Salem's witches, worth a trip

 

The Salem Witch Trials 1692  was on exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts which featured era pieces, belongings of the participants, and paintings, several shown below. Another witch exhibition is set at the Peabody this fall, Sept. 18, 2021 through March 20, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie 

The entrance to the Peabody Essex Museum where popular witch exhibitions enlighten museum goers/Photo by Patricia Leslie

What has captured the attention of these children at the Peabody Essex Museum?/Photo by Patricia Leslie

It was the Examination of a Witch, 1853 by Tompkins Harrison Matteson (1813-1883), Peabody Essex Museum/Photo by Mark Sexton and Jeffrey R. Dykes

Detail of Examination of a Witch, 1853 by Tompkins Harrison Matteson, Peabody Essex Museum, which the artist depicted 160 years after the event. Note the animal-like claws of the hands of the woman in red kneeling on the right as she examines a victim whose skin eruptions gave the witch police proof the undressed woman was evil. The woman in center with the red kerchief has the look of a witch herself as she points to imperfect skin on the back of the young woman. Behind her, a helmeted soldier holds a spear used to hold back curious crowds. At the Peabody exhibition, a similar spear hung on the wall and may be seen above in the photo of the children on the floor. Mr. Matteson based his painting on an event in Boston which occurred in a public tavern, a common location for these testimonies.

William Drage (c. 1637-1669), Daimonomageia: A Small Treatise of Sicknesses and Diseases from Witchcraft, and Supernatural Causes, 1665, Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum. Mr. Drage was an English physician and apothecary whose thinking about witches came to America with settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Cures for witchcraft included hanging rosemary, ivy, and mistletoe inside the house. You can forget about kissing under the mistletoe, unless ..../Photo by Patricia Leslie

This book, Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, 1677, was written by John Webster (1611-1682), a witchcraft skeptic who nevertheless believed some could practice the craft naturally using the sciences of astronomy, botany or alchemy. (The spotlight in the left corner is from overhead lights.) From the Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

These are the walking sticks belonging to George Jacobs Sr., an elderly man put to death by testimony from his granddaughter, Margaret, who recanted...too late.  They were a gift in 1918 to the Peabody Essex Museum from Allen Jacobs, presumably related to Mr. Jacobs. In the background is a rendition of Mr. Jacobs's trial by Tompkins Harrison Matteson.  (Please see below.)/ Photo by Patricia Leslie

The granddaughter of George Jacobs, Sr. sentences her grandfather to death in Tompkins Harrison Matteson's Trial of George Jacobs, Sr. for Witchcraft, 1855, which the artist painted 163 years after Mr. Jacobs's trial and execution.  Although Margaret recanted her testimony, she was too late, and her grandfather, shown in the lower right with his hands extended, begging for mercy, was led to the gallows. The woman with her outstretched arms to the right of Margaret may be her mother, Rebecca, also accused of witchcraft. Peabody Essex Museum, Gift of R. W. Ropes, 1859/Photo by Mark Sexton and Jeffrey R. Dykes

Detail from Tompkins Harrison Matteson, Trial of George Jacobs, Sr. for Witchcraft, 1855, Peabody Essex Museum, Gift of R. W. Ropes, 1859.

On the wall at the Peabody is a quote from Thomas Maule's 1695 Truth Held Forth And Maintained/Photo by Patricia Leslie

It was not until 2016 that Proctor's Ledge was confirmed by researchers from the University of Virginia to be the site of the hangings of 19 "witches.' Scientists were led to the place by the findings of Salem resident Sidney Perley who, in 1921, questioned the long-identified summit of Gallows Hill on the outskirts of Salem as the hanging place. Mr. Perley said his research pointed to what is called, for unknown reasons, Proctor's Ledge which is at the base of the hill. He was proven right.

A dedication of the memorial was held July 19, 2017, the 325th anniversary of the hangings of Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse, and Sarah Wildes.  Millions of Americans are related to the "witches" hung at Salem, including my own children, related by their father to Rebecca Nurse.

