Dr. Lauren Duval joins Kathryn Gehred to discuss a letter from Elizabeth Drinker to her husband Henry dated February 26, 1778. In 1777, not long before the British Army occupied Philadelphia, the Continental Congress exiled Henry and 19 other prominent Quaker men. In this letter, Elizabeth provides Henry with an update on life in occupied Philadelphia and the Scottish officer who has recently taken up quarters in the Drinker home. Lauren Duval is an assistant professor of history at the Universi...
Jul 15, 2025•33 min•Season 4Ep. 60
Diane Ehrenpreis joins Kathryn Gehred to discuss a letter from Martha Jefferson to a Mrs. Madison dated August 8, 1780 in which Jefferson encourages women to join together and raise funds to support the Continental soldiers. This letter is one of only four known correspondences in Jefferson’s hand. In this episode, Diane and Katy discuss some of the ways Jefferson’s words have been misinterpreted in the past. Diane Ehrenpreis is the Curator of Decorative Arts and Historic Interiors at Thomas Jef...
Apr 22, 2025•42 min•Season 4Ep. 59
Dr. Emily Sneff joins Kathryn Gehred to discuss a letter from Polly Palmer to John Adams dated 4 August 1776, in which Palmer thanks Adams for sending her one of the earliest printings of the Declaration of Independence. In this episode, Gehred and Sneff explore Palmer and Adams’s lifelong friendship, their experience getting inoculated for smallpox together, and military movements during the War for Independence. Dr. Emily Sneff is a historian and leading expert on the United States Declaration...
Mar 27, 2025•50 min•Season 4Ep. 58
Dr. Cynthia Kierner joins host Kathryn Gehred to discuss a 1778 letter from Richard Henry Lee to his sister Hannah Lee Corbin. In a lost letter, Hannah previously expressed her frustrations that widows are being taxed without representation. In this response, Richard explains the cultural and legal barriers that prevent Hannah and other widows from voting. Dr. Cynthia Kierner is a professor of history at George Mason University. She is a a specialist in the fields of early America, women and gen...
Feb 25, 2025•42 min•Season 4Ep. 57
Dr. Jacqueline Beatty joins host Kathryn Gehred to discuss The Petition of Belinda from 1783 in which Belinda Sutton petitions The Massachusetts General Court for the funds left to her by her enslaver Isaac Royall after he fled the colonies during the Revolutionary War. Beatty and Gehred discuss Sutton’s use of poetic language to describe her kidnapping and enslavement. Dr. Jacqueline Beatty is an Associate Professor of History at York College of Pennsylvania, where she teaches courses in Early ...
Jan 28, 2025•39 min•Season 4Ep. 56
Ramin Ganeshram joins Kathryn Gehred to discuss excerpts from Janet Shaw’s Journal of a lady of quality; being the narrative of a journey from Scotland to the West Indies, North Carolina, and Portugal, in the years 1774 to 1776 . Ganeshram and Gehred explore life under martial law in North Carolina and the fear and paranoia among white colonists because of a supposed insurrection by enslaved people. Ramin Ganeshram is the executive director of the Westport Museum for History and Culture in Westp...
Dec 20, 2024•47 min•Season 4Ep. 55
Mary Wigge joins Kathryn Gehred to discuss a letter from Lucy Flucker Knox to her husband General Henry Knox in which she describes how she spends her days during the Revolutionary War. Lucy, a wealthy Tory's daughter whose parents and siblings fled to England, expresses her loneliness and longing for Henry, who is with the army in Philadelphia. Wigge is a Research Editor at the Papers of James Madison and was previously an editor with The Papers of Martha Washington and The Papers of George Was...
Nov 26, 2024•39 min•Season 4Ep. 54
In this bonus episode of Your Most Obedient & Humble Servant , Kathryn Gehred dives into the podcast's origin story. While working as an editor of the Papers of Martha Washington, Gehred became very familiar with how people wrote letters in the 18th and early 19th centuries. She noticed that people often abbreviated the closing of their letters which she found very relatable. This inspired the podcast and why Gehred presents women through an entire letter or another document, offering a deep...
Nov 05, 2024•3 min
Dr. Maeve Kane joins Kathryn Gehred to explore Konwatsi'tsiaienni Molly Brant’s life during the American Revolution. Brant was a member of the Wolf Clan of the Mohawk Nation, one of the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Kane and Gerhred discuss Brant’s pivotal diplomatic efforts to maintain the Mohawk’s alliance with the British during the American War for Independence, and the turmoil Indigenous women like her faced during Sullivan’s Campaign in the late 1770s, as they read two lett...
