06/09/2026
๐Before she became famous for racing around the world in 72 days, journalist Nellie Bly undertook another extraordinary journey โ traveling across America in 1888 to interview the nationโs living First Ladies.
She sat down with Julia Gardiner Tyler, Sarah Polk, Harriet Lane Johnston, Julia Dent Grant, Lucy Hayes, Lucretia Garfield, and Mary Arthur McElroy.
What Bly preserved was priceless: the memories, reflections, and voices of women who helped shape the White House and American public life.
At History in Two Voices, we believe those voices still matter.
That is why projects like Presidentess: The Life of First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler are so important. Julia Tyler was not simply โthe presidentโs wife.โ She was a media sensation, political partner, and one of the most fascinating women of the nineteenth century.
๐ Visit the blog to explore Nellie Blyโs forgotten First Lady journey โ and while youโre there, you can pre-order Presidentess directly through the button on the post using our special discount code.
๐ https://www.historyintwovoices.com/blog-1-1/the-journey-before-the-journey-when-nellie-bly-turned-her-reporters-eye-to-americas-first-ladies
โโDo you think enough attention has been given to the lives and voices of Americaโs First Ladies?
๐With thanks to University Press of Kansas and Books Forward as we prepare for the release of Presidentess: The Life of First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler this September!!!โค๏ธ