Shulman, a former editor of the Dolly Payne Todd madison papers. Associate Senior Editor of the papers of James Madison in 2004. Dr. Shooulman continued to publh Dolly Madison papers which she has grants from the Historic Preservation and Records Commission of the national archives. Please welcome holly shulman. [ applause ] those of you who are interested in the full papers of Dolly Payne Todd madison, what i do now is as complete as possible edition of the Dolly Madison papers in the Dolly Madison edition. Like the book, its published by the university press. Unlike the book is published by their electronic imprint, the name which is rotunda. If you go and you take a look at it, i hope you enjoy it. Do you want me to do oh, okay. Having said that, i want to thank, of course, as everyone speaking as thanked, the three organization that is have sponsored this and thank them for putting on a conference which is so beautifully focused so the papers can talk to each other in a way that doesnt happen at conferences. I would like to thank Kathryn Al Gore who is over there for introducing a more general view of Dolly Madison. What im going to do today is talk about dolly, not the burning of the white house, but her saving of the portrait of George Washington. That really is the topic of my its narrow, but the question then is, what could we learn from it. There was a famous biologist at harvard who once gave an image of looking, from a distance, at a fence, which had a knot hole in it. If you looked at this knot hole from a distance, it was a small part of the fence. If you put your eye to the knot hole, you could see the world. And yes, he studied eyes. In any case, let me begin here. Two stories about the war of 1812 are lodged in our collective memory. They remained in the present. They are told in books, in textbooks and in Popular Culture. One captures american victory over the british during the war. The other symbolizes american resistance. The first, a military success is about Andrew Jackson, who defeated the british in new orleans in january of 1815. The second is an act of defiance. That one is about Dolly Madison, who on august 24, 1814 saved the portrait of George Washington from british. Jackson american prowess and determination and stands for the triumph of the still young dolly is audacity mixed with resolution and em bodies the weak, but pure, an unarmed woman, against the strong but foul, the enemy army. They did route the enemy, although it was an empty lives were lost in vain. In fact, we do not know whether or not Dolly Madison saved the portrait of George Washington. No letters written either by dolly or james on august 24 have survived. Theres very little from august 23rd. In other words, the documentary evidence for that day is either circumstantial or post factum. What dolly did when the british invaded washington remains uncertain into a vacuum of information, dolly imposed her own story. To understand the story of dolly and the burning of the white house, we need to explore what we know happened and how and why she shaped her own legend. Let us start with what we know from dollys personal and collateral correspondence. James madison was off with the general and wrote her more than once on august 23rd, but only one letter survived. In it, the president stated that he had heard encouraging news about the enemy troops. But the information was not reliable. He hoped she might see him by the evening, which, of course, did not happen. Equally, dolly could not have known that at the time. The next day, august 24th, we have a letter from Eleanor Young jones. She was the wife of the secretary of the navy, william jones. She wrote excusing herself from the dinner that day at the president s house. Jones admitted her fears in the, quote, present state of alarm, but following social protocol, menned she imagined, quote, it will be mutually convenient to disspend of your hospitality and pray you to admit this as an excuse. Its probably the only thing we know about that dinner. She was waiting to hear from dollys sister, anna payne cuts. Anna payne cuts was also in washington. She wrote a quick message. It was undated but probably also composed on august 24th and her tone was frantic. Quote, tell me, for gods sake where you are and what you are going to do, she dispaired. Quote, we could hear nutting but what is horrible. I know not who to send this to and will say but little. Soon afterwards, william jones, we identify as the husband of Eleanor Young jones, also secretary of the navy wrote a memo outlining his actions on the 24th. Presumably quite close to the events. He said he had left the navy yard about 3 30 in the afternoon, which is to say about a half hour after he had initially been due for dinner, with Supreme Court associate Justice Gabriel duvall and soon learned that quote, our army was rapidly retreating and that of the enemy advancing rapidly. He and duvall went to georgetown and picked up the jones and carol families as well as dolly, anna and annas husband, richard cuts. Jones then received word from James Madison to go to the works west of georgetown. So, quote, at about 5 00, i set out in the company of the family of the president of mr. Carol and of my own with mr. Duvall and proceeded through georgetown to join the president and found madison crossed at masons ferry. By august 29th, newspapers printed an extract of a letter. We are now one step further from, if you will, authenticity. That is to say its extract rather than a whole and its printed in a newspaper, so what has