Ruth Painter Randall (1892–1971)

Ruth Painter Randall was born in Salem, Virginia. She grew up in an academic environment as her father Franklin V. Painter wrote books on American and English literature. Ruth graduated with a bachelor's degree from Roanoke College before earning a master's degree from Indiana University in 1914. In 1917, she married James G. Randall, a well-known historian. In the 1940s, Ruth began assisting her husband with research for his monumental biography of Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln the President: From Springfield to Gettysburg (1945). Eventually, she wrote or co-wrote two of the chapters herself. Shortly afterwards, she started working on her own book about Mary Todd Lincoln, Mary Lincoln: Biography of a Marriage, which helped change the popular view of Mrs. Lincoln. Throughout the 1950s, Ruth researched and wrote more about the Lincoln family, specifically about the marriage between Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd (The Courtship of Mr. Lincoln, 1957) and the Lincoln children (Lincoln's Sons, 1955). She also wrote articles about the Lincolns for periodicals such as American Heritage, The Saturday Review, and The New York Times Magazine, as well as radio and television sketches. In addition, she wrote biographies of other historical subjects, including a1960s series of young adult books about famous women such as Mary Todd Lincoln, Elizabeth Custer, and Jessie Benton Frémont.