For biographers and fans of Dolley Payne Todd Madison, Mary Estelle Elizabeth Cutts's memoir of her famous aunt has been indispensable. With most of the memoir's events taking place before Cutts's birth, the common assumption is that this is the closest we have to Dolley's autobiographical voice. But most have accepted the memoir (and its subsequent rewrite) at face value, as simply fact.

With a new annotated transcription by Lee Langston Harrison, Catherine Allgor, and James T. Connolly of both drafts of the memoir, "Vanishing Ladies" offers scholars and general readers the first modern version of this crucial piece of Founder biography.

The opening essay by Dolley Madison biographer, Catherine Allgor, presents the memoir as not only a source for the "Queen of America," but, with a focus on Mary Cutts as author, as a prime example of a nineteenth-century woman's bid for historical significance from deep within the Cult of True Womanhood. A biographical essay by Montpelier Research Scholar, Beth Taylor, supplies background on Mary Cutts, the "Vanishing Lady" who fashions Dolley's life into part of the historical record. A new headnote will prepare the reader for the unusual type of documents to come, while piquing their interest in what changes the documents will reveal. A concluding essay by Madison scholar Holly Shulman evaluates the historical uses (and misuses) of the document as a tool for understanding Dolley's life.