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Papers of Dolley Madison 1794-1849, n.d.

Access and use

Location of collection:: University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library

University of Virginia

P.O. Box 400110

160 McCormick Rd

Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110

Contact for questions and access:: POC: Brenda Gunn

Email: bg9ba@virginia.edu

Phone: (434) 924-1037

Phone: (434) 243-1776

Fax: (434) 924-4968

Web: library.virginia.edu/special-collections

Web: library.virginia.edu/special-collections/services/reference-request

Restrictions:: There are no restrictions.
Terms of access:: See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred citation:: Papers of Dolley Madison, Various Accessions, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Summary

Language:: English
Preferred citation:: Papers of Dolley Madison, Various Accessions, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of ca. 182 items, chiefly correspondence to and from Dolley Payne Todd Madison.

#1614

#1646

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#1614

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#1661 Tracy W. McGregor Library

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#1661 Tracy W. McGregor Library

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#1661 Tracy W. McGregor Library

#1646

#1661 Tracy W. McGregor Library

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#8607

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#8005

#1661 Tracy W. McGregor Library

#6435

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#8392

Written on the verso of a note from W. Dallas to the Madisons accepting their invitation dated October 27, 1814. #5718-b

#8005

#1614

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#1661 Tracy W. McGregor Library

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#8005

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#8332 Clifton Waller Barrett Library

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#8707 Madison citizens send a copy of resolutions on death of James Madison.

Documents include orders on the cashier of the Branch Bank of Virginia at Fredericksburg for payments designated in the will of James Madison to his niece, Rebecca Chapman, and his nephews, James Madison Hite, Erasmus T. Rose, Conway C. Macon, Henry Macon, Cattell Madison, and William Madison, all dated 1836; an order on the cashier of the Branch Bank of Virginia at Fredericksburg for payment to Eliza Madison, guardian of the three sons of Robert S. Madison, June 3, 1837; and a promissory note drawn to the order of and endorsed by J.M. Cutts, May 23, 1838. #5718-a

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#11374

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#1614

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#1661 Tracy W. McGregor Library

RG-5/3

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#8607 Invitations to Carusi's May Balle, Washington Assemblies (1842), Washington Assemblies (1845), Washington Assemblies (1846), Washington Assemblies (1847), 3 tickets to Carusi's Ball, 2 invitations to The National Birth Night Ball, National Birth Night Assembly, Carusi's May Ball (1846 May 7) and the Bachelor's Ball (1838 March 22)

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#1661 Tracy W. McGregor Library

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#8627

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#1714 [Recommends Mr. Corcoran as a candidate for the army or a civil appointment]

#8607

#10090

#5718

#2988

#8607

#5834 Letter of introduction for Mrs. Benaudebt

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#1614

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#1661 Tracy W. McGregor Library

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#1661 Tracy W. McGregor Library

#12052

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#8607 Invitations from the Sisters of the Visitation Annual Distribution of Premiums, Mrs. Cutts, The Secretary of State and Mrs. Steward, The Firemen's Ball Given by the Perseverance Fire Company, Miss Tayloe to the Octagon, and Mr. and Mrs. Van Zandt.

#5718-b

Biographical / historical:

Dolley Payne Todd Madison (May 20, 1768 - July 12, 1849), wife of President James Madison, who served from 1809 until 1817. She also occasionally acted as First Lady during the administration of Thomas Jefferson, fulfilling the ceremonial functions more usually associated with the President's wife, since Jefferson was a widower.

She was born in New Garden, a Quaker community in what is today Guilford County, North Carolina, on May 20, 1768, a daughter of John Payne, a not-too-successful farmer and erstwhile starch manufacturer, and his wife, Mary Coles. She spent her teenage years in Philadelphia, where she married John Todd, Jr. (January 7, 1790), a lawyer who was instrumental in keeping her father out of bankruptcy and who found Mary Payne a position as the manager of a boarding house. The couple had two sons, John Payne Todd (1792-1852) and William Temple Todd (b./d. 1793). Her husband and their younger child died in 1793 in a yellow fever epidemic.

Dolley Todd married James Madison on September 14, 1794. The couple were introduced by Aaron Burr, a mutual friend, who was a frequent guest at the boarding house managed by Mary Payne. The location of the wedding was a Virginia plantation owned by the bride's brother-in-law George Steptoe Washington, a nephew of the first president of the United States. The Madisons had no children but raised Dolley's son from her first marriage, John Payne Todd, whom they called Payne. Unfortunately, the child grew into a profligate young man addicted to gambling, a habit that resulted in his mother's eventual impoverishment.

During her husband's political life, Dolley Madison was noted as a gracious hostess, whose ebullient personality, love of feathered turbans, and passion for snuff seemed at odds with her Quaker upbringing. However, probably her most lasting achievements were her letters to James Madison during the period of the framing of the United States Constitution, and her rescue of state papers and a Gilbert Stuart painting of George Washington from the White House before it was burned by the British army in 1814.

When James Madison's second term as president ended in 1817 the couple retired to Montpelier. Dolley loved to entertain at Montpelier and often had the house full of guests. James Madison suffered from arthritis in his later years and was unable to write so Dolley spent much of her time letting him dictate his correspondence. Not long after James died in June of 1836 Dolley left Montpelier and moved back to Washington, D.C. At her funeral in 1849, Zachary Taylor used the phrase "First Lady" to describe Dolley Madison, a term now used to describe the president's wife.

Physical description:

ca. 182 items

Collection