Oct 29, 2024•43 min•Season 4Ep. 53
We are excited to announce that on October 29 Your Most Obedient & Humble Servant will be back with Season Four. This season, we're exploring revolutionary America through the words written by women. We'll follow along in letters as women questioned their loyalties, challenged authority, sought freedom, and aided and resisted revolutionary change. We're going to dive into the lives of Indigenous women, Scottish women, plantation owners, milliners, women who were enslaved, loyalists, patriots...
Oct 22, 2024•1 min
Your Most Obedient & Humble Servant has been nominated for the Women in Podcasting Awards! We would really appreciate it if you would vote for the podcast in the history category. Your Most Obedient & Humble Servant is up against some GREAT podcasts, so your support would be really meaningful! Your vote would go a long way in helping the podcast gain visibility and get these letters out into the world. Here's how to vote: Step 1: Click on the link to vote by October 1, 2024 www.womenpodc...
Aug 13, 2024•2 min•Season 4Ep. 53
Catharine Maria Sedgwick to Eliza Cabot Follen, February 18, 1828. In which Sedgwick writes to her dear friend Cabot Follen about the need for a new minister, pieces she has recently read and written, and an exquisite Valentine. Featuring Dr. Patricia Kalayjian and Dr. Lucinda Damon-Bach of The Catharine Maria Sedgwick Online Letters project. Dr. Kalayjian is a Professor Emerita of Interdisciplinary Studies at California State University and the editor and project director of the Sedgwick Online...
Jun 18, 2024•45 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Woman's Political Future - An Address by Frances E. W. Harper to the Chicago World's Fair, 20 May 1893. In which Harper champions morality, civil rights, and civic duty in Jim Crow America. Featuring Chole Porche, Ph.D. candidate in the Corcoran Department of History at the University of Virginia. Your Most Obedient & Humble Servant is a production of R2 Studios , part of the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. Find the official transcript here ....
May 22, 2024•35 min•Season 3Ep. 51
Martha Washington to Eleanor Parke Custis, c. February 1797. In which Washington warns her granddaughter that her dress may not arrive from Philadelphia in time for a Virginia ball. Featuring Dr. Alexandra Garrett , Assistant Professor of History, St. Michael's College. Your Most Obedient & Humble Servant is a production of R2 Studios , part of the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. Find the official transcript here ....
Apr 16, 2024•39 min•Season 3Ep. 50
Deposition of Phillis Tatton, 3rd November 1837 In which Phillis Hinkley Saunders Tatton appeared before the County of Probate in the state of Connecticut in an attempt to secure a pension for her late husband’s service during the American Revolutionary War.
Mar 19, 2024•43 min•Season 3Ep. 49
Elizabeth Willing Powel to Elizabeth Parke Custis, February 28, 1816. In which Powel advises Martha Washington's pro-French granddaughter to avoid talking about politics with pro-British family members. Featuring Samantha Snyder , Research Librarian & Manager of Library Fellowships at the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon, and Dr. Cassandra Good , associate professor of History at Marymount University and author of First Family: George Washington's Heirs and the Making o...
Feb 21, 2024•34 min•Season 3Ep. 48
Phillis Wheatley to Obour Tanner, October 30th, 1773 in which Wheatley discusses faith, her book, and a trip to England. This episode features Dr. Tara Bynum an Assistant Professor of English & African American Studies at the University of Iowa. The letters between Wheatley and Tanner is the largest collection of 18th-century letters between two Black women and shows many aspects of their relationship. Phillis Wheatley to Obour Tanner, October 30th, 1773, Massachusetts Historical Society, Mi...
Jan 16, 2024•39 min•Season 3Ep. 47
Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams, 16 Febuary 1786. In which Abigail reports from London to her son on dining with wealthy South Carolinians and the tribulations of her daughter Nabby in matters of the heart. Featuring Dr. Miriam Liebman of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Note: The quoted letters referenced in this episode are available as follows: Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams, 16 February 1786. Adams Papers, Digital Edition . Massachusetts Historical Society. Abigail Adams to John ...
Dec 19, 2023•35 min•Season 3Ep. 46
Elizabeth Mason to Mary Barnes Mason, 3 March 1811. In which Elizabeth attempts to update her daughter Mary on the latest news from home while her family distracts her.
Nov 21, 2023•35 min•Season 3Ep. 45
Lady Georgiana Spencer and Caroline Howe, a series of correspondences. In which they discuss Lady Spencer’s gambling problem. Kathryn Gehred is joined by early American historian and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of Scotland Dr. Julie Flavell.
