Eleanor Elkins Widener: Difference between revisions
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== ''Titanic'' survival and Widener Library == |
== ''Titanic'' survival and Widener Library == |
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[[File:WidnerLib.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.5|[[Widener Library|Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library]]]] |
[[File:WidnerLib.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.5|[[Widener Library|Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library]]]] |
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In 1912 Widener and her husband traveled to Paris, with their elder son Harry, in search of a chef for their new hotel, Philadelphia's Ritz Carlton. On April{{nbsp}}12 they embarked at [[Cherbourg-Octeville|Cherbourg]] on the [[RMS Titanic|RMS ''Titanic'']] for their return to America; after that ship struck an iceberg, "[George] Widener placed his wife and her maid in a lifeboat. The women were rescued by the steamship [[RMS Carpathia|RMS ''Carpathia'']], but George D. Widener and his son Harry both went down with the ship |
In 1912 Widener and her husband traveled to Paris, with their elder son Harry, in search of a chef for their new hotel, Philadelphia's Ritz Carlton. On April{{nbsp}}12 they embarked at [[Cherbourg-Octeville|Cherbourg]] on the [[RMS Titanic|RMS ''Titanic'']] for their return to America; after that ship struck an iceberg, "[George] Widener placed his wife and her maid in a lifeboat. The women were rescued by the steamship [[RMS Carpathia|RMS ''Carpathia'']], but George D. Widener and his son Harry both went down with the ship."{{Citation needed|date=April 2014}} George Widener's valet also perished.{{r|tittit}} According to her ''New York Times'' obituary Widener "survived the Titanic by manning the oars in a lifeboat."{{r|nyt_obit}} |
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Soon after, Widener donated $2{{nbsp}}million to Harvard University (from which Harry Widener had graduated in 1907) for construction of the [[Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library]].{{r|gazette2012}} She also{{when|date=April 2014}} rebuilt St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia's [[Ogontz, Philadelphia|Ogontz]] neighborhood as a memorial to her first husband, and gave a $300,000 science building to [[Pottstown, Pennsylvania]]'s Hill School, from which Harry Widener had graduated in 1903.{{r|nyt_obit}} |
Soon after, Widener donated $2{{nbsp}}million to Harvard University (from which Harry Widener had graduated in 1907) for construction of the [[Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library]].{{r|gazette2012}} She also{{when|date=April 2014}} rebuilt St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia's [[Ogontz, Philadelphia|Ogontz]] neighborhood as a memorial to her first husband, and gave a $300,000 science building to [[Pottstown, Pennsylvania]]'s Hill School, from which Harry Widener had graduated in 1903.{{r|nyt_obit}} |
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Revision as of 02:59, 19 April 2014
Eleanor Elkins Widener | |
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| Born | c.1862 |
| Died | July 13, 1937 (aged 75) |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Resting place | Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadephia[1] |
| Known for | Gift of Widener Library |
| Spouses | |
| Children |
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| Parents |
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Eleanor Elkins Widener, née Eleanor Elkins (later known as Eleanor Elkins Widener Rice or Mrs. Alexander Hamilton Rice; c.1862 – July 13, 1937) was an American heiress, socialite, philanthropist, and adventuress best remembered for her donation to Harvard University of the Widener Library—a memorial to her elder son Harry Elkins Widener, who (along with her first husband, George Dunton Widener) perished in the sinking of the RMS Titanic.
Widener later married Harvard professor Alexander Hamilton Rice, Jr., a surgeon and explorer. She subsequently accompanied him on a number of expeditions, including one on which she "went further up the Amazon than any white woman had penetrated" and he was attacked by cannibals.
First marriage
Widener was the daughter of Philadelphia streetcar magnate William Lukens Elkins. In 1883 she married George Dunton Widener, son of her father's business partner, thereby "[uniting] two of the largest fortunes in the city. She was known as one of the city's most beautiful women."[2]
They lived in her father-in-law's 110-room mansion in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.[citation needed] Their children were Harry Elkins Widener, George Dunton Widener, Jr., and Eleanor (Widener) Dixon.[citation needed]
Titanic survival and Widener Library
In 1912 Widener and her husband traveled to Paris, with their elder son Harry, in search of a chef for their new hotel, Philadelphia's Ritz Carlton. On April 12 they embarked at Cherbourg on the RMS Titanic for their return to America; after that ship struck an iceberg, "[George] Widener placed his wife and her maid in a lifeboat. The women were rescued by the steamship RMS Carpathia, but George D. Widener and his son Harry both went down with the ship."[citation needed] George Widener's valet also perished.[1] According to her New York Times obituary Widener "survived the Titanic by manning the oars in a lifeboat."[2]
Soon after, Widener donated $2 million to Harvard University (from which Harry Widener had graduated in 1907) for construction of the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library.[3] She also[when?] rebuilt St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia's Ogontz neighborhood as a memorial to her first husband, and gave a $300,000 science building to Pottstown, Pennsylvania's Hill School, from which Harry Widener had graduated in 1903.[2]
Second marriage and South American adventures
At the library's June 1915 dedication, Widener met Harvard professor Alexander Hamilton Rice, Jr., a surgeon and noted South American explorer;[4] in October she married Rice while wearing her "celebrated [$750,000] string of pearls which she saved from the Titanic disaster".[5] (Another string, worth $250,000, had been lost.) She gave up her Philadelphia home, spending her time in Newport, New York and Paris when not accompanying Rice in his explorations.[citation needed]
On a 1920 trip, "she went further up the Amazon than any white woman had penetrated. The party warded off an attack by savages and killed two cannibals in the skirmish,"[2] though "As luck would have it, [Widener] remained on the specially constructed yacht while her husband ... examined the country around the headwaters"[6]—during which time "cannibals, scantily clad ... very ferocious and of large stature" were reportedly encounted.[6] "As a result that trip was abandoned on the advice of Indian guides, but the Rices ventured several more times into the jungles."[2] ("Explorer Rice Denies That He Was Eaten By Cannibals", one headline read.)[4]
In 1937 Widener died in a Paris store.[2]
References
- ^ a b "Titanic First Class Passenger – WIDENER, Mrs. Eleanor", titanic-titanic.com, retrieved April 18, 2014 [better source needed]
- ^ a b c d e f "Mrs. A.H. Rice Dies in a Paris Store – New York and Newport Society Woman, Wife of Explorer, Noted for Philanthropy – A Survivor of Titanic – Lost First Husband and Son in Disaster – Gave Library to Harvard University", New York Times, July 14, 1937
- ^ Ireland, Corydon (April 5, 2012). "Widener Library rises from Titanic tragedy". Harvard Gazette.
- ^ a b Plotkin, Mark J. (March–April 2013), "Alexander Hamilton Rice: Brief life of an Amazon explorer: 1875–1956", Harvard Magazine, Harvard University
- ^ "Explorer Rice Weds Mrs. G. D. Widener – Law Requiring Five Days' Delay After Securing License Waived by a Court Order – Plans for Secrecy Fail – Bishop Lawrence Officiates at Ceremony in Emmanuel Church Vestry Witnessed by Twelve Persons", New York Times, October 7, 1915
- ^ a b New York Evening Telegram, p. 10, May 2, 1920
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