Dorothy Payne Whitney Elmhirst | |
|---|---|
 Dorothy Payne Whitney in 1915 | |
| Born | Dorothy Payne Whitney (1887-01-23)January 23, 1887 |
| Died | December 14, 1968(1968-12-14) (aged 81) Dartington Hall,Devon, UK |
| Education | Chapin School |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Whitney Willard Straight Beatrice Whitney Straight Michael Whitney Straight Ruth Elmhirst William Elmhirst |
| Parent(s) | William Collins Whitney Flora Payne |
| Relatives | SeeWhitney family |
Dorothy Payne Elmhirst (néeWhitney, previouslyStraight; January 23, 1887 – December 14, 1968) was anAmerican-born social activist, philanthropist, publisher and a member of the prominentWhitney family.
Whitney was born inWashington, D.C., the daughter ofFlora (née Payne) andWilliam Collins Whitney, the United StatesSecretary of the Navy during the firstCleveland administration from 1885 through 1889. Flora was the daughter of SenatorHenry B. Payne ofOhio[1] and sister of ColonelOliver Hazard Payne, later treasurer of theStandard Oil Company. She attended theChapin School. At age 17, she came into a major inheritance, approximately $15,000,000 (equivalent to $524,944,444 in 2024 dollars), following the death of her extremely wealthy father.[2][3]
One of the wealthiest women in America in the early 20th century, Dorothy Whitney Straight was a philanthropist and social activist who supported women's trade unions and educational and charitable organizations such as theJunior League of New York. She became the first president of the Association of Junior Leagues International in 1921. Together with her husband, she founded the weekly magazineThe New Republic and theNew School for Social Research inNew York City.[4]
Records of Dorothy Payne Whitney in New York City reveal the extent of her philanthropic work. She was a benefactor of the arts, feminist, and pacifist causes, as well as social and labour reform. She lent financial support to progressive alternative education plus scholarly research. In 1937, she created the William C. Whitney Foundation in her father's name.[4]
Her first marriage in 1911 was toWillard Dickerman Straight (1880–1918), the son ofHenry H. Straight, fromOswego, New York, who went toCornell University and by the age of 30 was a powerful man amongst the international community trading inPeking,China.[5] Together, they had three children:
Straight died at the age of 38 ofinfluenza during the1918 pandemic while serving with theUnited States Army inFrance duringWorld War I.[10] Straight's will requested his wife to continue hisphilanthropic work in support of Cornell and in 1925, she builtWillard Straight Hall, astudent union building dedicated to her late husband's memory.[11]
In 1920, she metLeonard Knight Elmhirst (1893–1974), an Englishman from aYorkshire landowning family, who was then studying agriculture atCornell University, and was seeking support for Cornell's Cosmopolitan Club which provided amenities for foreign students.[11] They married in April 1925, and embarked on ambitious plans to recreate rural community life atDartington Hall inDevon.[2] Together, they had two children: Ruth Elmhirst (1926–1986), who marriedMaurice Ash (1917–2003) in 1947,[12][13] and William Elmhirst (born 1929).
George Bernard Shaw called Dartington a "salon in the countryside": it attracted British intellectuals likeAldous Huxley andGerald Heard, and the American constitutional psychologistWilliam Sheldon.[14] At Dartington she led local artistic developments, foundingDartington College of Arts andDartington International Summer School – although she and Leonard also continued their worldwide interests. On April 26, 1935, she renounced herUnited States citizenship.[15]
Dorothy Payne Whitney Elmhirst died on December 14, 1968.[16]
Dorothy was known for building theWillard Straight Hall atCornell University, foundingThe New Republic, foundingNew School for Social Research, being the founding president ofAssociation of Junior Leagues International, founding the William C. Whitney Foundation, renovating Dartington Hall and its gardens, founding the Dartington Hall Trust, founding the Dartington Hall School, founding theDartington College of Arts, and hosting theDartington International Summer School from 1953.[4]
Willard D.Straight, the handsome young American diplomat who has had a career in the Far East that Midas himself might have envied, who has, within the past year, obtained millions for the houses of Morgan and Rockefeller, is now, for the first time in his eventful life, on the fair road to fortune in his own right.
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