She saved George Washington, the painting not the person, from the burning White House during the War of 1812. I imagine that’s what most people associate with her; at least, it's all I knew about her until early in graduate school when we read Parlor Politics by Catherine Algor. In that book, Algor tells us much more about how Madison (and other political wives of the time) used her position as a woman and hostess to further her own political ends. Dolley Madison was also know to have taken on some hostess duties for Thomas Jefferson when he was president, especially at those parties where women were present. Finally, because Dolley Madison was the first official First Lady to reside in the White House, she did much to truly define what that role would be.
I will be learning about Dolley Madison's life from the book Strength And Honor: The Life of Dolley Madison by Richard N. Côté.
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| Image taken from: http://www.aadl.org/catalog/record/1240152 |
It was the only true biography of Madison's life that I could find, and my local library only owns one copy. Someone had checked it out the day before I went looking, so I have been waiting more than a month to get my turn (they returned it several days late). It should be coming in to fill my hold any day now.
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