Episode 59: The Scheme I Undertake with Chearfulness
04/22/25 • 41 min
Diane Ehrenpreis joins Kathryn Gehred to discuss a letter from Martha Jefferson to a Mrs. Madison dated August 8, 1780 in which Jefferson encourages women to join together and raise funds to support the Continental soldiers. This letter is one of only four known correspondences in Jefferson’s hand. In this episode, Diane and Katy discuss some of the ways Jefferson’s words have been misinterpreted in the past.
Diane Ehrenpreis is the Curator of Decorative Arts and Historic Interiors at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. She has worked in the Curatorial Department at Monticello for twenty-three years, researching and building the collection. In her capacity as a curator, she supervised a complete study and reinstallation of Monticello’s second and third floor rooms, as well as Jefferson’s Private Suite. Currently, she is overseeing plans to reinstall the Dining and Tea Rooms to better interpret Thomas Jefferson’s aesthetic and didactic intent. Forthcoming work includes an article co-authored with scholar Nicole Brown on Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson's role as an activist living in Revolutionary Virginia, one that was initially suppressed by her partner and fellow revolutionary, Thomas Jefferson. She holds an M.A. in Art History from Boston University and B.A. in Art History from University of Illinois at Chicago.
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.
“Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson to Eleanor Conway Madison, 8 August 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-03-02-0615.
Esher Reed, “The Sentiments of an American Woman,” 1780, Virginia Humanities, https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/the-sentiments-of-an-american-woman-1780/. “George Washington to Esther De Berdt Reed, 14 July 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-27-02-0093.
Diane Ehrenpreis joins Kathryn Gehred to discuss a letter from Martha Jefferson to a Mrs. Madison dated August 8, 1780 in which Jefferson encourages women to join together and raise funds to support the Continental soldiers. This letter is one of only four known correspondences in Jefferson’s hand. In this episode, Diane and Katy discuss some of the ways Jefferson’s words have been misinterpreted in the past.
Diane Ehrenpreis is the Curator of Decorative Arts and Historic Interiors at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. She has worked in the Curatorial Department at Monticello for twenty-three years, researching and building the collection. In her capacity as a curator, she supervised a complete study and reinstallation of Monticello’s second and third floor rooms, as well as Jefferson’s Private Suite. Currently, she is overseeing plans to reinstall the Dining and Tea Rooms to better interpret Thomas Jefferson’s aesthetic and didactic intent. Forthcoming work includes an article co-authored with scholar Nicole Brown on Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson's role as an activist living in Revolutionary Virginia, one that was initially suppressed by her partner and fellow revolutionary, Thomas Jefferson. She holds an M.A. in Art History from Boston University and B.A. in Art History from University of Illinois at Chicago.
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.
“Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson to Eleanor Conway Madison, 8 August 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-03-02-0615.
Esher Reed, “The Sentiments of an American Woman,” 1780, Virginia Humanities, https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/the-sentiments-of-an-american-woman-1780/. “George Washington to Esther De Berdt Reed, 14 July 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-27-02-0093.
Previous Episode
Episode 58: Our Unnatural Enemies May Be Turned From Us
Dr. Emily Sneff joins Kathryn Gehred to discuss a letter from Polly Palmer to John Adams dated 4 August 1776, in which Palmer thanks Adams for sending her one of the earliest printings of the Declaration of Independence. In this episode, Gehred and Sneff explore Palmer and Adams’s lifelong friendship, their experience getting inoculated for smallpox together, and military movements during the War for Independence.
Dr. Emily Sneff is a historian and leading expert on the United States Declaration of Independence. She is a consulting curator for exhibitions planned for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration in 2026 at the Museum of the American Revolution, the American Philosophical Society, and Historic Trappe. She is also the curator of digital content for Declaration Stories. Her forthcoming book explores the dissemination of the Declaration around the Atlantic in the summer and fall of 1776.
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.
“Mary Palmer to John Adams, 15 June 1776,” Adams Family Correspondence, Volume 2, Massachusetts Historical Society, https://www.masshist.org/publications/adams-papers/index.php/view/ADMS-04-02-02-0007.
“John Adams to Mary Palmer, 5 July 1776,” Adams Family Correspondence, Volume 2, Massachusetts Historical Society, https://www.masshist.org/publications/adams-papers/index.php/view/ADMS-04-02-02-0018.
“Mary Palmer to John Adams, 4 August 1776,” Adams Family Correspondence, Volume 2, Massachusetts Historical Society, https://www.masshist.org/publications/adams-papers/index.php/view/ADMS-04-02-02-0047.
“To John Adams from Mary Palmer, 25 November 1789,” Papers of John Adams, Volume 20, Massachusetts Historical Society, https://www.masshist.org/publications/adams-papers/index.php/view/ADMS-06-20-02-0121.
Your Most Obedient & Humble Servant: A Women's History - Episode 59: The Scheme I Undertake with Chearfulness
Transcript
Hello and welcome to Your Most Obedient & Humble Servant. This is a women's history podcast where we feature 18th and early 19th century women's letters that don't get as much attention as we think they should. I'm your host, Kathryn Gehred. I'm thrilled to welcome Diane Ehrenpreis to the show. Diane is the curator of decorative arts and historic interiors at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.
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