author
Laura C. (Laura Carter) Holloway
1848–1930
A lively 19th-century journalist and lecturer, she helped bring American history and public life to a wide audience through books that focused especially on women in politics and society. She is best remembered for writing about the women of the White House in a way that made national history feel personal and readable.
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About the author
Born in Nashville, Laura Carter Holloway was an American journalist, author, and lecturer whose career stretched across newspapers, magazines, and books. Reliable sources describe her as one of the notable women writers of her era, and they also note that her birth year is often misstated: while some older references give 1848, the Tennessee Encyclopedia says census records support 1843.
She received her education at the Nashville Female Academy and went on to build a substantial literary career. Her best-known book, The Ladies of the White House, brought together the lives of presidential spouses for a broad readership and helped establish her reputation as a writer who could connect politics, biography, and everyday life. Archival records also show that she continued publishing widely and left behind correspondence and other papers that reflect a long, active career in letters.
Later in life, Holloway became associated with lecturing and with spiritual and intellectual movements that attracted many readers in the late 19th century. Today she is remembered both for her popular historical writing and for the way she opened public subjects to general readers, especially women.