Mary Robinson
Cite this Page
"Mary Robinson," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/523.
- Positions
- Kitchen Assistant
- Cook
- Years in President's House
- circa 1890
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Female
- Race/Ethnicity
- Black or African American
- Presidency
- Benjamin Harrison
- Biography
- According to the Salt Lake Herald, a Virginian woman named Mary Robinson worked in the White House Kitchen in 1890: “Mary makes the pies, bakes the bread and fries the crullers, and is the assistant of [Head Cook] Dolly Johnson…the two of them can get up a meal that would put Philipini, Nicolini, and all the other $10,000 chefs to the test.”1 It is likely that Mary worked there beyond 1890, but several women named Mary Robinson worked as cooks in D.C. at the time, making it difficult to trace her career or life beyond the White House.
- “The White House Cooks,” Salt Lake Herald, June 1, 1890, pg. 13, Chronicling America, https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn85058130/1890-06-01/ed-1/?sp=13&r=0.072,0.109,0.553,0.33,0.
- Birthplace
- Virginia, USA
- Unclear from Context
- Related Association Content
- https://www.whitehousehistory.org/kitchen-genius-dolly-johnson-at-the-white-house