Eleanor Elkins Widener | |
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| Born | Eleanore Elkins[note 1] September 21, 1861 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | (1937-07-13)July 13, 1937 (aged 75) Paris, France |
| Resting place | Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Known for | Gift ofWidener Library atHarvard University |
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Eleanor Elkins Widener (September 21, 1861 - July 13, 1937)néeEleanore Elkins,[note 1] also known asEleanor Elkins Widener Rice was an American heiress, socialite, philanthropist, and adventuress. She was the daughter of wealthy businessmanWilliam Lukens Elkins and marriedGeorge Dunton Widener, the son of wealthy businessmanPeter Arrell Browne Widener. She survived the 1912sinking of the RMSTitanic but her husband and sonHarry Elkins Widener, did not. She renovatedSt. Paul's Episcopal Church inElkins Park, Pennsylvania, as a memorial to her husband and donated $2 million toHarvard University to build theWidener Library as a memorial to her son.
Widener re-married Harvard professorAlexander Hamilton Rice Jr.. She funded his research and accompanied him on a number of expeditions in South America, Europe and India. After her death, her grandsonFitz Eugene Dixon Jr., had Penn Morton College inChester, Pennsylvania, renamedWidener College in her honor.
Widener was born September 21, 1861[1] inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania.[2] Her father was the wealthy businessman William Lukens Elkins. She attendedVassar College for one year but left to marry George Dunton Widener, the son of her father's business partner, Peter Arrell Browne Widener, on November 1, 1883.[1]
They lived in the 110-room mansion,Lynnewood Hall, in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.[3] Their children were Harry Elkins Widener,George Dunton Widener Jr., andEleanor Widener Dixon.[4]
In March 1912, Widener traveled with her husband and son on theRMSMauretania from New York to Liverpool, England.[5] The trip to England was to ensure the safe arrival of 30 silver plates once owned byNell Gwyn being donated to theLondon Museum. They subsequently traveled to Paris to purchase a wedding dress for the upcoming marriage of their daughter Eleanor[6] and to search for a chef for their new hotel, theRitz Carlton in Philadelphia.[7]
On April 10 they embarked atCherbourg on theRMSTitanic for their return to the United States.[8] She traveled with a pearl necklace valued at $750,000. On the night the ship sank, they hosted a dinner in theÀ la Carte Restaurant attended by the ship's captain,Edward Smith,Archibald Butt andJohn B. Thayer.[1] George, Harry, and their valet died in the sinking, but Eleanor and her maid[9] survived inlifeboat #4[10] along with first-class female passengersMadeleine Astor,Emily Ryerson,[11] andMarian Thayer. The lifeboat was rescued by theRMSCarpathia after about 2 hours.[7]
She returned to Philadelphia to recover and renovatedSt. Paul's Episcopal Church in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, as a memorial to her husband.[1] She donated, at a cost of $2 million,[12] theHarry Elkins Widener Memorial Library toHarvard University.[13]: 14 Harry, was a collector of rare and valuable books and had graduated fromHarvard College in 1907. [14] She askedLuther S. Livingston to be the first librarian of the Harry Elkins Widener Collection in the library.[15] She gave a $300,000 science building toThe Hill School, inPottstown, Pennsylvania, where Harry had graduated in 1903.[12]
At the library's June 1915 dedication, Widener met[16] Harvard professorAlexander Hamilton Rice Jr., a surgeon, South American explorer, andBoston Brahmin.[17] In October 1915, she married Rice in a ceremony led by BishopWilliam Lawrence.[18] They lived together atMiramar, the 30,000 square-foot mansion in Rhode Island.[19][20]
She used her fortune to fund his field work[17] and accompanied him on several excursions in South America, Europe and India.[12] Their wedding trip included a trip aboard a boat outfitted for a 5,000-mile journey through South America. They returned several times in search of the source of theOrinoco River to dispel a myth that a tribe of White Indians ruled the area.[1] On one trip, Widener became the first white woman to enter theRio Negro country where she caused a great sensation among the natives. She was kindly treated and showered with gifts. She made many friends with the women of the tribes by her gifts of beads, knives and other trinkets. [21] She received approval from the Brazilian government to study the women of the region and built schools for the children.[1]
During a 1920 trip on theAmazon River, the party warded off an attack by "savages and killed two cannibals". [22] Widener remained on the yacht during the attack.[21] That particular trip was abandoned on the advice of their Indian guides, but the Rices ventured several more times into the jungles. [22]
On July 13, 1937,[23] Widener died of a heart attack[1] in a Paris store[9][22] and was interred atLaurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia[24] in the Widener family mausoleum. Her crypt makes no mention of herTitanic survival, however thecenotaphs to her husband and son in the same mausoleum mention the sinking.[12] She left her fortune of $11 million,[25]with minor exceptions, to a trust for the benefit of Rice, to pass on his death to her surviving son George and daughter Eleanor.[26]
She gifted the furniture and contents of her Louis XVI drawing room from her New York City home onFifth Avenue to thePennsylvania Museum of Art.[27]
In 1938, an inscription was placed over the door to the Harry Widener Memorial Room in the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library in her honor.[28]
Her grandson, Fitz Eugene Dixon Jr., requested that Penn Morton College in Chester, Pennsylvania, be renamed Widener College in honor of his grandmother.[29]
Citations
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