Margaret Brown Klapthor

author

Margaret Brown Klapthor

1922–1994

A Smithsonian curator and White House historian, she helped shape how generations of visitors understood America’s first ladies and presidential traditions. Her work blended careful scholarship with a talent for turning political history into vivid museum stories.

2 Audiobooks

White House China of the Lincoln Administration in the Museum of History and Technology

White House China of the Lincoln Administration in the Museum of History and Technology

by Margaret Brown Klapthor

Presentation Pieces in the Museum of History and Technology Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology, Paper No. 47 [Smithsonian Institution]

Presentation Pieces in the Museum of History and Technology Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology, Paper No. 47 [Smithsonian Institution]

by Margaret Brown Klapthor

About the author

Margaret Brown Klapthor was an American historian and curator best known for her long career at the Smithsonian Institution and for her expertise on the White House, presidential history, and the lives of first ladies. Born in Henderson, Kentucky, in 1922, she graduated from the University of Maryland in 1943 and joined the Smithsonian soon afterward.

Over the decades, she became closely associated with the Smithsonian’s First Ladies collection, including the historic gowns and related materials that drew wide public interest. She later served as chair of the National Museum of American History’s Division of Political History, helping develop exhibitions and collections that connected everyday visitors with the personal side of the presidency.

Klapthor also wrote books on the first ladies and White House furnishings, especially the history of presidential china. She retired from the Smithsonian in 1983 as curator emeritus and died in Washington, D.C., in 1994, leaving behind a body of work that made White House history more accessible and memorable.