12/01/2025
HOLLY C. SHULMAN, Ph.D., RECEIVES THE 2025 LEWIS L. GOULD AWARD, FLARE’S TOP HONOR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Dr. Holly C. Shulman, Ph.D., today received the 2025 Lewis L. Gould Award. She is editor, Dolley Madison Digital Edition and research historian, Corcoran Department of History at the University of Virginia.
The annual award, presented by FLARE, recognizes distinguished contributions to the field of first lady research and education and a commitment to excellence while furthering the study of American first ladies. This is FLARE’s 5th presentation of the Gould Award since FLARE’s inception in 2021. Previous award winners include Lewis L. Gould, Anita McBride, Catherine Allgor, and Allida Black.
“I would like the thank FLARE for this award honoring my work on Dolley Madison, especially for the Dolley Madison Digital Edition (published by Rotunda, the digital imprint of the University of Virginia Press),” said Dr. Shulman upon receiving the award. “FLARE is a wonderful interdisciplinary collaboration between historians, archivists, journalists, media studies professionals, and social scientists. The importance of partnership between fields is a great model for the future. The story of these women – and their continuing impact – is increasingly important to our world. I am honored.”
Dr. Shulman has a long and distinguished career in promoting research and education on the lasting legacy of America’s first ladies. She is a pre-eminent expert on Dolley Madison and is a biographer, historian, and editor. In 2007, she unveiled The Dolley Madison Digital Edition, a milestone work that is the first-ever complete edition of Dolley Madison’s known correspondence which is text searchable. Throughout her career, she has also mentored many students. She has authored several books, including The Selected Letters of Dolley Payne Madison, and co-authored The Eleanor Roosevelt Encyclopedia. She has also written many articles.
Earlier this year, Dr. Shulman was the featured guest on the American FLOTUS podcast, “Dolley Madison: Her Life and Letters.” The podcast is a partnership between FLARE and the American POTUS podcast hosted by Alan Lowe.
OTHER QUOTES:
Nancy Kegan Smith, President of FLARE and Retired Director of the Presidential Materials Division, National Archives and Records Administration: “I am so pleased we are honoring Holly Shulman with the Gould Award. I have known Holly and used her work, particularly her Dolley Madison Digital Edition, for years. The edition beautifully presents the complete documentation of Dolley’s 3,600 items of text-searchable correspondence with annotations, winning the 2020 Lyman H. Butterfield Award from the Association for Documentary Editing. Unlike many digital projects that this archivist has used, Holly ensured that this project is user-friendly. Throughout her long career, she has fostered first ladies' studies by mentoring numerous students and writing articles and books that depict her subjects in a new light.”
Christopher Leahy, Chair of the Gould Award Committee, FLARE Board Member, and Professor of History at Keuka College: “Dr. Shulman’s scholarship has made an invaluable contribution to the field of first ladies studies. I was particularly pleased to serve as Chair of this year’s Gould Award Committee, because I have personally benefitted from the Dolley Madison Digital Archive, in my own research and in the classroom.”
The Lewis L. Gould Award is named for Lewis L. Gould, the author and historian who pioneered the scholarly study of America’s first ladies 40 years ago. He developed the nation’s first course on presidential spouses and has authored more than a dozen books. Professor Gould encouraged and inspired a generation of scholars and others to research and has served as a guiding light to FLARE.
The award presentation can be viewed here.
About FLARE: The mission of FLARE is to create and sustain a network to promote and publicize research and education about the contributions, lives, impact, and lasting legacy of U.S. first ladies. FLARE celebrated its four-year anniversary in June 2025.