Leadership and Legacy: Conversations at the George Washington Presidential Library

If you pull any decent history book off your shelf right now, odds are that it’s filled with quotes from letters, diaries, or account books that help the author tell her story and provide the evidence for her interpretation of the past. It’s almost always the case that the quotation you read in a book is just one snippet of a much longer document. Perhaps, for example, Catharine Greene’s letters to her husband Nathanael offer the reader insight into some aspect of the family business she was running while Nathanael served in the southern theater of the War of Independence. But what about the rest of the document? What about the quiet moments when someone like Martha Washington asks after a family member, describes the state of their own health, or apologizes for a hurried scrawl, the result of the writer trying to catch the next post? And as valuable as collections like George Washington’s papers are, how can we write more nuanced and complete histories of the American past by reading letters by early American women? On today’s show, we welcome Kathryn Gehred, who is tackling that question by exploring the lives of early American women, one letter at a time. Gehred is a Research Editor at The Washington Papers Project based at the University of Virginia, where she is also on the team at the Center for Digital Editing, which is publishing documentary editions of historical manuscript collections online. Gehred is also the host of the new podcast, Your Most Obedient & Humble Servant. On each episode, Gehred and her guests break down a letter written by early American women and put it in context to show what is often obscured by the so-called juicier quotes you might find in your favorite book. Gehred joins Jim Ambuske today to talk about her podcast, how her training as an early American women’s historian, Monticello tour guide, and documentary editor informs her approach to it, and some of the exciting letters she’s discussed so far. And as a special treat, stick around after the credits role for a preview of Your Most Obedient & Humble Servant featuring Gehred’s conversation with our colleague Samantha Snyder about a letter from Elizabeth Willing Powel to George Washington. About our Guest: Kathryn Gehred is a Research Editor at The Washington Papers Project at the University of Virginia. She is also on the staff of the Center for Digital Editing. A historian of early American women, Gehred is the host of the podcast Your Most Obedient & Humble Servant, a women’s history podcast which showcases the kinds of eighteenth and early nineteenth-century women’s letters that don’t always make it into the history books.

On September 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key began composing "The Star-Spangled Banner after witnessing the British attack on Fort McHenry. Of all the things he could have done after seeing that flag, why did Key write a song?  And how did his new composition fit into a much longer history of music as a form of political persuasion in the Early Republic? On today’s episode, Dr. Billy Coleman joins us explore the power of music in the early United States, and how Federalists in particular used it as a kind of weapon to advance their vision of a harmonious nation led by elites. He also helps us understand why music as a form of historical evidence is a remarkable way to get inside the heads, and the hearts, of people from ages past. Coleman is the Kinder Institute Postdoctoral Fellow in Political History at the University of Missouri. He is the author of Harnessing Harmony: Music, Power, and Politics in the United States, 1788-1865, (UNC Press, 2020). Coleman and his collaborator, the music producer Running Notch, have also created a soundtrack for the book, featuring modern interpretations of some of the most important political songs of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.nFind the soundtrack here or search for “Harnessing Harmony” on Spotify. You’ll hear clips from a couple of these tunes over the course of today’s program, but make sure you stick around after the credits roll for an exclusive opportunity to hear the complete versions of "Hail, Columbia" and "Jefferson and Liberty," which appear “ courtesy of Running Notch from the “Book Soundtrack” to Billy Coleman’s Harnessing Harmony: Music, Power, and Politics in the United States, 1788–1865 (UNC Press). About Our Guest:  Billy Coleman, Ph.D. is the Kinder Institute Postdoctoral Fellow in Political History at the University of Missouri. His research articles also appear in the Journal of Southern History and the Journal of the Early Republic. His new project, “Making Music National in a Settler State,” is exploring the transnational origins of national music in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Dr. Coleman is currently the North American-based Book Reviews Editor for the peer-reviewed journal, American Nineteenth Century History. 

