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Let's Go Digging! In Search of the Mastodon
When Abigail Fillmore was only three years old, the very first mastodon fossils were discovered on a farm in New York State. Since then, many mastodon fossils have been found, including whole skeletons.
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The Education of Abigail Powers Fillmore
Abigail Powers is known most famously for creating a library in the White House. Like Laura Bush, she was a teacher, and she developed a love of books very early in her life. Unlike Abigail Adams, Abigail Powers did attend a school—New Hope Academy, in New York State. But she began teaching at 16!
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Why Do We Have Libraries?
Abigail Fillmore was very interested in books and libraries, as is First Lady Laura Bush. Mrs. Fillmore actually created the first White House library, a contribution for which she is remembered today.
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Popular Heroes of the 1800s
Just as there are popular cultural heroes in the twenty-first century, the 1800s were not different, although their popular heroes tended to be in folk tales! As a teacher and librarian, Abigail Fillmore was surely aware of these.
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Rebellious Women: The Beginning of the Women's Rights Movement
From the beginning of our nation, some women were concerned about their legal status. For the most part, married women had no legal status, could not sign contracts, could not inherit money, could not retain sole custody of their children, and, of course, could not vote. The founders of the United States did not extend the voting franchise to women—or to children, or the poor. Nevertheless, women did not give up. The early moves toward women’s rights took place toward the end of Abigail Fillmore’s life.
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So! You Want to Start Your Own Political Party?
The first half of the 19th century was a time when a number of small, issue-oriented political parties were founded. One of these, the so-called “Know-Nothing” Party, ran Millard Fillmore for re-election in 1856.
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In Sickness and in Health
Any study of the past will tell you that the 18th and 19th centuries were often “hazardous to your health.” This is particularly true of children, who often didn’t live past the age of five, but it was more generally true of everyone—those who caught contagious diseases, those who were injured in accidents or in war, and those who developed illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension, which today can often be chronic rather than fatal diseases.
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Who Wants an Educated Woman?
You will have noted from Abigail Fillmore’s biography that she both attended and taught in a local academy in New Hope, NY. While the New Hope academy was obviously coeducational (both Abigail and Millard Fillmore attended), it is also the case that the first half of the 19th century saw the development of many so-called “female academies” especially designed for the formal education of women. These schools were quite often founded by women who had clear ideas about why girls should go to school at a time when the education of women did not have much support among the general population. Many of them also prepared teachers, long before there were teacher colleges.
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What? No Books in the White House?
When Abigail and Millard Fillmore moved into the White House, they found that there were no books in the house. Both of them were real lovers of books, and both set about to create a White House library—for themselves and for future Presidential families.
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The Romance of the Clipper Ship
Although the steam ship came into use during Abigail Fillmore’s lifetime, it was the Clipper Ship—those ships we now call “Tall Ships”—that carried most of the cargo and certainly captured the imagination of the population. Travel to Europe, around the horn (Cape Horn, before the Panama Canal was built) to California, to the south seas—all was done on the large and beautiful sailing ships, called Clipper Ships because they were so fast.
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Cartoons, Comics, and Funnies
Although the comic book is a 20th century phenomenon, cartoons and magazines of cartoons have a long history. The first issue of Punch, a British cartoon periodical, was published in 1841 and was an immediate success. Its political cartoons greatly influenced governmental and Parliamentary action and its social cartoons gave a glimpse of everyday life from a uniquely British perspective. The early days of Punch occurred during Abigail Fillmore’s life.
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The Women's Rights Convention, 1848
The Women’s Rights Convention met in Seneca Falls, New York, July 19-20, 1848. The women (and a few men!) who attended were active advocates for women’s education, women’s suffrage, and women’s rights. Landmark legislation in the early 20th century gave women the right to vote. Many would say that full equality is still elusive. This movement was just gaining strength during the final years of Abigail Fillmore’s life.
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A Star-Studded Senate: The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was an omnibus bill that the Congress passed with the strong support of then-President Millard Fillmore, in the hope of preserving the Union. Interestingly, his wife, Abigail just as strongly counseled against his supporting it, saying it would cost him the next election. It did.
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Lady Lovelace and the Computer
In 1834, while Millard Fillmore served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Abigail and the two children lived in Washington, an English inventor named Charles Babbage designed what he called an analytical engine—in fact, the first effort to build a computer. It is unknown whether the Fillmores knew of this invention; perhaps they did. It is pretty clear, however, that even if they had known about it, they would not have thought it was of much importance. No one really did, except Lady Lovelace.
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"Save Us From the Mischiefs and Scandals of an Uncultivated Offspring!"
One of the things that sets Abigail Fillmore apart from other First Ladies is that she was responsible for establishing the first library in the White House. Libraries, then as now, were important educating institutions, and she saw a real need to stock a respectable number of different kinds of books in the “President’s house.”
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The Play's the Thing. . .or Two
In 1827, the year after Abigail Powers and Millard Fillmore were married, there was a grisly murder in England. A local girl, Maria Marten, was killed by her lover in a Red Barn. Or was she? Or did he? The real event became widely sensationalized and made into a melodrama that is still acted today, called Maria Marten, or The Murder in the Red Barn.
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Clues, Archeology, and the Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone, found by French soldiers in 1799 in Egypt, fostered new interest in the ancient cultures of Egypt. The hieroglyphics were deciphered in 1822 and unlocked the meaning of many pieces of ancient writing.
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19th Century Pastimes
During Abigail Fillmore’s lifetime in the early to mid-nineteenth century, leisure time was in short supply for the average person. There was not the variety of activities available that we have today. Women’s leisure activities tended to revolve around the home—visiting, sewing bees, correspondence with family and friends, and the like. For men, the sport of boxing came to America and both men and women enjoyed dancing.
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Women, Marriage, and Property
From the beginning of our nation, some women were concerned about their legal status. For the most part, married women had no legal status: they could not sign contracts; could not inherit money; could not retain sole custody of their children; and, of course, could not vote. Even while the Continental Congress was writing the Declaration of Independence, Abigail Adams was writing to her husband admonishing him to include the ladies in his concept of liberty. The founders of the United States did not extend the voting franchise to women—or to children, or the poor. There were several arguments for this exclusion. Nevertheless, women did not give up. Many who came of age during the first half of the 19th century participated in the movement for abolition, and learned how to advocate for a cause, to make speeches, and to engage in politics in that endeavor. These same women were often also interested in changing the laws with respect to women.
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