Lily Laughton Papers

Access and use

Location of collection:
The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon
The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon
3600 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway
Mount Vernon, VA 22121
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Reference services
Phone: (703) 780-3600
Restrictions:

This collection is open for research during scheduled appointments. Researchers must complete the Washington Library's Special Collections and Archives Registration Form before access is provided. The library reserves the right to restrict access to certain items for preservation purposes.

Preferred citation:

[Name and date of item], Papers of Lily Macalester Berghmans Laughton, [Series, Folder], Archives of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington [hereafter Washington Library], Mount Vernon, Virginia

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Summary

Extent:
1.96 Linear Feet 2 Hollinger boxes, 1 half Hollinger box, 1 oversize box
Creator:
Blanding, Magdalen Gordon, 1823-1885, Chace, Abby Wheaton Pearce, Comegys, Margaret Douglass, 1816-1888, Cunningham, Ann Pamela, 1816-1875, Farnsworth, Hannah Blake, 1802-1879, Harper, Emily L. (Emily Louisa), 1812-1892, Mitchell, Martha Reed, 1818-1902, Sweat, Margaret J.M. (Margaret Jane Mussey), 1823-1908, Washington, Ella Bassett, 1834-1898, Walker, Letitia Morehead, 1823-1908, Halsted, Nancy Marsh, 1817-1891, Dillon, Luke C., 1836-1904, Dodge, Harrison Howell, 1852-1937, Laughton, Lily Macalester Berghmans, 1832-1891, and Johnston, Harriet Lane, 1830-1903
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Name and date of item], Papers of Lily Macalester Berghmans Laughton, [Series, Folder], Archives of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington [hereafter Washington Library], Mount Vernon, Virginia

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Background

Scope and content:

The bulk of this collection is correspondence to Mrs. Laughton concerning Mount Vernon and the work of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. Other material includes correspondence from Mrs. Laughton, formal reports and papers of the MVLA, personal correspondence and memoirs, photographs, printed material, and ephemera. The overall dates range from 1850 to 1891 with the bulk of the collection dating from the 1860s-1880s.

This collection contains correspondence from a significant number of members of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association including:

• Ann Pamela Cunningham • Christie Johnson – Secretary to Ann Pamela Cunningham • Vice Regents – Margaret Sweat, Susan Hudson, Nancy Halsted, Margaret Comegys, Letitia Walker, Emily Harper, Martha Mitchell, Magdalen Blanding, Abby Chace, Hannah Farnsworth, Ella B. Washington

Other notable correspondents represented in the collection: • Harriet R. Lane Johnston – First Lady of the United States during the administration of her uncle, President James Buchanan, married Henry Elliott Johnston from Baltimore • Selina Pauncefote – Wife of the British Ambassador to the United States, Julian Pauncefote • Edward Everett – U.S. Congressman, Governor of Massachusetts, orator, pastor • John J. Jacob – Governor of West Virginia • Gilbert S. Meem – Brigadier General for the Confederate States of America, Virginia State Congressman, U.S. Postmaster General • James L. Kemper – General for the Confederate States of America, Governor of Virginia • George Riggs – American businessman and banker • Montgomery C. Meigs – Quartermaster General of the United States Army, engineer • Thomas F. Bayard – Secretary of State, U.S. Senator from Delaware • Flora Payne Whitney – Heiress, socialite, philanthropist, daughter of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney

Biographical / historical:

Lily Macalester was born on July 29, 1832 to Philadelphia businessman and financier, Charles Macalester, and his wife, Eliza Lytle. Ann Pamela Cunningham, the Founder and First Regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, met Macalester while in Philadelphia receiving medical treatment and later appointed her the Vice Regent of Pennsylvania. Macalester married Alfred Berghmans in 1861 and the couple had one daughter, Camille. When her husband died in 1874, Mrs. Berghmans remained a widow for three years then married John Scott Laughton of Philadelphia. The couple moved to Algeria in an attempt to better Mr. Laughton's health, however, he died a few months later in January 1878.

Mrs. Laughton, a popular and well-connected woman, was an extremely successful fundraiser for the MVLA. Her home state of Pennsylvania ranked fifth among state contributions for the Association. A generous donor herself, Laughton dutifully sought Washington-related artifacts at auctions and donated many valuable items to Mount Vernon. Ann Pamela Cunningham personally selected Laughton as her successor and she was unanimously appointed Regent in 1874. Laughton's daughter, Camille, married Spanish nobleman, Jose de Pedroso in 1887. After returning from a trip to Spain to visit a newborn grandchild, Mrs. Laughton died suddenly in December 1891.

Arrangement:

The Papers of Lily M.B. Laughton are divided into two series and three subseries. Ephemera, printed material, and photographs are described at the end of the contents list. All series are arranged chronologically then alphabetically. Series 1. Correspondence

Subseries 1.1 Correspondence to Laughton

Subseries 1.2 Correspondence from Laughton

Subseries 1.3 Correspondence, other Series 2. Mount Vernon Ladies' Association and personal papers

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard