First ladies

From left to right: unidentified, unidentified, Mrs. Bess Wallace Truman, Mary Chinn Chiles, and Margaret Truman on an unknown occasion. This photo probably dates from Truman's senatorial period. From the Truman home.

From left to right: Mrs. Bess Wallace Truman, former President Harry S. Truman, and Margaret Truman bedecked with leis while on a sailing party to Hawaii. Donor: Werner Stoy.

Former President Harry S. Truman (right) and Mrs. Bess Wallace Truman (center) with a gas station owner Carroll Kehne, studying a road map. The Trumans stopped at this Gulf Station at 400 West Patrick Street, Frederick, Maryland, on their road trip. Former President Truman had driven his own car from Missouri to Washington, D.C., to attend to business related to the projected Truman Library.

President Harry S. Truman and Vice President Alben Barkley at lunch during inauguration festivities. Standing: Margaret Truman, Mrs. Marian Barkley Truitt. Seated, left to right: Unidentified man, President Truman, Mrs. Bess Wallace Truman, Vice President Barkley, and unidentified man. From album "Truman's Inauguration Highlights".

Mrs. Bess Wallace Truman attempting to break a bottle of champagne against the nose of a Navy hospital evacuation plane in order to christen it. A Navy officer is reaching up with a tool to bang the bottle and help her break it, after repeated vain attempts by Mrs. Truman. Standing behind Mrs. Truman is George Elsey.

Mrs. Bess Wallace Truman (left) and Margaret Truman arrive in Miami, Florida, en route to Key West, where they will spend the Easter holiday at the Little White House with President Truman. Donor: New York Herald Tribune

Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt greeting unidentified ladies during a visit to the Harry S. Truman Library.

From left to right, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt and Mrs. Bess Wallace Truman at the Truman Library.

Mrs. Bess Wallace Truman (left) and an unidentified woman standing in front of a car, probably at a parade. Paul Renshaw is an Independence, Missouri photographer. Donor: Paul Renshaw.

Mrs. Bess Wallace Truman (left) receives a Margaret Truman doll from Gael Galvin, daughter of Under Secretary of Labor Michael J. Galvin.