The 19 victims' names are carved in stone in a semi-circle around a "single oak tree, as a symbol of endurance and dignity," according to the city's website. The crooked sign in the upper left is a reminder to wear masks during covid times/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Proctor's Ledge, the memorial to the witch victims in Salem, MA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

Proctor's Ledge, the memorial to the witch victims in Salem, MA, where from the left, victims' names are Bridget Bishop, hung on June 10, 1692, and Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, and Rebecca Nurse, the latter four hung on July 19, 1692. Outside the picture is the name of Sarah Wildes, also hung on July 19, 1692/Photo by Patricia Leslie

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Proctor's Ledge stones are dedicated, from the left, to the memories of George Jacobs, Sr., whose granddaughter, Margaret betrayed him, John Proctor, Sr., and John Willard, all of whom were hung on August 19, 1692/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Proctor's Ledge, the memorial to the witch victims in Salem, MA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Proctor's Ledge, the memorial to the witch victims in Salem, MA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A day ends in Salem, Massachusetts which my sister says is a haunted and crowded place at Halloween/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Just when you think you've heard it all,
a Michigan politician calls female competitors in his state, "witches" to be burned at the stake.  

Like me, he must have been the only person older than 50 years who lives east of the Mississippi River who has not visited Salem, Massachusetts, the location of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692 and 1693 where 25 persons were killed or died as the result of mass hysteria. 

Nineteen of the witch victims were hung; one man, Giles Corey, was literally "pressed" to death with heavy weights as punishment for his "craft"; five victims died in jail.

One was an infant, Mercy Good, who never knew life outside the prison where she was born and where she died before her mother, Sarah Good, was hanged.

Mercy had a sister, Dorothy, who was also confined to the jail with inadequate circulation, a dirt floor, and crude sanitary facilities. Dorothy was incarcerated for more than eight months, chained to prison walls and although she wasn't put to death like her mother, family members said she suffered from the effects of her imprisonment for the rest of her life. 

Dorothy was five years old when she was jailed.

The witchcraft scare in Salem began with the telling of tall tales by a slave, Tituba, to young girls, confined to their home prisons during the harsh winter and having nothing better to do than to listen and spin yarns of their own.

As a child of about nine years old, I recall stumbling across this sad chapter in American history in an encyclopedia which I never forgot. I can still recall the illustrations and as an adult, the absurdity of it all and man's inhumanity to man, much like Ron Weiser.

Thanks to an excellent display at the Peabody Essex Museum right in the heart of Salem, visitors can become better educated about the hysteria, rumors, and seizures which can overtake crowd behavior and expand. The Peabody is hosting two exhibitions about the witches this year, with remnants and artifacts from the trials and the people involved.  

I was at Salem about the time Ron Weiser was spewing his female hatred like a snake. For him, I highly recommend a visit to Salem and to the Peabody Essex Museum to see this fall's shows which may cause Mr. Weiser to shed his snake skin and rethink his poison and what it can become. 

May I be so bold to suggest "GoFund Me" for his visit with excess funds to be donated to female candidates? 

The Peabody Essex Museum was founded in 1799, only 37 years after the trials, and prides itself as the country’s oldest continuously operating museum.

On a different note, at Turner's Seafood Restaurant, my pal, Maureen, and I had an excellent dinner outdoors in 37 degrees, but the wind was calm, we were dressed warmly (made comfortable by the restaurant's nearby standing heaters), and the warm chocolate lava cake provided its own pleasures.  

Salem is about 30 minutes north of Boston's Logan Airport.

What: The Salem Witch Trials, Sept. 18, 2021 through March 20, 2022.

When:  Open Thursday-Sunday, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m.

Where:  Peabody Essex Museum, East India Square, 161 Essex Street, Salem, MA 01970

Tickets:  

Adults, $20; seniors (65 and older), $18; students (with i.d.), $12, youth 16 and under, Salem residents, and members, no charge. 

For more information:  978-745-9500, 866-745-1876 and visit pem.org. 

patricialesli@gmail.com

 

Press \\ Press Releases

PEM announces fall exhibition schedule

 

'Courier' is worth admission price

 

Yay!  The movies are back!

It's not the greatest spy movie I've ever seen but it will do in these days of entertainment starvation.  Especially after wasting time and money on the austere, the horrible, the boring Nomadland.

At the same movie house on a Saturday night at the same show time, the audience had swelled to about 25 from the poor audience showing for Nomadland.  

Carla, I think Thor will like The Courier. It's based on a true-life tale of a British spy ring working to obtain Soviet Union  nuclear secrets which preceded the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Merab Ninidze, left, is Soviet spy, Oleg Penkovsky, who transmits secrets to The Courier, Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch, right).

