The wives of the Pres. of the U.S. have become subjects for serious scholarly investigation on their own merits. The growth of presidential libraries during the 1970s & 1980s has been a positive force in providing a rich body of source material regarding what modern first ladies (FL) have done. Essays examine the papers & legacy of: Lou Henry Hoover, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Truman, Mamie Doud Eisenhower, Jacqueline Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, & Nancy Davis Reagan. Also, essays on: modern FL: an institutional perspective; the papers of four 20th-cent. FL; & the historical legacy of Amer. FL.