This episode discusses the first First Lady of the United States: Martha Washington. We look at her childhood in colonial Virginia, her participation in the Revolutionary War, and how she shaped the office of the First Lady in the early days of the Republic.

Shownotes:

Thanks to the London Library for use of their resources in researching this podcast.

American National Biography Database- Martha Washington Entry By Samuel Willard Crompton

John Parke Custis and Billy J. Harbin ‘Letters from John Parke Custis to George and Martha Washington, 1778-1781’ The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 43, No. 2, (April, 1986) pp. 267-293

Harold Donaldson Eberlein, ‘Martha Washington’s Gardens’ Art and Life, Vol. 11, No. 1 (Jul 1919) p. 14-20

George Washington, Martha Washington, John Adams, Abigail Adams, Thomas Jefferson, M. Randolph, James Madison Jr. and Dolly P. Madison, ‘Letters of presidents of the United States and “Ladies of the White House” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 25, No. 3, (1901) pp. 355-365

Shawn. J Parry-Giles and Diane M. Blair, ‘The Rise of the Rhetorical First Lady: Politics, Gender Ideology and Women’s Voice, 1789-2002’ Rhetoric and Public Affairs, Vol.5, No. 4, (Winter 2002) pp. 565-599

Benson J. Lossing, Martha Washington, J.C. Buttre, New York, 1864 

https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/martha-washington/ten-facts-about-martha-washington/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/first-ladies/martha-dandridge-custis-washington/

Robert P. Watson, ‘Remembering Martha’ OAH Magazine of History, Vol. 14, No. 2, The Early Republic (Winter 2000) pp. 54-56 

Anne Hollingsworth Wharton, Martha Washington, London, John Murray, 1897 

 Helen Bryan, Martha Washington, First Lady of Liberty, (John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 2002) 

Flora Fraser, George and Martha Washington, A Revolutionary Marriage, (Bloomsbury, London, 2015)