Dickie Franks (Angus Wright) and Emily Donovan (Rachel Brosnahan) are wooden and robotic government agents who recruit the where-am-I? salesman Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) to transmit secrets from the Soviet Union. 

Starting the action is information supplied by Soviet double-agent, Oleg Penkovsky, portrayed by Merab Ninidze who steals the show. Besides Mr. Cumberbatch, he's the only one who legitimately conveys his character with aplomb, however, Vladimir Olegovich Chuprikov does a good job as Nikita Krushchev.  The rest of the cast is generally lifeless.

In another time and place, The Courier likely would not gain as many nods as it is receiving now, but this is now, and not then or when.

 patricialesli@gmail.com

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Book review: 'Daughters of Yalta,' a must for Russian and WWII history buffs

Sex, lives, and history are all parts of the sagas in Daughters of Yalta: The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love and War by Catherine Grace Katz who describes the lives of three young women who attended the 1945 Yalta Conference with their dads, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Averill Harriman, the U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union.

The conference was a meeting of Great Britain, the U.S. and the Soviet Union, considered the "Big Three" World War II allies, to discuss strategies on Russia's Black Sea for the ending of the war and what to do with Poland and Germany.

For those who may not be historians like I am not, the book sheds light on the ending of WWII and the division of Germany and how countries' borders are sometimes determined as much as cutting a pie to pieces.

The Daughters were Sarah Churchill, 30, who later became an actress; Kathy Harriman, 27, who lived with her dad in Moscow for several years before Yalta and spoke fluent Russian which came in handy at the conference; and Anna Roosevelt, 38, who constantly worried about her father's health. (He died two months after the conference ended.)

The book details the day-to-day (sometimes hourly) activities the trio enjoyed (or tolerated): their day trips, room arrangements, negotiations, love affairs, late nights and social hours with fine descriptions of meals including a Russian dinner which started at 9 p.m. and ended at 1 a.m., with 45 toasts, 20 courses (fried horse mackerel was one dish), 24 male guests, and Mss. Churchill, Harriman, and Roosevelt.


(The Russians always tried to outdo themselves with huge splashes of generosity, omnipresent vodka and the modernization of a Romanov palace for use as lodging at the conference.)

Kathy Harriman knew about her dad's affair with Pamela Churchill (whom he married 26 years later); Sarah Churchill knew about her sister-in-law's affair with the ambassador; Anna knew about her father's affair with Lucy Mercer, as daughter even helped arrange trysts and attempted to keep the relationship hidden from her mother, Eleanor. (Talk about mother/daughter relationships!)

The Americans and Russians expected their rooms were bugged. They were. Soviet spy Alger Hiss, a representative of the U.S. at Yalta, figures predominately in the book.

FDR worked hard to preserve his relationship with Stalin which Churchill resisted. The Americans and the British wanted to stop Russia from overtaking Poland to also serve as notice for other East European nations.

FDR worked out a secret agreement with Stalin for the Soviets to declare war in the Pacific which they did two days after the U.S. dropped the bomb on Hiroshima August 6, 1945. The Japanese surrendered August 15, 1945.

President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill both believed the conference was a success but worldwide criticism began almost immediately when it ended. French leader Charles de Gaulle was furious France was excluded from Yalta.

FDR looked exceedingly ill at the conference, and his constant smoking exacerbated his condition. When he died, Moscow honored his memory by hanging red flags with black borders throughout the city.

At the Washington History Seminar where Ms. Katz delivered her book in rapid-fire delivery last month (possibly trying to get as much in before her time expired), Allida Black, an Eleanor Roosevelt scholar and a panelist on the program asked Ms. Katz why she had mostly ignored ER in her book which Ms. Katz denied, but I have to agree with Dr. Black. Unlike the roles played by Clementine Churchill and Marie Harriman, mothers of the other two "daughters," "ER" commands little space.

Until I got going in the book, I thought (and hoped) Joseph Stalin's daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, might be one of the main characters; nyet.

And it's hardly likely she would have been, said Serhii Plokhii, a professor of Ukrainian history at Harvard and another panelist at the WHS presentation.

