Edith Mayo

Edith P. Mayo (born March 18, 1940) is an American historian. The Morning Call, the Los Angeles Times, PBS, The Baltimore Sun, and The Washington Post regarding her areas of focus. In 2020, she was named an honoree of the National Women's History Alliance.

Early life and education Mayo earned her degree in American History from George Washington University. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Career

Mayo was an adjunct professor at George Washington University, where she taught material culture as part of a co-branded program with the university and the Smithsonian Institution.

Mayo curated Rights for Women at the World Financial Center in 1998 and The Pleasure of Your Company at the Museum of Old Salem in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She curated an exhibition about women entrepreneurs, called Enterprising Women, in 2002 for the Schlesinger Library.

Smithsonian Institution In the 1970s, Mayo was Political History Division Assistant Curator at the National Museum of American History. She eventually transitioned into the position of curator emerita, managing major exhibitions about political history, women's history and voting rights.

Author Mayo's book The Smithsonian Book of the First Ladies was published in 1996. Hillary Clinton wrote the foreword.

Recognition In March 2015, the Fairfax County, Virginia Board of Supervisors named her an honoree for her work at the Smithsonian. In 2020, she was named an honoree by the National Women's History Alliance. First Ladies: Political Role and Public Image by Edith Mayo and Lisa Kathleen Graddy, London: Scala Publishers (2004)