History in Two Voices

09/22/2026

🥳5,000!

We’ve noticed so many familiar names returning week after week to read, comment, share, ask questions, and occasionally send us down historical rabbit holes we hadn’t planned on exploring. 😊

Whether you’ve been following History in Two Voices from the beginning or just discovered us this week, thank you for making this such a lively little history community.

When we started this page, we simply wanted to share the stories and details that make history fascinating to us—and hoped a few other people might enjoy them too.

Five thousand of you later, apparently you do.

We’re very glad you’re here. ❤️

— Chris & Sharon
History in Two Voices

09/21/2026

📍What happens when a presidential doodler gets hold of Presidentess?

We’ve been having great fun watching Heather Rogers of Project POTUS Pages work her way through Presidentess—because Heather doesn’t simply read history. She draws what she sees in it.

Family connections become sprawling trees. A passing reference to Brandreth’s pills becomes an illustration. Historical coincidences get arrows, portraits and the occasional “You have GOT to be kidding me!” 😂

What has fascinated us most is seeing which details and connections Heather pulls from the narrative and translates into an entirely different visual form. It’s a wonderful reminder that there are so many ways to encounter—and enjoy—history.

Heather has only just begun, so we’re going to resist explaining anything and enjoy watching where her pen takes her.

👉You can follow her Presidentess doodling on Instagram at :

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ddi9zknFsJm/?img_index=1

09/20/2026

🩷Confessions of a Late-Blooming History Buff, Part II 📚

Once I started researching First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler, I discovered that the evidence didn't support a story historians had repeated about her for decades.

My history-professor husband Chris looked at everything I'd found and said: “You should write an academic article about this.”

My response? “You’re kidding, right?” 😂 The last research paper I'd written was in college....(a long time ago)

But he convinced me I could do it. So I wrote the article, submitted it to New York History and "lo and behold"! They accepted it.

That's when I discovered something important: I didn't have to know all the answers to do history. I just had to know how to follow the evidence.

And I was hooked.

👉 Read the rest of the story:
https://www.historyintwovoices.com/blog-1-1/confessions-of-a-late-blooming-history-buff-part-ii-you-want-me-to-write-what

❓❓Have you ever been encouraged to try something you were certain you couldn't do, only to discover that maybe you could?


University Press of Kansas Books Forward

09/19/2026

What an evening at Keuka College!

We were delighted to spend Constitution Day exploring a question at the heart of Presidentess: If the Constitution gives the First Lady no constitutional authority, where does her influence come from?

The Chapel was filled, the student questions were thoughtful and plentiful, and we eventually had to bring the Q&A to a close simply because we ran out of time.

Our thanks to Keuka College for hosting us—and especially to the students, faculty, staff, and community members who joined us for such an engaged conversation about Julia Gardiner Tyler and the evolving role of the American First Lady.

And one more piece of good news: C-SPAN has received the professionally recorded program for consideration for American History TV. We’ll share more when we know more.

— History in Two Voices

09/18/2026

🐴Imagine riding to your presidential inauguration in this.

This carriage belonged to President Ulysses S. Grant, who purchased it during his first term in the White House. On March 4, 1873, Grant rode in it to his second inauguration as President of the United States.

Built by Wood Brothers around 1870, the carriage is substantial—more than 10 feet long and 8½ feet high, constructed of wood and leather and carried on four enormous wheels.

Today, the carriage survives at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden exhibition.

We photographed it during our recent visit to the museum. Standing beside it gives you a completely different sense of presidential travel in the nineteenth century.

Photograph: History in Two Voices, 2026
Collection: Smithsonian National Museum of American History

See the carriage in the Smithsonian collection: https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_500175

❓❓Would you rather arrive at an inauguration in this or in a modern presidential limousine? 😄

09/18/2026

👗 The First Lady Wardrobe: History Worn in Public

One skirt. Two bodices. Two very different looks. Mary Todd Lincoln's purple velvet ensemble is a wonderful example of how a nineteenth-century wardrobe could be transformed without requiring an entirely different dress.

