Most people who know the name Sherrill Redmon know it in one phrase: Mitch McConnell’s first wife. That phrase is accurate, and it is also far too small for the life it describes.
Redmon spent twelve years married to the man who would become one of the most powerful Republicans in American politics. Then she walked a completely different road: she became a feminist historian, built one of the most important archives of women’s history in the United States, and spent nearly two decades preserving the voices of women who, like her, had mostly been left out of the official record.
Early life in Louisville
Sherrill Lynn Redmon was born on 6 February 1943 in Louisville, Kentucky, to Charles and Doris Redmon, both educators. She grew up in a politically engaged household and attended Seneca High School in Louisville, where she did well academically.
She went on to the University of Louisville, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree. It was there, in 1962, that she met Mitch McConnell. Both were students, both were interested in politics, and they began dating after about six months.
She continued her studies at the University of Kentucky, completing a Ph.D. in American history in 1974. Her doctoral work, and the archival work she did alongside it at the University of Louisville Archives and Records Center, shaped the career that followed.
Marriage to Mitch McConnell
Redmon and McConnell married in 1968, when both were in their twenties. The marriage lasted twelve years and produced three daughters: Elly, born in 1972, Claire, born in 1976, and Porter, born in 1979.
Those were the years McConnell was building his political career. He was elected Jefferson County Judge/Executive in 1977, a job that put him at the centre of local politics in Kentucky. Redmon held the household together while he campaigned, and she also worked — briefly as an adjunct professor, then in archival work, where she found the field that would define her.
The two were, by most accounts, opposites in politics. McConnell moved steadily toward the conservative leadership of the Republican Party. Redmon’s own politics leaned the other way, toward feminism and equality. The marriage ended in divorce in 1980. The split is usually described as rooted in those differing beliefs and in the demands of McConnell’s career, rather than in any single event.
After the divorce, Redmon moved to Massachusetts with her daughters and settled in Northampton.
The Sophia Smith Collection
In Northampton, Redmon took the job that made her name in her own right. She joined the Sophia Smith Collection of Women’s History at Smith College, and in 1993 she became its director, a post she held until her retirement in 2012.
The Sophia Smith Collection is one of the most important archives of women’s history in the United States, holding manuscripts, photographs, and papers documenting women’s lives. Under Redmon, it changed in a deliberate way: she actively sought material from grassroots activists and from groups whose histories had rarely been collected — women of colour, working-class women, and LGBTQ+ activists — instead of waiting for papers to arrive from already famous women.
Her best-known project there was the Voices of Feminism Oral History Project, which she started with Gloria Steinem. It recorded the life stories of more than 60 leading feminist women, preserving interviews that would otherwise have been lost. The project is still cited as one of the most valuable records of second-wave feminism.
Colleagues from her early archival days in Louisville described her as sincere, intense, and purpose-driven, and also sweet, kind, and maternal. That combination — rigour about the record, warmth toward the people in it — runs through the accounts of her work at Smith.
What happened after
Redmon did not remarry after her divorce from McConnell, and she has kept a low public profile. She lives in Whately, Massachusetts, in Franklin County, and has stayed out of the political spotlight even as her former husband became Senate majority leader and one of the most recognisable figures in American politics.
Her daughters followed paths that echo her own interests in advocacy and public life. Porter McConnell, the youngest, became a liberal activist and writer, a fact that has drawn attention precisely because it sits so far from her father’s politics.
McConnell, for his part, married Elaine Chao in 1993. He announced in February 2024 that he would step down as Senate Republican leader, and that he would not seek re-election when his term ends. Redmon’s name rarely appears in those stories. It does not need to. Her work is in an archive in Northampton, not in a Senate speech.
Why her story matters
Sherrill Redmon’s story is often told as a footnote to a famous man’s biography. It reads better the other way round. She was married to a future Senate leader for twelve years, and then she spent nearly twenty years making sure that women’s lives — including the lives of women who were never famous — were written down, kept, and read.
A marriage can be twelve years. An archive can last generations.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Sherrill Redmon?
Sherrill Lynn Redmon, born 6 February 1943 in Louisville, Kentucky, is a feminist historian and scholar. She was Mitch McConnell’s first wife, married from 1968 to 1980, and later director of the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College from 1993 to 2012.
How long were Sherrill Redmon and Mitch McConnell married?
Twelve years, from 1968 to 1980. They met in 1962 while both were students at the University of Louisville.
How many children do Sherrill Redmon and Mitch McConnell have?
Three daughters: Elly (born 1972), Claire (born 1976), and Porter (born 1979).
What did Sherrill Redmon do after her divorce?
She moved to Massachusetts and became director of the Sophia Smith Collection of Women’s History at Smith College in 1993, retiring in 2012. With Gloria Steinem, she created the Voices of Feminism Oral History Project, recording more than 60 leading feminist women.
Is Sherrill Redmon still alive?
Yes. She lives in Whately, Massachusetts, and keeps a low public profile.
Sources checked for this article: Smith College, Sophia Smith Collection; The List, “What We Know About Mitch McConnell’s First Wife, Sherrill Redmon”; multiple biographical profiles agreeing on birth date 6 February 1943, marriage 1968, divorce 1980, three daughters, and director of the Sophia Smith Collection 1993–2012. Some secondary profiles differ on the exact year she first joined the collection; the 1993 director date is the one used here.
