Governor’s Mansion), Third Cook Catherine Smith, and Elizabeth Blake. Her responsibilities included selecting White House menus with Mrs. Nesbitt, preparing meals for the first family and their guests, and cooking for the White House domestic staff. (3)
In her memoir, Nesbitt recalled: “Ida was temperamental, but she could rise to an emergency better than anyone I ever knew...” She also noted: “A good cook must be a first-class executive, and Ida was a born leader.” (4) In 1935, the kitchens underwent a massive renovation project that modernized the space with “electric appliances includ[ing] a 16 foot long stove, six roasting ovens, warming ovens, eight refrigerators, new dumbwaiters, a meat grinder, all sorts of mixers, five dishwashers, waffle irons, a soup kettle, a 30 gallon ice cream storage box, and a deep fry pan that could hold 5 gallons of fat.” (5) One can imagine the impact such a renovation would have had on Ida Allen’s role. Allen appears to have left the White House in December 1940. (6) Further information about her life is limited.
: (1) Ida M Allen in the 1940 United States Federal Census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia; Roll: m-t0627-00555; Page: 61A; Enumeration District: 1-74, Ancestry.com.
(2) "Negro Employees at the White House Executive Office, and White House Garage as of March 31, 1933," White House Office Personnel, 1933-1935; Records of the White House Office of Budget and Accounting, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York; Victoria Henrietta Kugler Nesbitt, White House Diary (New York: Doubleday, 1949), 78; “Roosevelt Selects White House Staff,” The Oregon Daily Journal (Portland, Oregon), December 25, 1932, pg. 1.
(3) “Remodel Kitchen of White House, Routine is Upset,” The Springfield News-Leader (Springfield, Missouri), July 29, 1935, pg. 3; Winifred Mallon, “The White House Table,” New York Times, December 29, 1935, https://www.nytimes.com/1935/12/29/archives/the-white-house-table-in-the-new-kitchen-shining-and-electrical.html; Victoria Henrietta Kugler Nesbitt, White House Diary (New York: Doubleday, 1949), 78; Ida M Allen in the 1940 United States Federal Census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia; Roll: m-t0627-00555; Page: 61A; Enumeration District: 1-74, Ancestry.com; “Christmas Kitchen” Muskogee Times-Democrat (Muskogee, OK), December 26, 1935, pg. 3; “Mrs. Roosevelt Picked Her Own White House Servants,” The Afro-American (Baltimore, Maryland), September 13, 1933, pg. 17.
(4) Victoria Henrietta Kugler Nesbitt, White House Diary (New York: Doubleday, 1949), 78, 118.
(5) Lydia Barker Tederick, “A Look at the White House Kitchens,” White House History 20 (Spring 2007), pg. 16; “Remodel Kitchen of White House, Routine is Upset,” The Springfield News-Leader (Springfield, Missouri), July 29, 1935, pg. 3; Winifred Mallon, “The White House Table,” New York Times, December 29, 1935, https://www.nytimes.com/1935/12/29/archives/the-white-house-table-in-the-new-kitchen-shining-and-electrical.html
(6) Lydia Barker Tederick, “A Look at the White House Kitchens,” White House History 20 (Spring 2007), pg. 16; “Colored Regular Employees of the White House Christmas, 1940," Folder: Christmas Subject File, Grace Tully Papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York.
Birthplace: Pennsylvania, USA

Related Workers: Elizabeth Blake
Kitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, circa 1931 – 1946; Victoria D. H. Nesbitt
Housekeeping and Laundry, 1933 – 1946; Elizabeth Moore
Kitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, 1933 – circa 1946; Catherine Smith
Kitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, circa 1935