At the time of the Yalta Conference, according to Dr. Plokhii, Svetlana was only19 and hardly one to be supported by her dad. Although she did speak English, she was traumatized as a teen to learn her mother had died from suicide. Svetlana had married in her teen years, and her father refused to meet the groom. It was not the best of times for father and daughter's relationship.

Neither Wikipedia nor History.com have any mention of the daughters on their Yalta pages nor does History.com list Averill Harriman.

Unfortunately, it wasn't until the end of the book that I discovered the listing of key delegates, but I found myself often using the essential map showing the lodging locations and the Black Sea and the Allies' meeting place. Thank you, author and publisher, for including!

It was difficult at times for me to keep the three women separate, and more in-depth biography about each at the beginning of the book would have helped and referencing them by whole names instead of first names only.

The book doesn't end with Yalta: Ms. Katz fills us in on the lives of the three women until their deaths; some, sad; some, happy and glamorous as is life, told in Sarah Churchill's autobiography Keep on Dancing, published in 1981, the year before she died, in Christopher Ogden's biography of Pamela Harriman, Life of the Party; and among the pages of Mother and Daughter: The Letters of Eleanor and Anna Roosevelt, edited by Bernard Asbell.

Biographies of Ms. Harriman and Ms. Roosevelt have yet to be published.

For the second Daughters' edition, I wish for photos of Clementine Churchill and Marie Harriman.

Ms. Katz said the publisher, Houghton Mifflin, became interested early on in her book and paid her expenses.  She spent 18 months conducting research, she said at the WHS, and 18 months writing.

patricialesli@gmail.com

No box office success for 'Nomadland'

Frances McDormand and David Strathairn in one of the livelier scenes from Nomadland/Searchlight Pictures

(This is not to knock the people who live and enjoy this lifestyle. This is about the movie.)

To each her own. 

Whatever floats your boat.

Fans your van.

Pandemic or no pandemic, the movie house hosted all of three people on a Saturday night, and there's a reason for that!

Carla, preserve your marriage with Thor and don't dare drag him to see this.

Why pay to sleep when you can do that at home?

This is another one of those flicks made for the critics, much like that awful cat movie by the Coen Brothers, one of whom happens to be married to Frances McDormand, the star and Nomadland co-producer. (I can just see the family sitting around a home bonfire and discussing how they will make their next joyless movie, like Woody Allen's which continue to bomb.)

Talk about a downer. This has got it all. The only thing missing was an attack or some other act of violence coming in the middle of the night which would have pumped up the adrenalin, at least a little.

In-between walks in the desert to contemplate dust, "Fern" urinates, she defecates (and where shall we put it?  There's actually a discussion of this!), and swims naked.  Naturally!  Where would a good art film be without the de rigueur full-frontal female nude?  Where's the male nude?

It would have been difficult to make Ms. McDormand look much worse than she does here, but I'll bet the makeup artist for Nomadland had nomakeland to apply, if one were even one hired for the show. Why bother?

Nomadland  has a few redeeming qualities like the music (by Ludovico Einaudi), the harsh and dry Western scenery (to match the dormant life of the protagonist), and the looks of David Strathairn, the faux S.O., a fantasy who is too nice, too perfect, too considerate to be real. (I mean, come on writers: Show a little life!)

Towards the end when "Fern" walks along a big, rocky coast with leaping, crashing waves jumping up to grab her, all I could wish was that she would just go ahead and jump in so we could escape early.

Like last year wasn't bad enough! Let's pay to see more!

Patricialesli@gmail.com

Make way for Alexandria's 'Revolutionists'

From left: Justine Summers is Olympe de Gouges; Sophie de Waal, Marie Antoinette; Melanie Kurstin, Charlotte Corday, and Dayalini Pocock, Marianne Angelle in Little Theatre of Alexandria's The Revolutionists/Photo by Matt Liptak

It's back to the past. 

If it had not been 10 p.m., if it had not been another cold night, I was ready to join other audience members so moved as I to take to the streets and demand change and action, following the powerful message delivered from the stage of the Little Theatre of Alexandria.

The actors were The Revolutionists; the time was 1793 during the height of the French Revolution's  Reign of Terror, but it could have been today when a quartet of unlikely acquaintances gather to urge a playwright to compose a work of what she wants, not what she knows.

