Welcome to Staatsburgh State Historic Site's blog! Learn more about the Gilded Age home of Ruth and Ogden Mills!

Friday, June 27, 2025

Groundbreaking Women in the Guestbook: Eleonora Randolph Sears

Since receiving the amazing gift of an original Staatsburgh guestbook in 2017, the site has been researching all of the people who signed its pages. The guestbook covers the years 1899-1908 and includes approximately 150 individuals who visited Staatsburgh. There are many different people who signed the guestbook including relatives, friends, and neighbors of the Mills family as well as politicians, businessmen, sportsmen & women, and even the President’s daughter! This essay will look at one of the remarkable and barrier breaking women who signed the guestbook, Eleonora Randolph Sears (1881-1968).


Eleonora Randolph Sears, circa 1901, Bain News Service

Cover of Staatsburgh's guestbook dating from 1899-1908