In 1784, King Charles III of Spain sent George Washington a token of his esteem. Knowing that Washington had long sought a Spanish donkey for his Mount Vernon estate, the king permitted a jack to be exported to the new United States. Washington named the donkey Royal Gift in recognition of its royal origin, and the donkey became somewhat of a minor celebrity when he disembarked from his ship in 1785. As it turns out, Spanish jacks like Royal Gift were highly prized animals in the Atlantic world. And in this case the Spanish, who had supported the United States during the American Revolution, saw an opportunity to use a donkey as a way to shore up diplomatic relations with the new republic and protect their interests in North America. On today’s show, Professor José Emilio Yanes joins Jim Ambuske to discuss his new book, El Regalo de Carlos III A George Washington: El periplo de Royal Gift. Yanes is a veterinarian and Associate Professor at the University of Salamanca in Spain. As the title of his work suggests, it is a Spanish language book, one that makes use of manuscripts in Spanish archives to flesh out Royal Gift’s story. We spoke last fall with the help of his friend and collaborator, Allan Winn, Jr., who it so happens is a native of Alexandria, Virginia who has lived in Spain for many years now and runs Allan School of English in Zamora. If Spanish happens to be your mother tongue, or if you are like me and you are desperately trying to get better at it, please check out the Spanish-language version of this episode, which will appear in your podcast feed. Before we get started, we ask that you do us a quick favor. If you like the show, please drop us a review through your favorite podcast app. We’d really appreciate. And be sure to check out our new website for the show, which we think will make it easier for you to find your favorite episodes. You can find us at www.georgewashingtonpodcast.com. About Our Guests: José Emilio Yanes Garcia is Superior Polytechnic School of Zamora and Associate Professor at the University of Salamanca (Spain). He is the author of El Regalo de Carlos III A George Washington: El periplo de Royal Gift (2019). Allan R. Winn, Jr. is a native of Alexandria, Virginia who now resides in Zomora, Spain. He is the proprietor of Allan School of English. Winn assisted Yanes with translation work in El Regalo de Carlos III A George Washington and provided translation for this episode.

The American Revolution dismembered a protestant empire. In the years during and after the war, states disestablished their churches, old and new denominations flourished, and Americans enshrined religious freedom into their state and federal constitutions. But claiming religious freedom in a democracy was not the same as enjoying it. In the republic’s early years, Joseph Smith, who founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his Mormon brethren learned all too well the difference between ideal and reality. In Missouri and elsewhere, Smith and his fellow Mormons faced persecution for their beliefs, yet had faith that American democracy would help right these wrongs. But as it became clear that state and federal officials would not intervene, Smith arrived at a bold conclusion--he would run for president in 1844 on one of the most radical platforms in American history. On today’s show, Dr. Spencer W. McBride joins Jim Ambuske to talk about Smith, Mormonism, and the politics of religion in the early republic. McBride is the author of the new book Joseph Smith for President: The Prophet, the Assassins, and the Fight for American Religious Freedom, published by Oxford University Press in 2021. About Our Guest: Spencer W. McBride, Ph.D., is an Associate Managing Historian of the Joseph Smith Papers Project and the author of Pulpit and Nation: Clergymen and the Politics of Revolutionary America. He has written about the evolving role of religion in American politics for the Washington Post and the Deseret News. He is also the creator and host of The First Vision: A Joseph Smith Papers Podcast.

In the eighteenth century, death stalked early Americans like a predator hunting its prey. In Virginia, as in other colonies, death made children orphans and wives widows, making a precarious existence all that much more challenging. For the Virginia elite, death also created opportunities for widows and widowers alike to protect their interests, their property, and their social standing through advantageous re-marriages. But the predator’s teeth never dulled, and when it took another life some Virginians like Mary Washington turned to devotional texts for comfort and for the strength to press onward. Historians have not looked favorably on George Washington’s mother over the past few decades, finding her to be difficult, stubborn, and often a drag on her more famous son. Yet as today’s guest tells us, those observations take their cue from George himself, and ignore the full shape of her life, one in which death was a constant companion. Dr. Martha Saxton joins Jim Ambuske today to discuss her new book, The Widow Washington: The Life of Mary Washington. Dr. Saxton is Professor of History, Women’s, and Gender Studies emerita at Amherst College. And as you’ll hear, books like Matthew Hale’s Contemplations, Moral and Divine offered Mary solace in a world in which death was very much a part of life. About our Guest: Martha Saxton, Ph.D., is Professor of History, Women’s, and Gender Studies emerita at Amherst College. She is the author of Being Good: Women's Moral Values in Early America, (Hill and Wang, 2003), and The Widow Washington: The Life of Mary Washington (Hill and Wang, 2019).

