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Eleanor Elkins Widener

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Eleanor Elkins Widener
Born
Eleanore Elkins[note 1]

September 21, 1861 or May 21, 1862
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died(1937-07-13)July 13, 1937 (aged 75)
Paris, France
Resting placeLaurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Known forGift of Widener Library at Harvard University
Spouses
Children
Parents
Signature

Eleanor Elkins Widener c. 1862– July 13, 1937) née Eleanore Elkins,[note 1] also known as Eleanor Elkins Widener Rice or Mrs. Alexander Hamilton Rice; was an American heiress, socialite, philanthropist, and adventuress. She was the daughter of wealthy businessman William Lukens Elkins and married George Dunton Widener, the son of wealthy businessman Peter Arrell Browne Widener. She survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic but her husband and son Harry Elkins Widener, did not. She donated the Widener Library to Harvard University as a memorial to her son.

Widener re-married Harvard professor Alexander Hamilton Rice Jr.. She accompanied him on a number of expeditions in South America. After her death, her grandson Fitz Eugene Dixon Jr., had Penn Morton College in Chester, Pennsylvania, renamed Widener College in her honor.

Early life

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She was born either on September 21, 1861[1] or May 21, 1862[2] in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[3] Her father was the wealthy businessman William Lukens Elkins. In 1883 she married George Dunton Widener,[4] the son of her father's business partner, Peter Arrell Browne Widener. [5]

They lived in the 110-room mansion, Lynnewood Hall, in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.[6] Their children were Harry Elkins Widener, George Dunton Widener Jr., and Eleanor Widener Dixon.[4]

Titanic survival and Widener Library

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Widener, son George (left), and Widener Library architect Horace Trumbauer in Harvard Yard
The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, Harvard University

In 1912, she traveled to Paris with her husband and son Harry in search of a chef for their new hotel, the Ritz Carlton in Philadelphia. On April 10 they embarked at Cherbourg on the RMS Titanic for their return to the United States. On the night the ship sank they hosted the ship's captain, Edward Smith, at dinner in its À la Carte Restaurant.[7] George, Harry, and their valet all perished in the sinking, but Eleanor and her maid[8] survived [5][note 2] in lifeboat #4.[10]

Soon after, Widener donated, at a cost of $3.5 million (equivalent to $80 million in 2023), the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library to Harvard University.[11]: 14 [12] Harry, was a collector of rare and valuable books" and had graduated from Harvard College in 1907. [13] She also[when?] rebuilt St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, as a memorial to George Dunton Widener, and gave a $300,000 science building to The Hill School, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, where Harry Widener had graduated in 1903.[5]

Second marriage and South American adventures

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With A. H. Rice, May 1920
Miramar, the home Widener planned in Newport with her first husband and completed with her second[citation needed]
The yacht specially constructed for the Rices' Amazon explorations[14]

At the library's June 1915 dedication, Widener met[15] Harvard professor Alexander Hamilton Rice Jr., a surgeon, South American explorer, and Boston Brahmin.[16] In October 1915, she married Rice in a ceremony led by Bishop William Lawrence.[17] One headline read: "Explorer Weds Titanic Widow". [11]: 20 

She used her fortune to fund his field work and accompanied him on several excursions.[16] On one such foray, Widener became "the first white woman to enter the Rio Negro country [where she] caused a great sensation among the natives. She was kindly treated and was looked upon with reverence. Natives showered her with gifts, and she made many friends with the women of the tribes by her gifts of beads, knives and other trinkets." [18][19]

A 1920 trip on which Widener "went further up the Amazon than any white woman had penetrated" went less smoothly. "The party warded off an attack by savages and killed two cannibals" [5]‍—‌​"scantily clad ... very ferocious and of large stature" [20]‍—‌though "as luck would have it, [Widener had] remained on the specially constructed yacht" during this phase of the explorations.[18] That particular trip "was abandoned on the advice of Indian guides, but the Rices ventured several more times into the jungles." [5] (A subsequent headline read: "Explorer Rice Denies That He Was Eaten By Cannibals".[16]

Death and legacy

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On July 13, 1937,[21] Widener died in a Paris store[8][5] and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.[22] She left her fortune of $11 million,[23] with minor exceptions, to a trust for the benefit of Rice, to pass on his death to her surviving son George and daughter Eleanor.[24]

She gifted the furniture and contents of her Louis XVI drawing room from her New York City home on Fifth Avenue to the Pennsylvania Museum of Art.[25]

In 1938, an inscription was placed over the door to the Harry Widener Memorial Room in her honor.[26]

Her grandson, Fitz Eugene Dixon Jr., requested that Penn Morton College in Chester, Pennsylvania, be renamed Widener College in honor of his grandmother.[27]

Portrayals

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  • Diana Kent (2012) Titanic; TV series