Yes, a play within a play with a timeless statement on issues which vex us more than two centuries later.  From left are Marie Antoinette (Sophie de Waaland) and Olympe de Gouge (Justine Summers) in Little Theatre of Alexandria's The Revolutionists/Photo by Matt Liptak

The women argue about the play's content while Olympe de Gouges (Justine Summers) tries haphazardly to write and seize the moment.

A  realistic guillotine is the centerpiece of the sophisticated set with a long red drape hanging nearby ("better to capture your head, my dear") and a floor increasingly littered by the playwright's tossed drafts.  Steps add dimension to the scenes, changed only by the actors who prance in and out, often mad at their world and screaming, just to be sure you get the message.

Director Jennifer Lyman writes in program notes that she chose Revolutionists because she's a fan of the playwright, Lauren Gunderson ("the most produced playwright in America two seasons" before Covid-19 shut theatre doors). But Ms. Lyman hesitated to recommend it to LTA because of its "kick-ass, girl-power, meta-theatrical, modern, irreverent, anachronistic, political feminist" mindset. (Weak men need not attend.)

Marianne Angelle (Dayalini Pocock) is a Haitian fictional rebel, the smoothest of the lot, who, much like a mother, tries to stabilize the group with reason v. emotion.  while screams and yells abound, and shouts for the need to kill fill the stage. (Charlotte Corday [Melanie Kurstin] succeeds.)

Jean-Joseph Weerts, The Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat by Charlotte Corday on 13 July 1793, 1880/Public Domain, Wikimedia 

And just when you think serious might overtake the script, in waltzes the frilly, the silly Marie Antoinette (Sophie de Waal)  with a petit trianon voice to match her persona and gown, and hair (by Chanel Lancaster) as high as Marge Simpson's.  

Her boudoir with Versailles's elegant windows help embellish the queen's role and reputation. 

Costumers Jean Schlichting and Kit Sibley dress the characters in fashionable floor-length gowns of the period in colors and styles to mirror their personalities (dull for the playwright, smart for the Haitian, white for the killer, lacy for the queen).

Sound designer David Correia, assisted by Will Gregg and Donna Hauprich, handle their multiple assignments exceptionally, busy they are all evening with chants,  sprinkles of Les Miserables music, crowd noise, and the ka-chunk, thunk of the guillotine as it falls upon the heads of the victims.  

Lighting changes are right on time, illuminating the stage with bright red every time a prisoner steps up to the chopping block, or for the few moments when a solo light is needed.

Today I can take pen or computer to compose my message to those around me, including legislators, and "march" on paper and keyboard to demand change and action to advance equality for women. As of this writing, the long-ago Equal Rights Amendment has risen from the dead to claim new status and perhaps an extended deadline which, if allowed, may ratify a new constitutional amendment.  Amen, sisters!

Have we come a long way?

Congratulations to LTA for stepping outside the box to present a kick-off to Women's History Month, continuing the women's revolution.

Creative team members also include Lynn O'Connell and Kevin O'Dowd, producers; Danielle Guy, assistant director; Nick Friedlander and Meggie Webster, stage managers; Matt Liptak, set designer; Jeff Auerbach, Kimberly Crago, lighting designers, assisted by Katie Clement, Pam Leonowich, and Marg Soronos;  Chanel Lancaster, makeup; and Margaret Chapman, properties

What: The Revolutionists by Lauren Gunderson

When: Now through March 20, 2021, Wednesday through Saturdays, 8 p.m. Sundays, 3 p.m.

Where: Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. Directions

Tickets:  Start at $24.

Adult language

Duration: About two hours with one five-minute pause.

Public transportation: Check the Metro and Dash bus websites.

Parking: On the streets and in many garages nearby with free parking at the Capital One Bank at Wilkes and Washington streets.

For more information: Box Office: 703-683-0496; Business: 703-683-5778. Asklta@thelittletheatre.com

patricialesli@gmail.com

First Ladies charm Gallery guests

The entrance to the exhibition, Every Eye is Upon Me at the National Portrait Gallery where Martha Washington welcomes visitors/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Robert Clark Templeton, Rosalynn Carter (b. 1927),  1976.  Mrs. Carter's focus on mental health began in 1970 when she was the first lady of Georgia and has never wavered since. When her husband, Jimmy Carter was president, Mrs. Carter attended cabinet meetings so she could be better informed to answer questions in her role as honorary chairwoman of the President's Commission on Mental Health. After the Carters left the White House in 1981, they invested muscle, hours, and money to humanitarian efforts like Habitat for Humanity, the largest non-profit builder in the world which has helped 29 million persons move in or rehabilitate homes/Collection of the National Portrait Gallery, donated by Mark, Kevin, and Tim Templeton, sons of the artist

