Margaret D. Williams Rogers (1874 – July 19, 1953)[1] was an American housemaid at the White House who served for 30 years (1909–1939), during the administrations of Presidents Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, and part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's, eventually rising to head housemaid.[2] She began her service on the fourth day of the Taft administration.[3]
Eleanor Roosevelt encouraged Rogers to write a diary about her experiences on the White House staff.[4] Those experiences were memorialized in the book My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House written by her daughter, Lillian Rogers Parks, who also worked at the White House as a seamstress.[5][6][7] The story was later produced in 1979 as the NBC miniseries Backstairs at the White House by Ed Friendly Productions.[8] The role of Maggie Rogers was played by actress Olivia Cole.[9][10]
Emmett Rogers Jr., Margaret's son, was a U.S. serviceman who was gassed in World War I and had to retire to Arizona for his health.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Deaths Elsewhere". Tampa Tribune. Associated Press. July 23, 1953. p. 2. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
- ^ "A White House Maid Remembers a Moment of Panic". Washington, D.C.: The White House Historical Association, retrieved online August 29, 2018.
- ^ "Insider spent 52 years in the White House". Ottawa Citizen. 15 November 1997.
- ^ Woods, Sherry (12 February 1979). "She recalls many presidents, but Lillian Parks is no gossip". The Miami News.
- ^ Mitric, Joan McQueeney. "White House Workers Recall Their Service with Pride". Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret News, February 19, 1995.
- ^ Clifford, Garry. "Her Tales of White House Life Head for TV, but Lillian Parks Knows How to Keep a Secret". New York, New York: People, January 29, 1979.
- ^ Thomas, Robert McG. Jr. (12 November 1997). "Lillian Parks, 100, Dies; Had 'Backstairs' White House View". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
- ^ Martin, Bob. “Skipping around the television dial.” Long Beach Independent, 13 July 1977
- ^ “Eight Stars Set for NBC’s Series on the White House.” The Los Angeles Times, 6 April 1978
- ^ Hanauer, Joan.“New mini-series unveils White House family life.” Hutchinson News, 29 January 1979
External links
edit- Maggie Rogers' Handwritten Notes (The White House Historical Society)
- Margaret D. “Maggie” Williams Rogers obituary
- Smithsonian Museum of American History: The Fashionable First Lady (dresses given to Maggie Rogers by Grace Goodhue Coolidge)
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