Dolley Madison Digital Edition

Dolley Payne Madison was the most important First Lady of the nineteenth century. The DMDE will be the first-ever complete edition of all of her known correspondence, gathered in an XML-based archive. It will ultimately include close to 2,500 letters. From the scattered correspondence were gathered letters that have never been previously published. The range and scope of the collection makes this edition an important scholarly contribution to the literature of the early republic, women’s history, and the institution of the First Lady. These letters present Dolley Madison’s trials and triumphs and make it possible to gain admittance to her mind and her private emotions and to understand the importance of her role as the national capital’s First Lady.