Edith P. Mayo (born March 18, 1940) is an American historian. She is curator emerita for political history at the

National Museum of American History The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center is a historical museum in Washington, D.C. It collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and m ...

. Mayo is a subject matter expert on

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

, specifically African American women's suffrage, and the first ladies of the United States. She has been featured on

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

, ''

The Morning Call ''The Morning Call'' is a daily newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1883, it is the second-longest continuously published newspaper in the Lehigh Valley, after '' The Express-Times''. The newspaper is owned by Alden Global Capital ...

'', the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'',

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

, ''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local, regional, national, and international news. Founded in 1837, the newspaper was owned by Tribune Publi ...

'', and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' regarding her areas of focus. In 2020, she was named an honoree of the

National Women's History Alliance The National Women's History Alliance (NWHA) is an American non-profit organization dedicated to honoring and preserving women's history. The NWHA was formerly known as the National Women's History Project. Based out of Santa Rosa, California, sin ...

Early life and education

Mayo earned her degree in

American History The history of the present-day United States began in roughly 15,000 BC with the arrival of Peopling of the Americas, the first people in the Americas. In the late 15th century, European colonization of the Americas, European colonization beg ...

from

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

. She was a member of

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

Career

Edith Mayo with 1913 Suffrage March Banner at Alice Paul Memorial March

Mayo was an adjunct professor at

, where she taught

material culture Material culture is culture manifested by the Artifact (archaeology), physical objects and architecture of a society. The term is primarily used in archaeology and anthropology, but is also of interest to sociology, geography and history. The fie ...

as part of a co-branded program with the university and the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

. She is a Distinguished Lecturer for the

Organization of American Historians The Organization of American Historians (OAH), formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. OAH's members in the U.S. and abroad incl ...

. She serves on the board of the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial. In 1995, she wrote the foreword for

Doris Stevens Doris Stevens (born Dora Caroline Stevens; October 26, 1888 – March 22, 1963) was an American suffragist, woman's legal rights advocate and author. She was the first female member of the American Institute of International Law and first chai ...

's book ''Jailed for Freedom: American Women Win the Vote''. Mayo curated ''Rights for Women'' at the

World Financial Center World Financial Center may refer to: China * Chongqing World Financial Center * Shanghai World Financial Center * Tianjin World Financial Center United States * Brookfield Place (New York City), formerly the World Financial Center complex ** 200 L ...

in 1998 and ''The Pleasure of Your Company'' at the Museum of Old Salem in

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city in Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the List of municipalities in North Carolina, fifth-most populous ...

. She curated an exhibition about women entrepreneurs, called ''Enterprising Women'', in 2002 for the

Schlesinger Library The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America is a research library at Harvard Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. According to Nancy F. Cott, the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director, it is "the ...

Smithsonian Institution

In the 1970s, Mayo was Political History Division Assistant Curator at the

. She eventually transitioned into the position of curator emerita, managing major exhibitions about political history, women's history and voting rights. Lady Bird Johnson visits First Ladies Hall

Lady Bird Johnson visits First Ladies Hall

As curator emerita, she curated the major exhibit, ''From Parlor to Politics: Women and Reform in America, 1890-1925'' in 1990 and in 1992 she curated the museum's major exhibition about the first ladies of the United States: ''First Ladies exhibition, First Ladies: Political Role and Public Image''. The exhibition toured nationally from 2004-2007.

Author

Mayo's book ''The Smithsonian Book of the First Ladies'' was published in 1996.

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

wrote the foreword.

Recognition

In March 2015, the

Fairfax County, Virginia Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. With a population of 1,150,309 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most p ...

Board of Supervisors named her an honoree for her work at the Smithsonian. In 2020, she was named an honoree by the

Selected works

*''The Smithsonian Book of the First Ladies''. New York: Henry Holt & Company (1996). *"Teaching the First Ladies Using Material Culture" by Edith P. Mayo, ''OAH Magazine of History'', vol. 15, no. 3, 2001, pp. 22–25. JSTOR *''First Ladies: Political Role and Public Image'' by Edith Mayo and Lisa Kathleen Graddy, London: Scala Publishers (2004)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mayo, Edith 1940 births Living people American women historians American women curators American curators Smithsonian Institution people Political historians George Washington University faculty George Washington University alumni Organization of American Historians