Your Most Obedient & Humble Servant: A Women's History

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. 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...

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 Associ...

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 G...

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 an...

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 t...

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...

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 ow...

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. 

He...

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 Califo...

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 Georg...

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...

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 autho...

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 Ta...

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 ...