Notes

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  1. ^ a b [3] "[The December 31, 1912 agreement between Widener and Harvard University, regarding her donation of Widener Library], and the family genealogy spell Mrs. Widener's [given] name with terminal 'e'; however, she appears to have dropped the 'e' for her personal use and consistently signs herself to [Harvard] President Lowell without the 'e'." (Bentinck-Smith) [28]: 77n 
  2. ^ Though not naming Widener as among those manning the oars, Emily Borie Ryerson's affidavit to the US Senate committee investigating the disaster does relate that Titanic's No. 4 Boat was at least partly "great lady"-​powered:
    Mrs. Thayer, Mrs. Widener, Mrs. Astor, and Elizabeth Mussey Eustis were the only others I knew in our boat ...Some one called out, 'Pull for your lives, or you'll be sucked under,' and everyone that could rowed like mad. I could see my younger daughter and Mrs. Thayer and Mrs. Astor rowing, but there seemed to be no suction. Then we turned to pick up some of those in the water ...[9]: 1107-8 

References

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  1. ^ "Eleanor Widener". Encyclopedia Titanica. Retrieved April 22, 2014.[better source needed]
  2. ^ "Titanic First Class Passenger – WIDENER, Mrs. Eleanor", titanic-titanic.com, archived from the original on June 30, 2017, retrieved April 18, 2014[better source needed]
  3. ^ a b "Mrs. Eleanore Elkins Widener (31840)", Lineage Book – National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, vol. 32, p. 310, 1911
  4. ^ a b Wilson, James Grant; Fiske, John (1918). The Cyclopaedia of American Biography. New York: The Press Association Compilers, Inc. p. 252. Retrieved February 1, 2025.
  5. ^ 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", The New York Times, July 14, 1937
  6. ^ "Lynnewood Hall". americanaristocracy.com. American Aristocracy. Retrieved February 1, 2025.
  7. ^ Archbold, Rick; McCauley, Dana (1997). Last dinner on the Titanic. Hyperion. p. 136. ISBN 9780786863037.
  8. ^ a b "Eleanor Widener". Encyclopedia Titanica. Archived from the original on December 25, 2022. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  9. ^ United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce. (1912), "'Titanic' disaster : hearings before a subcommittee of the Committee on Commerce United States Senate Sixty-second Congress Second Session pursuant to S. Res. 283, directing the Committee on Commerce to investigate the causes leading to the wreck of the White star liner 'Titanic'", 62nd Congress, no. 806, Government Printing Office
  10. ^ Ireland, Corydon. "Widener Library rises from Titanic tragedy". new.harvard.edu. Harvard University. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
  11. ^ a b William Bentinck-Smith (1980). "... a Memorial to My Dear Son": Some Reflections on 65 Years of the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library. Harvard College Library.
  12. ^ Johnston, Louis; Williamson, Samuel H. (2023). "What Was the U.S. GDP Then?". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved November 30, 2023. United States Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the MeasuringWorth series.
  13. ^ Harvard College (1780- ). Class of 1907 (1913), "Harry Elkins Widener", Third report / Harvard College Class of 1907., New York: Press of Styles and Cash, pp. 334–5{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ Union, Pan American (December 1916), "The 'Alberta' leaving New York for the Amazon River", Pan American Notes, Bulletin of the Pan American Union, vol. 43, no. 6, p. 778
  15. ^ Harvard College Library (2009). "The Memorial Library. The Rotunda". History of the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Collection. The President and Fellows of Harvard College. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  16. ^ a b c Plotkin, Mary J. "Vita: Alexander Hamilton Rice - Brief Life of an Amazon Explorer: 1875-1956". www.harvardmagazine.com. Harvard Magazine. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  17. ^ "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", The New York Times, October 7, 1915, retrieved November 24, 2017
  18. ^ a b c "Routs 25 Amazon Cannibals – Alexander H. Rice, Noted Explorer, Battles with Man Eaters in Wilds of World's Greatest River – Wife Remains on Yacht and Escapes Encounter" (PDF), New York Evening Telegram, p. 10, May 2, 1920
  19. ^ The Evening Telegram continued: "Before leaving for the tropics Dr. and Mrs. Rice ordered a magnificent fountain on the Newport grounds containing eight [nozzles] which will be large enough to send streams of water seventy-five feet in the air." [18]
  20. ^ "Explorers Kill Cannibals – Former Mrs. Widener Shares Perils in South America", New York Tribune, p. 7, May 1, 1920
  21. ^ "MRS. E.E. RICE LEFT $14,284,276 ESTATE; Former Wife of the Late G.D. Widener Had Only $662,499 Taxable in This State". www.nytimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  22. ^ "Eleanor Elkins Widener Rice". remembermyjourney.com. webCemeteries. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  23. ^ "Mrs. Rice Left Big Estate: It Is Reported as $10,811,645 in Filing at Newport". The New York Times. June 7, 1942. p. 36.
  24. ^ "Dr. Alexander H. Rice Gets Wife's Millions". The New York Times. August 17, 1937. p. 17.
  25. ^ "Rice, Eleanore Elkins". research.frick.org. The Frick Collection. Retrieved February 1, 2025.
  26. ^ "Inscriptions to Be Put Over Widener Memorial Room in Mrs. Rice's Honor". www.thecrimson.com. The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  27. ^ Bjorkgren, David. "Titanic Survivor was Namesake of Widener College (Now University)". delco.today. American Community Journals, LLC. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  28. ^ Bentinck-Smith, William (1976). Building a great library: the Coolidge years at Harvard. Harvard University Library. ISBN 978-0-674-08578-7.
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