Rosamond Beirne

Rosamond Randall was born in Annapolis, Maryland, on March 8, 1894, to attorney Daniel Richard Randall and Elizabeth Harding. In November 1919, she married Francis Foulke Beirne, an editor at the Baltimore Sun.

Prior to her 1948 election as Vice Regent for Maryland, Mrs. Beirne served on the boards of the Hammond-Harwood House in Annapolis and the Society for the Preservation of Maryland Antiquities as well as on the council of the Maryland Historical Society.

As Vice Regent, she headed several committees that reflected her interest in scholarship, including Research and Records (1950–53), Emergency (1955–56), and Special Lands (1955–57). As chair of the One Hundredth Anniversary Committee, commemorating the Association’s centennial, she facilitated publication of the organization’s first definitive history—Mount Vernon: The Story of a Shrine, by Gerald W. Johnson—released in 1953.

In addition, Mrs. Beirne was deeply interested in the first president’s papers and instrumental in convincing the Association to publish them in collaboration with the University of Virginia. Mount Vernon still provides financial support for this ongoing endeavor, and its library will be the repository for all files and records related to the project once the final volume is completed.