happened between the writing and printing, we dont exactly know. An extract of a letter to a gentleman in this town stating jacob, a wealthy supporter handed dolley in the moments before. He asked barker to remove the portrait of George Washington along with a silver plate from the house. There are two additional 1814 letters of dolleys from that fall. Both are addressed to women friends. In the fall, undated, dolley send manirva a quote of pure wine saveed from the president s house the morning of its destruction. Are you mors spread after the invasion the soldiers had drunk all the wine and none was left. This leaves us to wonder whether dolley was giving out bottles of salvaged wine to make the point the rumors were only that, rumors and that the president and his household were braving the circumstances and doing well. Perhaps it was simply a gesture of warm regard to a woman friend. Regardless, the president s wine, like the government and the country, had survived. On december 3rd, 1814, dolley wrote Mary Elizabeth hazel, wife of the architect Benjamin Henry and the daughter of a philadelphia merchant. The two men the two women had been friends from the 1780s and 1790s when dolley lived in philadelphia and Mary Elizabeth had very much been a partner in decorating the president s mansion although like 150 years later, she was out of the written picture. Dolley told her friends she, dolley, stayed in the president s mansion two hours until they reached the capitol. Quote, on that very day, i sent out the silver and in parenthesis, nearly all, and velvet curtains, the cabinet papers, a few books and a small clock. Everything else belonging to the public are own valuable stores of description, a part of my clothes and my servants clothes, et cetera, et cetera, in short, it would fatigue you to read the list of my losses or account of the general dismay or particular distresses of your acquaintance. This letter simply enumerated what dolley had saved, lost, and how she felt about it. The tone is one of loss, not congratulations for bravery. Her feelings of inadequacy in the face of the army, but accepted the fact she had to flee. I think, and we could come back to this later. This is probably the best piece of evidence there is that dolley had a hand in saving George Washingtons portrait. However, its a letter thats never or rarely quoted. Thats what we have. A complete documentary evidence of Dolley Madison and what she did august 23 and 24th. The contemporary documentary evidence, how she fled, what she rescued and details. Madison was out of town, she held down the domestic front. She described herself as a woman without fear. The city was terrified. Her sister, anna, was flying around in dread and in the face of enemy fire, she canceled her dinner party, saved what she could of national importance, including the famous portrait of George Washington, then left town in the company of her sister, friend and other members of a party made up at least of cuts, carol, jones and duvall. Her mood was surprisingly composed as she said i was so unfeminine as to be free from fear. In the hubub and scramble, they encounted event that is became part of her wartime story, the saving of the portrait of George Washington. This, however, was the moment she most wanted remembered. Its what she most wanted remembered about her years as a president s wife. Indeed, the years that she reigned over washington. It was not Dolley Madison as a hostess or political factions or as the arby tor of tags. It was Dolley Madison as the hero of 1812. In 1834, we have now skipped 20 years. In 1834, she finally got her chance to prevent her interpretation of events. The occasion for this was that she received a request from Margaret Smith, the wife of the editor of the National Intelligencer and also writer and novelest, to supply smith for material for a bigraphical sketch of mrs. Madison for the third volume of the portrait gallery for distinguished americans. Dolley seems to be ambivalent. She sent smith little about her origins and of that, some was intentionally incorrect. She was concerned about her privacy and that of her husband and she instructed her niece, mary cuts, not to give smith, quote, anything of importance in my own eyes. Dolley stalled, leaving smith largely to write from her own memory. But in one particular matter, dolley mailed Margaret Smith a letter. The letter she told smith she sent her sister lucy in august of 1814. It was clearly important. Quote, if you have lost or omitted to give it to her, it will be much to my injury, she instructed her nieces. So they passed on dolleys document. What exactly her nieces handed smith is controversial. Dolley only sent a copy of an alleged original, not the original document itself. She told smith she didnt have it. Lucy did. She told her niece, mary cuts, that mice had eaten it. Moreover, the letter is and someone alluded it mattered in talking about this for the article in white house history. The letter that dolley sent to Margaret Smith is surprisingly unhurried for something written in such tense circumstances and oddly purposive and formal. The letter of august 14 is about courage and bravery and her determination to prevail against the enemy and champion american independence. And it worked. To this day, when americans were called, they thank her for saving George Washington emblem of america. They imagine her standing up to the enemy. Their picture is of a woman who might be placing a flag in front of the troops, victorious in her goal. In this letter given to