Nancy Kegan Smith is the retired Director of the Presidential Materials Division at the National Archives and Records Administration. She started her career as an archivist at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas and later worked at the National Archives Building in D.C. She first became interested in first ladies as an archivist at the LBJ Library working with Lady Bird Johnson in processing her beautification files. She has authored book chapters on Lady Bird Johnson and Michelle Obama, is co-editor of Modern First Ladies – Their Documentary Legacy and lectures on first ladies and presidential records. She is a founder and President of the First Ladies Association for Research and Education, FLARE.

Diana B. Carlin is professor emerita of communication at Saint Louis University and a retired faculty member and administrator at the University of Kansas. She is currently an adjunct in the School of Public Affairs at American University where she teaches a virtual course on first ladies. Her interest in first ladies began with a biography of Abigail Adams while in elementary school. She is the author of book chapters on Martha Washington, Julia Grant, Lady Bird Johnson, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Michelle Obama. She authored articles for the White House History Quarterly on first ladies and Sesame Street in the White House and on The Generals’ Wives: Martha Washington, Julia Grant, and Mamie Eisenhower. She is a founding member of FLARE and currently serves as vice president.

Both Nancy and Diana co-authored with Anita B. McBride the first textbook on first ladies, U.S. First Ladies: Making History and Leaving Legacies, and Remember the First Ladies: The Legacies of America’s History-Making Women.