Kate Haulman is an associate professor of history at American University. She is the author of the prize-winning The Politics of Fashion in Eighteenth-Century America and co-editor of Making Women's Histories: Beyond National Perspectives. An active public historian, she has worked on several exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.
In this fascinating and insightful book, Kate Haulman uncovers the centrality of motherhood to the popular memory of the Revolution in the ever-changing reputation of Mary Washington, the nation's original 'founding mother.' This is an important and vital book for those reconsidering the meaning of the Revolution in the present."" Michael D. Hattem, author of The Memory of '76: The Revolution in American History The Mother of Washington meticulously chronicles nineteenth-century efforts to understand and remember the woman behind America's most famous son. Kate Haulman dissects the young nation's relationship with the power of motherhood and exposes the tension between revering the past and establishing lasting monuments. The book reveals how citizens projected their ever-changing priorities of class, femininity, beauty, Christianity, race, and politics onto Mary Ball Washington and reminds us that history is often about choosing what-and who-to forget."" Lydia Mattice Brandt, author of First in the Homes of His Countrymen: George Washington's Mount Vernon and the American Imagination Kate Haulman has revealed how and why the Mother of Washington became a nineteenth-century cultural icon. Through print culture, visual imagery, and monument-building campaigns, American writers and artists, political leaders and women's organizations enshrined Mary Ball Washington less for who she was than for the versions of motherhood she could be made to represent. Haulman's deep research in archival and published sources makes this book essential reading for students of American memory."" Scott E. Casper, American Antiquarian Society In this fascinating and insightful book, Kate Haulman uncovers the centrality of motherhood to the popular memory of the Revolution in the ever-changing reputation of Mary Washington, the nation's original 'founding mother.' This is an important and vital book for those reconsidering the meaning of the Revolution in the present. * Michael D. Hattem, Author of The Memory of '76: The Revolution in American History * The Mother of Washington meticulously chronicles nineteenth-century efforts to understand and remember the woman behind America's most famous son. Kate Haulman dissects the young nation's relationship with the power of motherhood and exposes the tension between revering the past and establishing lasting monuments. The book reveals how citizens projected their ever-changing priorities of class, femininity, beauty, Christianity, race, and politics onto Mary Ball Washington and reminds us that history is often about choosing what-and who-to forget. * Lydia Mattice Brandt, Author of First in the Homes of His Countrymen: George Washington's Mount Vernon and the American Imagination * Kate Haulman has revealed how and why the Mother of Washington became a nineteenth-century cultural icon. Through print culture, visual imagery, and monument-building campaigns, American writers and artists, political leaders and women's organizations enshrined Mary Ball Washington less for who she was than for the versions of motherhood she could be made to represent. Haulman's deep research in archival and published sources makes this book essential reading for students of American memory. * Scott E. Casper, American Antiquarian Society *