Margaret Smith, Dolley Madison stamped her own image. The question of who, exactly, saved the washington portrait and how they did so, however, became a matter of controversy in the 1840s. Now we have skipped even later. By this time, of course, James Madison is dead. Dolley does not die until 1849 and she becomes part of this newspaper discussion of what actually happened. In april of 1847, a man named robert depester, a new york merchant living in connecticut sent a letter to a philadelphia newspaper. He introduced barker, then living in new orleans as a patriot and supporter of the war of 1812 and presented the narrative barker had written spelling out his own version of how George Washingtons portrait was saved in 1814. He stated his purpose was to make sure that mrs. Madison received the credit for saving the portrait of George Washington in august of 1814. What followed was barkers tale dolley instructed him and depester to save the portrait while she road off in a courage. The two men took the painting from the frame, but kept it on its stretcher and took it to northern virginia. There, they found a widow to hold on to it temporarily and a few months later, think retrieved it and returned it to the rightful owner. What appears to have set him off and inspired barker to write his tale was a rumor. Supposedly circulated through Andrew Jackson there was a man named general john mason who saved the portrait. Depester wrote dolley on may 5, 1847 that it was his wish to publish barkers narrative, quote, relating to the saving of the portrait of washington. Credit has been given to others. He sent barkers piece to dolley. Silence then presumed for ten months. Dolley did not respond. Ten months later, he said daneial carol, a new actor in the drama said credit belonged to his father, not to her. Would dolley send a note conf m confirming their claim dolley ordered the picture saved, confirming dolley ordered the picture saved and delegated that task to depester and barker. Dolley complied, on may 29, 1848, depester advised her daniel carol was still crew saiding for the reputation of his father. Then in 1865 and this is after dolley was dead, but i want to add this one piece, there was an additional contender for who saved the national icon. That was 1865. The contender was already dead for a year at that time. But that makes four, other than dolley, john mason, Charles Carol and jacob barker. Lets look at who they were. John mason, who plays the most minor role here was a friend of the madisons. The son of george mason, father of the bill of rights, a merchant, banker and businessman who served in the war of 1812 and served on Roosevelt Island in the Potomac River between georgetown. He never claimed glory, but there was gossip jackson asserted the honor for mason. He was with madison on the 23rd and 24th, not in washington, d. C. John pierre was born in france and immigrated to the United States around the time of the french revolution. President madison hired him as a chef and he remained in that position until the british raised the building. There after, he worked at the bank of the United States and bank of the metropolis. He was the madisons caretaker for the house on la Fayette Square down the block after they acquired it from the cuts family. Dolley and him remained in touch throughout her life. He died in 1864. In their correspondence, theres no whisper of him being responsible for taking down the washington painting. He wanted her to remain her friend, her aide and her employ and would have had no reason to contradict her version of the events of august 24th. He never claimed the honor but James Madisons butler, Paul Jennings did so for him. May i point out, we have the pleasure this morning of having a direct descendent of Paul Jennings with us. In the former slave memoir, which was published in 1865, one year after his death, jennings recounted that while it had often been asserted when dolley escaped from the president s house, she cut out from the frame the large portrait of washington and carried it off. This is totally false. Rather, quote, john and mcgraw, the president s gardner, took it down and sent it off on a wagon. That leaves us with a question, why would Paul Jennings say it was him, not madison who was responsible for saving the portrait of George Washington . Sit, of course, possible that he was one of the men who took down the painting and thus should have received some measure of credit. The grace argument against that scenario is that jennings wrote that he used a penknife to cut the painting out of the frame. We know, however, when the painting underwent renovation, the artist found the canvas had never been cut. That doesnt mean it didnt come out of the frame, it stayed on the stretcher, but the picture was not cut with a penknife. The interesting thing about Paul Jennings is he did have an agenda. Jennings was born in 1799 in mount peel yar. He was a slave and skilled worker who, at various times was a footman, a waiter and porter before he became james valet. His father was white. His mother was a combination of black and native american. He served the madisons as a serve servant. There were real and painful problems in the relationship with his mistress. After james death, dolley took to washington which separated him from, paul from his wife fanny. They could only see each other occasionally. This remained true, even after she took a serious fall in 1844 that led to her death. Dolley then gave him leave to go and mourn and grieve back in orange county. In 1845, dolley w