The Smithsonian First Ladies Collection

“The Smithsonian First Ladies Collection, a slim but lavishly illustrated paperbound book, attempts to juggle that national obsession with dress and the weightier elements of a first lady’s role, in both her husband’s administration and the larger society… Still, it’s the dresses, in the end, that make this book, just as the clothes have made the Smithsonian exhibit a must-see for more than a century. There’s something about gazing at these gowns, captured in all their glory in full-color studio photographs, that’s almost hypnotic.” -Chicago Tribune

LISA KATHLEEN GRADDY is deputy chair of the Division of Political History at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. She is the curator of the first ladies exhibit and the collection of woman suffrage and women’s political history. AMY PASTAN is a Washington, DC-based author, editor, and photo researcher. A former staff editor at the Smithsonian Institution, she currently writes and produces books for both adults and children. Among her recent titles is The Smithsonian Book of Presidential Trivia.

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