Believed by the Smithsonian to have been made by Elizabeth Keckly, the African American dressmaker who became closely associated with Mary Lincoln, this three-piece ensemble was worn by the First Lady during the winter social season of 1861–62.

And just look at that purple velvet. 💜 All three pieces are outlined with white satin piping, which does something remarkable visually: it emphasizes the construction of the garment. On the daytime bodice, the piping traces the fitted seams, sleeves and dramatically pointed waist, while a row of mother-of-pearl buttons provides another sharp contrast. The Smithsonian notes that its lace collar is of the period but is not original to the bodice.

Then change the bodice and the personality changes with it. The evening version opens across the shoulders and is trimmed with lace and chenille-fringed braid. Same rich velvet. Same white piping. But suddenly the ensemble is ready for an entirely different setting.

It is easy to be distracted by the enormous skirt and that glorious purple, but look closely at the construction. The lines tell you how the dress was built.

This is precisely what we love about seeing historic clothing in person. A photograph of Mrs. Lincoln can show us what she looked like. The surviving garment lets us get close enough to see how her clothes actually worked.

💜 Which would you choose: the daytime bodice or the evening bodice?

Photographs by History in Two Voices, taken at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Object information from the Smithsonian exhibition label.

09/16/2026

📚 SAVE THE DATE — SEPTEMBER 29!

Publication day for Presidentess: The Life of First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler is almost here — and we’ll be celebrating with the The White House Historical Association!

On Tuesday, September 29 at 5:30 p.m. ET, join us for White House History Live: “Presidentess — The Life and Legacy of First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler.”

We’ll be talking about the remarkable woman at the center of our new biography — one of the youngest First Ladies in American history, the first “bride of the White House,” and a woman who helped shape what the still-undefined role of First Lady could become.

📅 Tuesday, September 29, 2026
⏰ 5:30 p.m. ET
💻 Live on Facebook & YouTube
📖 And it’s publication day!

We can’t think of a more fitting way to welcome Presidentess into the world.

Save the date and join us! https://www.whitehousehistory.org/events/white-house-history-live-presidentess-the-life-and-legacy-of-first-lady-julia-gardiner-tyler


University Press of Kansas Books Forward

Join us in learning more about White House History right from your own home. Our Facebook Live series, White House History Live, delves into the stories that make up the...

09/15/2026

Some historical mysteries take a little longer to unravel than others. 🔎

Five hours to transcribe one letter—and worth every minute. Julia Gardiner Tyler certainly knew how to keep a historian on her toes!

Thank you, University Press of Kansas, for highlighting this wonderful detail from the Finger Lakes Times feature on Presidentess.

Just two weeks until publication day!

In the first full biography of Julia Gardiner Tyler, Christopher J. Leahy and Sharon Williams Leahy (History in Two Voices) uncover the life of a first lady whose influence has long been overshadowed by rumor and myth.

"Presidentess" offers a fresh look at Julia Tyler’s role in shaping the evolving position of first lady, her influence in nineteenth-century politics, and her efforts to shape her own legacy in the decades after the Civil War.

Read more: https://tinyurl.com/ys9n96wv

Explore "Presidentess": https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700642670/

09/15/2026

💕We have some exciting book news! Town & Country has named Presidentess: The Life of First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler one of its 67 Must-Read Books of Fall 2026!

The editors at Town & Country selected the standout new releases of September, October, and November—and we are absolutely delighted to see Julia Gardiner Tyler among them.

For a First Lady who spent so many years relegated to the margins of history, it is especially gratifying to see her story reaching a new and much wider audience.

And she is certainly keeping some impressive company on this fall reading list!

Take a look at Town & Country’s complete list below. 👇

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a73359762/best-books-fall-2026/


Town & Country University Press of Kansas