I hope the paintings of the ladies are still up when the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery re-opens to showcase the aura and beauty of First Ladies of the United States in the enthralling exhibition, Every Eye Is Upon Me: First Ladies of the United States

In a large gallery of several rooms, the more than 60 portraits welcome visitors who mentally "ooohhh" and "awwww" at the elegance and refinement these ladies present.  Honestly, you walk away a more sophisticated person, having spent time in the halls with these women, admiring their achievements.  (You see what art can do!)

Charles Robert Leslie, Louisa Adams (1775-1852), 1816. Mrs. Adams was the wife of John Quincy Adams who served as President Madison's envoy to Russia in the court of Czar Alexander I. The couple lived in St. Petersburg for five years and a building there bears an historical marker denoting their place of residence. Her attire reflects the influence of her stay there.  

She was born in London where this sitting took place a year after her six-week journey from Russia to Paris, and she was educated in France. A woman of many talents, Mrs. Adams played the harp and wrote several autobiographical novels, including one about "gender inequality," titled Adventures of a Nobody,  according to the label. She preceded the feminist movement by150 years!/The portrait was loaned from the Diplomatic Reception Rooms, U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C.  

Francesco Anelli, Julia Tyler (1820-1889), 1846-48.  Julia Gardiner Tyler was born to a large slave-holding family in Long Island, and during the Civil War she urged her sons to fight for the Confederacy. 

When she married him in 1844, President John Tyler was a widower, and it took some coaxing for her to marry a man 30 years older than she was. She was the first woman to marry a president in the White House but her residency there lasted only eight months when her husband's term ended in 1845. 

On state occasions, the label notes,  she encouraged the playing of "Hail to the Chief," a legacy which continues to this day. After her husband died in 1862 and the Civil War ended, Mrs. Tyler,  needing financial help, successfully lobbied Congress for a pension which she received in 1880.  

Together the Taylors had seven children, and their grandson, Harrison Ruffin Tyler, is still living at age 91 in Virginia/Collection of The White House

George Peter Alexander Healy, Sarah Polk (1803-1891), 1846. Mrs. Polk served as what then would have been "chief of staff" for her husband, James K. Polk. She scheduled his appointments, managed his correspondence, and acted as his secretary. Likely because of bladder surgery, President Polk was not able to have children, and he and Mrs. Polk are the only presidential couple to never have children/Loaned from the James K. Polk Home and Museum, Columbia, Tennessee

Charles Fenderich, Angelica Van Buren (1818*-1877), reproduction of original, 1838-1841. Mrs. Van Buren was born in Wedgefield, S.C., likely at Melrose, a South Caroline plantation, where she grew up. On a visit to Washington, her cousin, Dolley Madison, introduced her to her future father-in-law, the widower, Martin Van Buren. Only eight months later Angelica married one of his four sons, Abraham, and her elegance and education led to her leadership as White House hostess, the youngest woman to hold the unofficial position. Mrs. Van Buren's family's ownership of slaves and her elegant lifestyle helped contribute to Martin Van Buren's defeat in 1840. (*One source says she was born in 1816.) From the collection of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.  

Unidentified artist, Abigail Adams (1744-1818), c. 1795.  When John Adams was president (1797-1801), Mrs. Adams suppressed her advocacy of women's rights, education, and the abolition of slavery/Collection of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York

Thomas Sully, Martha Jefferson Randolph (1772-1836), 1836.  According to the label copy, this was painted the year Mrs. Randolph died. She was Thomas Jefferson's oldest child and the wife of Thomas Randolph.  She helped maintain her widowed father's plantation, Monticello, where she was born/Loaned by Monticello, Charlottesville, VA 

M. L. Barlow, Martha Johnson Patterson (1828-1901), 1886, the daughter of President and Mrs. Andrew Johnson, served as White House hostess for her mother, Eliza Johnson (1810-1876), who did not participate in Washington life, mainly due to poor health/Courtesy of the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, Greeneville, Tennessee

