Hello Dolley!

 

by Pa Rock

History Buff

It seems like I have always had a strong interest in US government and history, something I credit to the teaching skills of an exceptional high school instructor many years ago by the name of Buddy Powell.  He made such a formidable impression on me that when I went on to college, I made history my undergraduate major, with a minor in political science.   My emphasis in the major was United States history, and my classes in the minor focused on US government.  As an adult out in the workforce, some of those historical and political inclinations transposed themselves into an interest in my own family history, and I became fairly consumed with genealogy - again, all of which is rooted in the efforts of one extraordinarily good high school teacher, Buddy Powell.

As an established fan of history, I am always on the lookout for nuggets of historical interest, and this past week I came across one that really captured my attention for a variety of reasons.  It was a very early photograph of a person who played an important role in one of our nation's earliest conflicts, the war of 1812,  The subject of the photo (a daguerreotype) was former US First Lady Dolley Madison, the wife of our nation's fourth President, James Madison, and who was also the chief author of the US Constitution.  The photo was taken in or around 1846 by photographer John Plumbe, Jr., when the art of photography was in its infant stages.  Mrs. Madison, who was born in 1768 and was seventeen years younger than her famous husband, would have been in her late 70's when it was taken.

The photograph of Dolley Madison is the oldest known photo of any US First Lady.  It was only recently discovered in the basement of a deceased individual as the room was being cleaned out.  Sotheby's managed to auction it for a pricey $456,000 to the US National Portrait Gallery which has a collection of around 230 photographs of US First Ladies.  The National Portrait Gallery also has a photo of US President John Quincy Adams that was taken in 1843 and is the oldest known photograph of any US President.

One of Dolley Madison's most noted achievements as First Lady was managing the White House during the War of 1812 when her husband was off leading the fight against the British.  As the British were advancing on Washington, DC, Dolley gathered as much as she could from the White House's furnishings and art collection and sent it off in wagons into the countryside.  She is remembered for saving the portrait of George Washington that had been painted by Gilbert Stuart.  When the British troops finally arrived in Washington, DC, one of their first acts was to burn the White House to the ground.  (Today all that survives of the original structure is part of the kitchen which was located in the basement.)

Up until the emergence of this photograph, our vision of Dolley Madison was limited to the renderings of artists, but with this photo of the famous First Lady in her senior years, we now have a clearer indication of what she actually looked like.  As an elderly person in her late seventies, Dolley Madison presented as an alert, clear-eyed, handsome woman who looked to be comfortable with her place in society, and probably with her place in history as well.

In the photo Dolley Madison was wearing a white silk(ish) wrap around her throat and a hat that appeared to be made of the same material.  She had on a dark, horizontally striped knitted shawl over a satiny black dress.  The former First Lady also wore short, dangling earrings, and had a short crop of dark, curly hair extending below her hat.  (Did people color their hair in the 1840's?)   The daguerreotype process requires an extended time of posing, and due to that people rarely smiled in early photos because it was too hard to hold the pose - so Dolley Madison was not smiling in this photograph, but neither was she offering that somber glare that was common in early photographs.)

There is something about a photograph that makes a person seem real, and my first thought on seeing the actual photo of Dolley Madison was that there she was, the real Dolley.  I smiled and said the first thing that came to mind, "Well, hello Dolley!"  

(It's so nice to have you back where you belong!)

Another bit of our nation's long and proud history had been revealed!  I'm glad that I was still around to see it!

(And yes, I know that "Dolly" from the song and the stage musical is spelled without an "e," but Dolley Madison used one, so I took the liberty of morphing her name, as she spelled it, with the song.)

(The photograph is available at several news sites on the internet and may be accessed by searching "Dolley Madison" and "photograph.")

(One extraneous tidbit:  Tomorrow will mark the 175th anniversary of the death of Dolley Madison.  She passed away on July 12th, 1849.)