Ruth Painter Randall (1892-1971) was an American biographer who specialized in the lives of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

Mary Todd Lincoln Mary Ann Todd Lincoln (December 13, 1818July 16, 1882) served as First Lady of the United States from 1861 until the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Mary Lincoln was a member of a large and wealthy, slave-owning ...

and their immediate family. She also wrote young adult books about early American women.

Early life and education

Ruth Painter was born in 1892 in Salem, Virginia. She earned her bachelor's degree in 1913 from

Roanoke College Roanoke College is a private liberal arts college in Salem, Virginia. It has approximately 2,000 students who represent approximately 40 states and 30 countries. The college offers 35 majors, 57 minors and concentrations, and pre-professional pr ...

and a master's degree from

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

in English in 1914. Painter married

James G. Randall James Garfield Randall (June 4, 1881 in Indianapolis, Indiana - February 20, 1953) was an American historian specializing on Abraham Lincoln and the era of the American Civil War. He taught at the University of Illinois, (1920–1950), where David ...

on August 21, 1917.

Career as a historian

In the 1940s, Randall started assisting her husband with research for his biography about

, titled ''Lincoln the President: From Springfield to Gettysburg.'' In the end, she wrote two chapters for the book, which was published in 1945. Shortly thereafter, she started working on her own book about

titled ''Mary Lincoln: Biography of a Marriage''. James died in 1953. Throughout the 1950s, Randall researched and wrote about the Lincoln family, specifically about the marriage between Lincoln and Mary Todd (''The Courtship of Mr. Lincoln'', 1957) and the Lincoln's children (''Lincoln's Sons'', 1955). Eventually, she began writing about other historical subjects, including a biography about

Elmer Ellsworth Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth (April 11, 1837 – May 24, 1861) was a United States Army officer and law clerk who was the first conspicuous casualty and the first Union officer to die in the American Civil War. He was killed while removing ...

and a 1960s series of children's books about historical women, specifically Mary Todd Lincoln,

Elizabeth Bacon Custer Elizabeth Bacon Custer (née Bacon; April 8, 1842 – April 4, 1933) was an American author and public speaker, and the wife of Brevet Major General George Armstrong Custer, United States Army. She spent most of their marriage in relative proxi ...

, and

Jessie Benton Frémont Jessie Ann Benton Frémont (May 31, 1824 – December 27, 1902) was an American writer and political activist. She was the daughter of Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton and the wife of military officer, explorer, and politician John C ...

Later life and legacy

Randall died on January 22, 1971 at Burnham City Hospital in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois."Ruth Randall, Authority on Lincoln, Dies." ''Chicago Tribune'' 23 Jan 1971: Page 126. Print. Randall's papers and correspondence are held in the collection of the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

. Additional papers are held in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

Selected works

*''Mary Lincoln : Biography of a Marriage.'' Boston: Little, Brown & Company (1953). *''Lincoln's Sons.'' Boston: Little, Brown & Company (1955). *''I, Mary: A Biography of the Girl Who Married Abraham Lincoln.'' Boston: Little Brown (1959). *''Colonel Elmer Ellsworth: a biography of Lincoln's friend and first hero of the Civil War.'' Boston: Little Brown (1960). *''I, Varina: a Biography of the Girl Who Married Jefferson Davis and Became the First Lady of the South.'' Boston: Little Brown (1962) *''I, Jessie.'' Boston: Little Brown (1963). *''I, Elizabeth: A Biography of the Girl Who Married General George Armstrong Custer of "Custer's Last Stand".'' Boston: Little Brown (1966)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Randall, Ruth 1892 births 1971 deaths 20th-century American biographers American women biographers People from Salem, Virginia Indiana University Bloomington alumni Writers from Urbana, Illinois Historians from Illinois 20th-century American women writers