Julia M. Sharp

Julia Mitchell Sharp (nee Henry) was born in Washington, D.C. around 1905. She worked as a maid in the city, first for a private family and then at a furniture store.¹ As early as 1943, she worked at the White House; fellow maid Lillian Rogers Parks recalled in her memoir that Julia assisted with laundering silk sheets for Madame Chiang Kai-shek, first lady of the Republic of China, when she visited President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House that year. Sharp and the other maids wore black uniforms and oversaw the general cleanliness of the Residence, from laundry and dusting to packing bags and performing other tasks as needed.² 

Sharp remained on staff during the presidency of Harry S. Truman, including while the Trumans lived at the Blair House during the White House renovations. After the passing of First Lady Bess Truman’s mother Mrs. Margaret Wallace in 1952, her pet canaries were given to Julia and another maid, Bluette Pannell.³ Sharp was still working at the White House in 1961; she appeared on a list of Residence Staff compiled that year under President John F. Kennedy, and was identified as one of five “Second & Third Floor Maids” who kept the private living quarters of the first family clean.⁴ It is possible that Sharp worked at the White House beyond 1961, but further information about her life and career is limited.