Mistress of Riversdale: The Plantation Letters of Rosalie Stier Calvert, 1795-1821

by Margaret Law Callcott

Overview

Winner of the Book Prize from the Maryland Historical Association

"A richer reflection of life in early 19th-century Maryland and the Washington environs cannot be found . . . These superb letters are enhanced by able editing, both in footnotes and excellent essays at the beginning and end." —Washington Post Book World

"Callcott is a suberb editor; she has exhaustively researched every aspect of Calvert's life, and her introductory and concluding essays, including an account of George Calvert's relationship with a slave woman, which produced five children, contain much information of interest." —Elizabeth R. Baer, Belles Lettres

"These letters document the timeless elements of domestic life—family relationships, childbirth, illness, househld chores—but they offer far more than the familiar fare of the plantation mistress."—Patricia Brady, The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801843990
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	02/01/1992
Series:	Maryland Paperback Bookshelf
Edition description:	20
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Margaret Law Callcott is the author of The Negro in Maryland Politics, 1870-1912.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Preface
1. The Stier Family in America
2. On Her Own
3. A Daughter's Grief
4. Strained Circumstances
5. Completing the American Chateau
6. Tommy Jeff's Embargo
7. Caught in Europe's War
8. America at War
9. Peace and Returning Prosperity
10. A Washington Debut
11. Last Journeys
12. After Rosalie
Appendix
Index

Editorial Reviews

A richer reflection of life in early 19th-century Maryland and the Washington environs cannot be found . . . These superb letters are enhanced by able editing, both in footnotes and excellent essays at the beginning and end.
—Washington Post Book World

In 1803 Rosalie [Calvert] began a remarkable correspondence home to her family that continued until her death in 1821. Those extraordinary letters in French, discovered in the family archives in Belgium in the 1970's, triggered the ongoing restoration of the rundown [Riversdale] mansion and in an equally remarkable chronological narrative of the translated letters resulting in a Johns Hopkins University Press book.
—Annapolitan

Not only can you visit Rosalie's home, you can visit it with Rosalie's words in your head. This is important because, while the structure is in fine shape, the interiors with one notable exception are sparsely furnished on the first floor and unfurnished upstairs. The walls largely have yet to be painted or papered appropriately, and the floors are bare.
—Baltimore Sun

From the Publisher

In 1803 Rosalie [Calvert] began a remarkable correspondence home to her family that continued until her death in 1821. Those extraordinary letters in French, discovered in the family archives in Belgium in the 1970's, triggered the ongoing restoration of the rundown [Riversdale] mansion and in an equally remarkable chronological narrative of the translated letters resulting in a Johns Hopkins University Press book.

Annapolitan

A richer reflection of life in early 19th-century Maryland and the Washington environs cannot be found . . . These superb letters are enhanced by able editing, both in footnotes and excellent essays at the beginning and end.

Washington Post Book World

Not only can you visit Rosalie's home, you can visit it with Rosalie's words in your head. This is important because, while the structure is in fine shape, the interiors with one notable exception are sparsely furnished on the first floor and unfurnished upstairs. The walls largely have yet to be painted or papered appropriately, and the floors are bare.

Baltimore Sun