Unidentified photographer, Eliza McCardle Johnson (1810-1876), 1865-1876.
The Johnsons met in Greenville, Tennessee, when they were teens and married when he was 18 and she was 16, the youngest first lady to get married. Andrew Johnson never attended school, and Mrs. Johnson taught her husband how to read/Courtesy of the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, Greeneville, Tennessee

Unidentified artist, Abigail Fillmore (1798-1853), 1840. A great reader and book collecter, Mrs. Fillmore kept her teaching job after marrying her husband, one of her former students. At the White House, she helped establish the reference library and invited notable authors to visit. After Millard Fillmore's presidency ended in 1853, Mrs. Fillmore lived only 26 days, dying of pneumonia at the Willard Hotel/Collection of the National Portrait Gallery

Unlike here, the exhibition is arranged chronologically, ending with contemporary first ladies, many still living:  Rosalynn Carter, Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, and Melania Trump. Apparel worn by Nancy Reagan, Michelle Obama, and Jacqueline Kennedy are displayed in a protective case at the end.

Whether it's Eliza Johnson who taught her husband how to read or Edith Wilson who renovated the White House or Pat Nixon who championed volunteers, you cannot help but be impressed by all, including the hated Mary Todd Lincoln.

Elizabeth Keckley made Mary Todd Lincoln's capelet, c.1861. Do you really think Mrs. Lincoln was as bad as all the books describe her? Everyone marvels about Abraham Lincoln, but I suppose his one really big mistake, to hear the biographers tell it, was his choice of Mary Todd Lincoln to be his lawfully wedded mate.
The turned portion of the capelet shows the name of the seamstress, a South Carolinian who was the daughter of a slave and a white man who was her mother's owner/Loaned from the National First Ladies' Library, Canton, Ohio

Cecilia Beaux, Edith Roosevelt (1861-1948),1902. The label says the artist was "one of the most prominent society portraitists of her generation," who painted Mrs. Roosevelt with her daughter, Ethel, here about age nine.  Mrs. Roosevelt was Teddy Roosevelt's second wife, his first, who died in childbirth the same day as his mother. The child born that day, Feb. 14, 1884, was the notable Alice Roosevelt who established her own reputation. Edith Roosevelt was the first first lady to hire a social secretary and she established the East Wing with offices for the first lady. She was active in Washington life, renovated the White House (which had been called the "Executive Mansion" prior to her arrival) and she is rumored to have influenced decisions to start the National Portrait Gallery. She and Eleanor Roosevelt were not great friends and campaigned for their husbands' political opponents. (See Wikipedia.)/Collection of Sarah Chapman  

Edward Steichen, Lou Hoover (1874-1944), 1928. Her wistful expression evokes that of her husband's administration. The label copy notes her wealthy background blinded her to the plight of lower-class and working women who did not have Mrs. Hoover's time to volunteer and churn out good works for the sake of society which her successor, Eleanor Roosevelt, promoted, earning nods from the public for her efforts. Mrs. Hoover's were the times that tried women's souls.

This was a 1928 photograph for Vogue, taken shortly before the Hoovers moved into the White House, marking the first time the magazine featured a first lady among its pages/Collection of the National Portrait Gallery, bequest of Edward Steichen 

The arrangement at the Portrait Gallery leaves plenty of viewing space for visitors who are not scrunched and squeezed to gaze upon the ladies and wonder how they managed.  With each portrait comes a short biographical sketch and there's a catalogue to go with the exhibition, First Ladies of the United States ($19.95).

This presentation is must viewing for girls and women of all ages, to give hope, inspiration, identity, and to provide a brief sense of American history. 

Martha Greta Kempton, Bess Truman (1885-1982), 1967. This portrait depicts Mrs.  Truman as happier and more glamorous than she was usually portrayed in photographs, a rather dowdy lady who I am sure was livelier than memory tells me. Her father's suicide when she was a teen perhaps explained her constantly sad expression.  She did not like living in Washington and participated in life here only when necessary, spending a lot of time back home in Independence, Missouri. Following Eleanor Roosevelt would have been a hard act for anyone/Collection of the White House

