The 400 Has Arrived!

Official Launch of Gilded Heiresses

In 1892, Mrs. Caroline Astor and her social advisor Ward McAllister unveiled a number that became legendary in Gilded Age New York: The Four Hundred.

It represented the exact number of people who could fit in Mrs. Astor’s Fifth Avenue ballroom—the chosen circle of society’s elite.

If your name was on that list, you had arrived.

Today, I’m borrowing that name to mark a new chapter.

But it’s not to keep people out or to be exclusive or secretive. No, it’s to bring history lovers in.

And so, this is the official launch of Gilded Heiresses on Substack…with our very own 400!

Gratitude First

Before I go further, I want to say a heartfelt thank you!

In just a few weeks, more than 2,000 of you have joined this community. You’ve read, shared, and celebrated the Gilded Age alongside me. And you’ve proven that these stories—the heiresses, the letters, the houses, the archives—still matter deeply today.

I do hope that some of you will join me in a paid subscription. If the time isn’t right for you though, I’ll still be posting free content sometimes…and I can’t wait for you to read it!

I’ll explain more in a moment.

What’s Changing

Until now, I’ve been posting pieces from my back catalogue—articles that once lived on my website. They’ve been free for everyone, and I’ll continue to share some of these as occasional free reads.

And starting today, I’m launching paid subscriptions.

From here on, new work will live behind that subscription, opening the door to much more ambitious storytelling and research.

Here’s what paid members will receive:

• Fresh articles about the Gilded Age and its heiresses—stories never told before and researched rethinkings of well-known stories and people.

• Vlogs from my time in the archives, so you can experience discoveries as I make them. (Much of this will be at the Mapperton archives, where I live, as I continue to make new discoveries about the Earls and Countesses of Sandwich that have been lost to history!)

• Twice-monthly audio recordings of Alberta Sturges Montagu’s letters, transcribed by the wonderful Alberta Research Project volunteers and read aloud (by me!) so that her words reach you across the century.

• Exclusive videos, essays, and history content created just for this community.
  

Your subscriptions will make all of this possible!

Revenue from Substack will fund research trips, archive access fees, licensing rare photographs, location costs for filming, and the many hours of study it takes to uncover the stories that have been hidden for more than a century.

Special Tier: Why The 400?

In the Gilded Age, “The 400” symbolised exclusivity, wealth, and pedigree.

But I want to reclaim it as something new.

Our 400 will be those who join the ‘Founders’ Tier’:

✨A personal video of welcome and thanks from me!
✨ Your name will be inscribed in a Founders’ Book, which will be preserved in the Mapperton archives, making you part of Mapperton’s history for future generations to find!.
✨ You’ll be invited to virtual private salon-style gatherings with me—intimate conversations where we’ll talk about discoveries, letters, and history. And you can ask all of your burning questions!
✨ You’ll be part of an annual virtual supper club, cooking from Alberta’s own recipes and raising a glass to the past together. (These recipes aren’t public yet, so you’ll be the first in perhaps a century to cook them!)
✨ I’m cooking up (get it?!) a few other things as well.

This is a circle not of exclusion, but of passion! It’s for history, for heritage, and for preserving stories that might otherwise be lost.

I so hope that you’ll join me there!

What Free Subscribers Can Expect

If you’re not ready to become a paid subscriber, don’t worry: you’re still part of this story.

I’ll continue to share occasional free articles drawn from my archives and previous writings, so that you’ll always have a way to engage.

But the bulk of my new work—the discoveries, the letters, the videos—will live with our paying community, who make it possible to keep this work alive.

A New Chapter Begins

Think of this as our grand opening!

I’ve been setting the stage with archived essays…

…and today, the curtain rises on a new era of Gilded Heiresses.

New articles. New voices. New ways to connect with the past.

This is the official launch, and I’d love for you to be part of it. Whether you choose a paid subscription or join us in The 400, your support will ensure that the heiresses of the Gilded Age—and the worlds they lived in—are remembered, studied, and shared.

Take your place in history. Step into The 400.

With gratitude and excitement,
Xx Julie