Oct 17, 2023•40 min•Season 3Ep. 44
Sarah E. Nicholas to Jane H. Nicholas Randolph, March 30, 1821 In which Sarah E. Nicholas writes to her sister Jane H. Nicholas Randolph about an incident in the streets of Baltimore. Kathryn Gehred is joined by Amelia Golcheski, the CEO and Executive Director of the Cashiers Historical Society.
Sep 19, 2023•46 min•Season 3Ep. 43
We are excited to announce that on September 19 Your Most Obedient & Humble Servant will be back with a new season. We found some great letters to share with you this season that highlight the extraordinary wit of women in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Subscribe wherever you get your favorite podcasts. For more information or to catch up on past episodes, visit www.R2Studios.org .
Aug 29, 2023•3 min
The travel diary of Elizabeth House Trist, 1783. In which Elizabeth House Trist records her journey down the Mississippi River in 1783. In 1783, Philadelphian Elizabeth House Trist left for Pittsburgh, beginning a journey that would take her down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers hoping -- after seven years of separation during the Revolutionary War -- to reunite with her husband in Natchez. Trist's travel diary, created at the request of Thomas Jefferson, is the earliest known record of a Mississ...
Aug 15, 2023•25 min•Season 2Ep. 42
Phoebe Pemberton Morris to Rebecca Wistar Morris Nourse, 28 February 1812. In which Phoebe Pemberton Morris writes to her sister Rebecca Wistar Morris Nourse about the many social events she is attending in the Federal City, including the birthnight party for the late George Washington, thrown by his stepgranddaughters, Eliza Parke Custis Law and Martha Parke Custis Peter. At the party, Eliza and Martha wear portraits to honor Washington, some lifesize.
Jul 25, 2023•27 min•Season 2Ep. 41
Eliza Monroe Hay to King Louis Philippe of France, 1839 In which Eliza Monroe Hay, James Monroe's daughter, requests assistance from the King Louis Philippe of France because of the aid her parents provided his mother during the French Revolution. Kathryn Gehred is joined by Nancy Stetz, Education Programs Manager at James Monroe's Highland.
Jun 27, 2023•34 min•Season 2Ep. 40
Jemima Grey, Amabel Grey, and Mary Grey to Catherine Talbot, 15 November 1765 In which Jemima Grey and her two daughters, Bell who is 14 and Mouse who is 9, provide a very comical update about their life near Cambridge. Kathryn Gehred is joined by Dr. Natasha Simonova , Gwyneth Emily Rankin Official Fellow and Lecturer in English at Exeter College, University of Oxford.
May 23, 2023•37 min•Season 2Ep. 39
Jannote Roustant to Jean Roustant, 1 July 1745 AND Johanna Fredericha Teller to Ambrosius Teller, 28 May 1798. In which two separate women deal with the fallout of their absent husbands. I'm thrilled to post this episode that I recorded last July with Dr. Lucas Haasis (@LHaasis) and Lisa Magnin, researchers with the Prize Papers Project. This is an incredible project that is going to be a great resource for people studying just about any aspect of history. Resources: The project: https://www.pri...
Mar 14, 2023•35 min•Season 2Ep. 38
Sarah Livingston Jay to Samuel Lyon, 14 Nov. 1794 In which the wife of a diplomat writes to a man about a horse, and things get REALLY messy, really fast. Many thanks to my wonderful guest, Robb Haberman, for talking about this letter with me! Further Reading: The letter: https://exhibitions.library.columbia.edu/exhibits/show/john_jay/item/12342 The Jay Papers Volumes on Rotunda: https://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/founders/JNJY.html The scanned, digitized Jay Papers: https://dlc.library.columbi...
Feb 07, 2023•39 min•Season 2Ep. 37
Mary Secutor to Eleazar Wheelock, 28 July 1768 In which a woman of the Narragansett tribe politely but firmly departs from Moor's Indian Charity School. Thank you so much to my guest, Dr. Ivy Schweitzer, professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College, for telling me about this fascinating letter and the wonderful Occom Circle project! Resources: The letter, Mary Secutor to Eleazer Wheelock: https://collections.dartmouth.edu/occom/html/diplomatic/768428-2-diplomatic.html Edward De...
Jan 03, 2023•54 min•Season 2Ep. 36
Eleanor Parke Custis (Lewis) to Elizabeth Bordley (Gibson), 14 May 1798 In which rumors are dispelled, patriotic songs are sung, and girls draw on large mustaches with burnt cork. Many thanks to returning guest Samantha Snyder for coming on the show to talk about this letter! Note: at the time of recording neither Samantha nor my book had come out yet. Now both of them have! Please do check them out. Thank you for your patience while I worked on this episode! Brady, Patricia. George Washington’s...
Nov 10, 2022•29 min•Season 3Ep. 35
