Names: Lisa Burns and Teri Finneman

University Affiliations: Quinnipiac University, University of Kansas

Research Focus: U.S. First Ladies

1. What is the primary focus or central question (s) of your history research? Explain.

Lisa: My motivation is recovering the stories of women whose contributions have been either minimized in our collective memory or forgotten entirely. This often happens with presidential spouses. I was excited to work with Teri on The Cambridge Companion To U.S. First Ladies because we’re taking a different approach to telling these women’s stories. Instead of the typical biographical approach focusing on individual women, this book is a collection of thematic essays examining the first lady institution and the political, social, and cultural influence of the women who’ve served in this role. The result is a more nuanced understanding of how these women have built upon each other’s work to shape the first lady institution and the expectations associated with the position.  

Teri: Lisa and I are very focused on public education with our work. We created this book knowing we would do a fair share of speaking about it to the general public. Also, I created a podcast called The First Ladies to tie into the book for that reason. There is a strong niche audience for first ladies and presidential studies, so a key focus was creating content that they would find new and interesting to learn.

2. How did you come across this subject? Why did it interest you?

Lisa: An editor from Cambridge, Cecelia Cancellaro, emailed me with the idea of doing a volume on first ladies for their Cambridge Companion series, which is aimed primarily at students and scholars looking for an overview of research on a particular topic. She noted that their U.S. history titles focused primarily on men and wanted to fill that gap. Since this aligns with my research mission, I was immediately intrigued. I pitched the idea of taking a thematic approach instead of a biographical one to differentiate the book from previous first lady collections. She was on board with my vision, which included bringing on a co-editor. Teri was the only person I considered working with on this project.

Teri: My grandmother was just a few years younger than Jackie Kennedy and adored her, so I grew up with it constantly being reinforced that first ladies and presidential history were important. But I was never interested in studying them until a (male) professor told me that first ladies were trivial. From that day on, I made it my mission to prove otherwise. Without Lisa and Maurine Beasley, I never would have made it far, though. I particularly take an interest in the first ladies who are forgotten, like Grace Coolidge, Sarah Polk and Lucretia Garfield, who made important contributions that should be remembered. These women were the original influencers and much can be learned from them.

3. What archives or research materials did you use? Please share strategies or tips and tricks.

Lisa: The chapter I co-wrote with Shaniece Bickham focused on first ladies strategic use of electronic media, which combines my interests in first lady press coverage and media relations. The presidential libraries are hit or miss when it comes to transcripts and videos of radio and TV appearances. And their online searches are not always great! But I was surprised to find several videos on YouTube. My favorite was an interview of Rosalynn Carter by CBS’s Bob Schieffer from October 30, 1980, in which she spoke in depth on several political topics and criticized some of Ronald Reagan’s policy stances. She sounded more like a running mate than a spouse. Another hidden gem for anyone researching Eleanor Roosevelt is the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project at George Washington University (https://erpapers.columbian.gwu.edu/). They have full transcripts of her numerous radio and TV appearances.

Teri: My chapter co-written with Jodi Kanter focuses on presidential deaths and how first ladies lead the nation in mourning. Everyone thinks of Jackie Kennedy when they think of presidential mourning, but the first ladies who came before her played a critical role in creating precedents that impacted her choices. My go-to is always Chronicling America, and that’s what I focused on here as we examined how the media covered first ladies after their husbands died.   

4. What’s your organizational strategy when working on a project? Any advice or recommendations?

Lisa: This is my second edited collection. I start with a very clear timeline that’s communicated to the contributors. It includes both their deadlines and what they can expect from me as an editor. I always build in a bit of wiggle room, knowing that life happens, but I’ve never had any major issues with keeping a project on track. Having a co-editor (especially one that’s more Type A than I am) made the work easier. Thanks to Teri’s quick turnaround times on edits, which helped push me, we ended up ahead of schedule on this project, turning in a completed manuscript in June when the deadline was September 1.

Teri: An issue with me is that I am still a working newspaper editor in addition to my academic work. So, I spend half the day working in seconds and minutes, and the other half is spent in months and years. I am more of a seconds and minutes person, so the second that I get a book chapter/content in, I pounce on it immediately and turn the piece around. I get it out the door to an audience much like I have to do with my newspaper copy—so it doesn’t get buried in my firehose email. I’m not a fan of the slow journal process because I forget what I even did in the months since I turned it in, and it’s hard to get back into it again. I’d much rather do edits when the work is still fresh in mind, so I aim to immediately return feedback to authors with a macro focus the first round and a micro focus the second round. As a whole, when I get a book contract, I decide when I want the project to be done. Then, I make the book contract for three months past that date to build in emergency leeway. I set a backwards calendar of deadlines from there. Think of what part of the book requires the most concentration for you and that’s what should fall during summer months on the deadline clock. And really vet who you choose as authors (and editors) in an edited collection. It makes a big difference in the entire process.

5. How does your research relate to journalism history? How is it relevant to the present?

Lisa: We’re both interested in media coverage of first ladies, which is how we first connected. It’s a pretty small group of scholars doing research on presidential spouses, in general, and only a handful who look specifically at their news coverage and media usage. First ladies have been among the most covered political figures in spite of their unelected status. The press and public have been fascinated with these women since Martha Washington’s time. Their media coverage offers insight not only into these women’s contributions to the first lady institution but also to reporting conventions, gender norms, political communication strategies, and public expectations of presidential spouses. These issues are still at play in coverage of political spouses today with Doug Emhoff taking on the role of supportive spouse and Melania Trump generally refusing to campaign in the 2024 race. 

Teri: What’s most interesting to me is how journalism has historically framed these women and what that tells us about the expectations of women during a particular era. We can learn a lot about sexism and how conservative the media actually is — to the point that the yarn favored by flappers was insulted since Grace Coolidge favored another kind. This may seem minor, but these things add up to real implications for women.

6. What advice do you have for other historians working on projects related to your topic?

Lisa: There is still a lot of ground that hasn’t been covered and so many stories yet to be told. Even though we tried to include all first ladies in this book, including those who haven’t received much attention before, we still couldn’t cover everything in a single volume. 

Teri: There’s over 200 years to look at and plenty to still learn, particularly regarding first ladies earlier than Eleanor Roosevelt. The OGs, as the kids say. Like journalism history in general, there are significant gaps in the interaction of this field with television, public relations and diversity studies.

7. What would be your six-word pitch about your research if you met a book editor or grant funder in an elevator?

Lisa: First lady history is U.S. history.

Teri: First ladies aren’t trivial. They matter.