If you’ve taken part in a part in a protest recently, perhaps you carried a sign, waved a flag, or worn a special hat. But if you had grievances in the American Revolution or early Republic, you might have helped raise a Liberty Pole. Now, you may ask yourself, what good is a large wooden pole gonna do about my high taxes? And you may ask yourself, do I really want to lift this heavy thing? Turns out, as the days went by in the late eighteenth century, many Americans thought Liberty Poles were the perfect way to signal their collective displeasure and rally their countrymen against some perceived wrong. And what one group could put up, another could most assuredly pull down. On today’s episode, we’ll hear from Dr. Shira Lurie, an expert on these strange objects and the meaning they held for Americans in the founding generation. Americans used Liberty Poles to argue over a citizen’s role in a republic. And what was a symbol of liberty to some, was an icon of tyranny to others. Lurie is an Assistant Professor of History at St. Mary’s University in Nova Scotia. She’s the author an article recently published in the Journal of the Early American Republic entitled, “Liberty Poles and the Fight for Popular Politics in the Early Republic.” Besides Liberty Poles, Lurie tells us how she tries to reach many different audiences as a historian, and what it’s like to teach American history in both Canada and the United States. About our Guest: Shira Lurie, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of History at St. Mary's University. She is a political historian of the early United States with particular interests in popular politics, protest, and political violence. Her current book project explores liberty poles and debates over dissent in the early republic. She also thinks, teaches, and writes about historical memory in public space and popular culture.

Plymouth Plantation occupies a powerful place in American national memory. Think of the First Thanksgiving in 1621; Englishmen escaping religious persecution; the rock marking the alleged spot where settlers first landed; and of course the Mayflower Compact. In the wake of the American Revolution, citizens of the new nation looked to the Compact for the origins of American Democracy. In Plymouth’s history, many Americans saw the history of the United States itself. But Plymouth has become shrouded in memory. We often see it as an isolated outpost of religious dissenters who made a pilgrimage into the American wilderness, when in reality it was so much more. On today’s episode, Dr. Carla Gardina Pestana takes us back to those distant, frigid shores for a new look at an old place. She is the author of The World of Plymouth Plantation, published by Belknap Press in 2002, and as you’ll hear, Plymouth was a much bigger world than you might imagine. About Our Guest: Carla Gardina Pestana, Ph.D. is Professor and Joyce Appleby Endowed Chair of America in the World at the University of California, Los Angeles. The author of numerous books and articles, Pestana studies the 17th and 18th century Atlantic worlds, especially the English Atlantic; the Caribbean; and U.S. religious history.

Maryland wasn’t so merry for some Americans during the Revolutionary War, especially if you happened to side with the king. Professing fealty to the Crown, for whatever reason or motivation, cost many Maryland colonists their property, and sometimes their lives. But for other Maryland Loyalists, like enslaved people, loyalism was an opportunity to achieve a different kind of American independence, or to turn ideas about class and patriarchy on their heads. Last week we, began our two-part look at loyalism in the Chesapeake. We began in Virginia and the potential for a digital project now in its early stages to radically complicate our understanding of loyalty in the Old Dominion. On today’s episode, we turn north and head to Maryland, to feast on crab cakes, and sink our teeth into The Maryland Loyalism Project. Created by Dr. Kyle Roberts of the American Philosophical Society and Dr. Benjamin Bankhurst of Shepherd University, the Maryland Loyalism Project is a digital archive that brings together the stories of Maryland women and men who remained loyal to the Crown during the American Revolution. More than just home to digitized copies of Loyalist Claims, the project is a research and teaching tool about the diversity of the Maryland Loyalist experience. And to help illustrate its potential, today you’ll also hear from some of Roberts and Bankhurt’s students about what they found digging in these records, and what they make of them. About Our Guests: Kyle Roberts, Ph.D., is Associate Director of Library & Museum Programming of the American Philosophical Society Library & Museum. He is co-director of the Maryland Loyalism Project. Benjamin Bankhurst, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of History at Shepherd University and co-director of the Maryland Loyalism Project.