Elizabeth Shoumatoff,  Lady Bird Johnson  (1912-2007), 1968. From the label copy:  "Lady Bird Johnson is often associated with the 1965 Highway Beautification Act, an initiative that incorporated historic site preservation, natural resource conservation, and environmental protection. For her successful efforts, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1988." The artist captured Mrs. Johnson's grace and beauty, lovely and gracious as always. The National Portrait Gallery chose this portrait to welcome visitors at one of the exhibition's entrances/Collection of the White House

 Boris Chaliapin, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929–1994), 1960-61.  This portrait appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1961. Mrs. Kennedy's grace, charm and education commandeered many, including the leaders of France who, based on her efforts,  loaned the Mona Lisa to the United States. Her interest in historic preservation led to the birth of the White House Historical Association and the rescue from destruction of buildings on Lafayette Square and the Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House. Note the baby carriage on the balcony above, a symbol of the Kennedys' young family/Collection of the National Portrait Gallery, gift of Time magazine

Robert Vickrey, Pat Nixon (1912-1993), 1960.  This is my favorite of the whole show. The portrait was made for the Feb. 29, 1960 issue of Time magazine when her husband, the future President Richard M. Nixon, was running against John Kennedy in the 1960 campaign. (To me, It suggests the works of Edward Hopper and Chris Van Allsburg.)

Mrs. Nixon was a strong advocate of volunteerism. She invited single senior citizens and wounded servicemen to the White House for Thanksgiving and was the first first lady to issue a Thanksgiving proclamation.  At the White House, she added 600 paintings and antiques to the collection, the most of any administration, and she started the Map Room. At the time she was the most traveled first lady in history, earning the title of "Madame Ambassador" for her goodwill trips, including visiting 39 of 50 states during her husband's first term/Collection of the National Portrait Gallery, gift of Time magazine

There is some controversy about a likeness of President Zachary Taylor's wife, Margaret Taylor (1788-1852). Wikipedia says there are two, however, the Gallery said there were none to be found for the show. The picture above is one which family legend says the president carried with him. 

Before the White House,  Mrs. Taylor followed her husband around the country during his many military assignments which ranged from the Florida Everglades to Wisconsin. She lived in tents, cabins,  and forts which may have some bearing on her decision to spend time at the Willard Hotel for her husband's two inaugural balls, not particularly caring for Washington, D.C. life. (The Willard seems to have been a hideaway for several first ladies. ) 

White House hostess duties were assumed by the Taylors' daughter, Betty. Another daughter, Sarah, was the first wife of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, but Sarah lived only three months after their wedding in 1835 when the newlyweds both caught malaria.

Mrs. Taylor was not a total recluse, venturing out every morning for services at St. John's Episcopal Church at Lafayette Square (yes, the very same church which was the site of the famous Bible thumping on June 1, 2020)/Wikipedia/Created Jan. 1, 1852 

Clothes worn by Jacqueline Kennedy (far left), Michelle Obama (center), and Nancy Reagan embellish the First Ladies' exhibition/Photo by Patricia Leslie

This photograph of Nancy Reagan's formal wear does not come close to conveying the gown's glamour and elegance.  Must see to believe!/Photo by Patricia Leslie

And, of course, Michelle Obama's gown she wore for her portrait which hangs nearby/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Nancy Reagan's (left) and Michelle Obama's apparel at the First Ladies' exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. Jacqueline Kennedy's suit was so plain and unimpressive. unlike she was, that I received a big surprise upon examining my pictures at home where I discovered I had not even photographed it which is visible at far right/Photo by Patricia Leslie

I hope the works are still on display when the Gallery re-opens since it is scheduled to close May 23, 2021.  Maybe, we can hope for an extension?  I was lucky to see the exhibition twice in person before the Gallery shut its doors. 

 

Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, the National Portrait Gallery’s senior historian and director of history, research, and scholarly programs was the curator. .

Every Eye Is Upon Me: First Ladies of the United States is made possible through the support of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative, Morgan Stanley and the generosity of many other donors.

What: Every Eye Is Upon Me: First Ladies of the United States

When: Closing May 23, 2021. The National Portrait Gallery is open daily from 11:30 a.m - 7 p.m. but is closed now due to covid, however, you may see most of the exhibit virtually at the website.

Where: Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, 8th and F streets, N. W., Washington, D.C. 20001

Admission: None

For more information: 202-633-8300 or visit the website

Closest Metro station: Gallery Place-Chinatown or walk 10 minutes from Metro Center

patricialesli@gmail.com