The mother of Washington in nineteenth-century America / Kate Haulman.

Contents Introduction: Monumental Motherhood -- The Death and Rebirth of Mary Washington, 1789- -- The Mother of Washington and Her Monument -- Mother Mary -- The Ruin: Mary's Monument, 1833- -- The Nation's Matriline -- By Her Countrywomen -- Conclusion: Remembering and Forgetting.
Abstract "The Mother of Washington in Nineteenth Century America traces the creation and evolution of the Mother of Washington figure and the monument to her, begun in 1833, to examine the role of motherhood in commemoration of the American Revolution. It also explores the public memory of the Revolution in crafting maternal ideals. It is a biography of sorts that begins in death, tracing the nineteenth-century memory of an eighteenth-century woman known for and through her famous son. A canon of stories about Mary that often, although not always, involved George underpinned the Mother of Washington figure. The monument and the figure it memorialized overlapped, sometimes in surprising and even paradoxical ways. Their entwined stories unfold through history and biography, visual and material culture, personal accounts and correspondence, Congressional records, and those of the women's associations that organized in the late 1880s to complete the memorial. In print, in images, and on the landscape, memorializing Mary in nineteenth-century America foregrounded maternal ideals based in traditional gender roles and ancestry in the public memory of the nation's founding. As some women framed their engagement with the state in maternal terms, other men and women used the Mother of Washington to link the virtues she represented to the nation's origins. Her motherhood was manifest in her illustrious son and the country he helped to create, giving her proximate yet foundational power. Then as now, groups used the past to construct American motherhood and motherhood to engage with the founding past. The Mother of Washington shows the malleability of both and the role of commemoration in their mutually reinforcing relationship"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references and index.
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LCCN 2025016095
ISBN9780197631850
ISBN0197631851 hardcover
ISBNelectronic publication

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