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

5.0 (7)
HISTORY
UPDATED MONTHLY

Your Most Obedient & Humble Servant is a podcast that showcases 18th and early 19th-century women’s letters that don’t always make it into the history books. Join historian Kathryn Gehred and her guests as they explore the lives of women and the world around them through their letters.

12/20/2024

Episode 55: An Insurrection Was Hourly Expected

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 Ganeshram is the executive director of the Westport Museum for History and Culture in Westport, Connecticut. She is an award winning journalist and historian, and she specializes in addressing how public history can truthfully and faithfully address American history around race and identity. She also has a background in writing about food history and foodways. Find the official transcript here. 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. 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, Janet Shaw, Edited by Evangeline Walker Andrews, in collaboration with Charles McLean Andrews, Yale Universtiy Press, 1921, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t02z15h83?urlappend=%3Bseq=222.

47 min
11/26/2024

Episode 54: I Am Frightened When I Look At Her

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 and was previously an editor with The Papers of Martha Washington and The Papers of George Washington. Lucy Knox to Henry Knox, Boston, Massachusetts, 23 August 1777. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC02437.00638 https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/02437.00638_OS.docx_.pdf. “Abigail Adams Smith to Abigail Adams, 15 and 22 June 1788,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-08-02-0132. Lucy Flucker Knox, Silhouette, circa 1790, Silhouette Collection, 1.51, Massachusetts Historical Society, https://www.masshist.org/database/764. The Pioneer Mothers of America; a record of the more notable women of the early days of the country, and particularly of the colonial and revolutionary periods / by Harry Clinton Green and Mary Wolcott Green v. 2, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uga1.32108001197717. Philip Hamilton, The Revolutionary War Lives and Letters of Lucy and Henry Knox (Baltimore, 2017). Find the official transcript here. 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.

39 min
11/05/2024 · BONUS

Bonus: A Humble Origin Story

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 through an entire letter or another document, offering a deeper understanding of their personalities. Find the official transcript here. 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.

3 min
10/29/2024

Episode 53: By Being Almost Murdered

Dr. Maeve Kane joins Kathryn Gerhred 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 her faced during Sullivan’s Campaign in the late 1770s, as they read two letters from Brant to her step-son-in-law, Daniel Claus. Kane is an Associate Professor of History and the Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Albany. She is the author of Shirts, Powdered Red: Haudenosaunee Gender, Trade, and Exchange (Cornell University Press, 2023). Molly Brant to Daniel Claus, Carleton Island, 5 October 1779. Daniel Claus Papers, Library and Archives Canada. MG19 F1 vol2:135-136 https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c1478 Sir Frederick Haldimand: Unpublished Papers and Correspondence. London: Microfilm Publications. 1977. Reel H-1450, Series B-114. MS 21774:180-181. Original at the British Library https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_h1450 Find the official transcript here. 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.

43 min
SEASON 4 TRAILER

Season 4: A Season of Revolution

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 owners, milliners, women who were enslaved, loyalists, patriots and so much more. We've interviewed leading scholars and have great stories to share with you. Join us on this Season of Revolution wherever you listen to podcasts. Your Most Obedient & Humble Servant is a production of R2 Studios at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

1 min
08/13/2024

Votes for Women!

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. Here's how to vote: Step 1: Click on the link to vote by October 1, 2024 www.womenpodcasters.com/vote Step 2: Find the History category drop-down menu and select our show from the options. Note: There is no fee for voting, but there is a double opt-in to prevent fake traffic or votes. The person with the most votes will win the category. There is one vote per person per category. 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.

2 min
06/18/2024

Episode 52: Screaming Among Her Fellows

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 California State University and the editor and project director of the Sedgwick Online Letters project. Dr. Damon-Bach is an editor of the project and a professor of English at Salem State University. Find the official transcript here.

45 min
05/22/2024

Episode 51: O Women of America!

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 George Mason University. Find the official transcript here.

35 min

See All (61)

5

out of 5

7 Ratings

Fantastic

06/07/2024

cinas18

I LOVE this podcast. Found it through a Mount Vernon podcast series and have been addicted since.

Your Most Obedient & Humble Servant is a podcast that showcases 18th and early 19th-century women’s letters that don’t always make it into the history books. Join historian Kathryn Gehred and her guests as they explore the lives of women and the world around them through their letters.