Virginia was home to many of the most famous rebels like George Washington during the American Revolution, but it was also a den of Tories who remained loyal to the British king. Loyalists in all the colonies rejected what they called “the unnatural rebellion” and resisted Patriot forces as they tried to restore the king’s peace to British America. In Virginia, a civil war raged between white colonists, enslaved people who sought their freedom, and many more who just tried to stay out of the way. And when the war ended, many Loyalists faced a desperate choice: abandon their homes and seek refuge in the empire, or melt back into American society and hope their neighbors remained ignorant of their political leanings. What can we learn by studying the disaffected in the American Revolution? What do we gain by looking at the Revolution not as a glorious cause, but as a civil war? On today’s show, we begin a two-part look at Loyalism in the Chesapeake Bay region by talking with scholars who are working hard to reconstruct the Loyalist experience in Virginia and Maryland. Drs. Stephanie Seal Walters and Alexi Garrett join Jim Ambuske today to talk about Virginia Loyalists and their world, and their ambition to make documents submitted to the Loyalist Claims Commission by Virginians beginning in 1783 more accessible to the public. On our next episode, Drs. Ben Bankhurst and Kyle Roberts stop by to chat about their Maryland Loyalism Project, a digital archive they’ve created with help from their students to tell the stories of those who gloried in the name of Tory in the Revolutionary Era.  Be sure to stay tuned for that conversation. About our Guests: Stephanie Seal Walters, Ph.D., is Digital Liaison to the Humanities at the University of Southern Mississippi. She is an Atlantic World historian studying loyalists and loyalism in Virginia and British North America in the Revolutionary Era. She also serve as the Assistant Editor for the Civil War and Reconstruction Governors of Mississippi Project. Alexi Garrett, Ph.D., is the 2020-2022 Institute of Thomas Paine Studies and University of Virginia Press Post-Doctoral Fellow at Iona College. She is an early American historian who researches how elite, unmarried white women (legally classified as feme soles) commercially related to the people they enslaved, and how they managed slave-manned enterprises in the American revolutionary and early national periods.

When the COVID pandemic stuck last spring, thousands of cultural heritage sites, including the Washington Library and Mount Vernon, had to find ways to help team members do work from home. That wasn’t always easy, especially as so much of our normal work requires a physical presence. One of our solutions at the Library was to use this time to transcribe the voluminous correspondence of Harrison Dodge, Mount Vernon’s superintendent in the late 19th century. And to do that, we turned to a digital platform called FromThePage. FromthePage is a crowdsourcing transcription tool that allows users to transcribe historical documents from the comfort of their own homes. Since last March, for example, our Dodge project collaborators have made nearly 9,000 page edits and contributed over 400 research notes. So on today’s episode, you’ll meet Sara and Ben Brumfield, the creators of FromThePage. Inspired by their involvement in Wikipedia’s early days, and hoping to find ways to transcribe treasured family heirlooms, the Brumfields set out to create a way for people – including those of you listening right now – to collaboratively transcribe the past. Check out our show notes or go to www.fromthepage.com to find out how you can join a crowdsource transcription project. About Our Guests: Sara and Ben Brumfield are the proprietors of Brumfield Labs, a software development firm, and the creators of FromThePage. Sara earned a BA in Computer Science and the Study of Women and Gender from Rice University. Ben took his BA in Computer Science and Linguistics from Rice University.  About Our Host:  Jim Ambuske, Ph.D., leads the Center for Digital History at the Washington Library. A historian of the American Revolution, Scotland, and the British Atlantic World, Ambuske graduated from the University of Virginia in 2016. He is a former Farmer Postdoctoral Fellow in Digital Humanities at the University of Virginia Law Library. At UVA Law, Ambuske co-directed the 1828 Catalogue Project and the Scottish Court of Session Project.  He is currently at work on a book about emigration from Scotland in the era of the American Revolution as well as a chapter on Scottish loyalism during the American Revolution for a volume to be published by the University of Edinburgh Press.