Catherine Allgor

Catherine Allgor, Ph.D., is President Emerita of the Massachusetts Historical Society. She is the author of four books, three of which focus on the life and legacy of Dolley Madison: A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation (Henry Holt, 2006), which was a finalist for the George Washington Book Prize; Dolley Madison: The Problem of National Unity (Westview Press); and The Queen of America: Mary Cutts's Life of Dolley Madison (University of Virginia Press).

Previously, Allgor was the Nadine and Robert Skotheim Director of Education at the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA, and a Professor of History and UC Presidential Chair at the University of California, Riverside. She currently serves on boards and committees for the National Women’s History Museum, the Organization of American Historians, Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute, among others.

Allgor attended Mount Holyoke College as a Frances Perkins Scholar and received her Ph.D. with distinction from Yale University.

Articles by this Author

Dolley Madison’s World, Spring 2026 | Vol. 71, No. 2

By organizing weekly gatherings of political leaders and citizens, she proved democracy works best when rivals see one another as human beings.

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