Bertha Cushing Child
{{short description|American opera singer}}
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Bertha May Cushing Child (September 11, 1871 – February 9, 1933) was an American singer and clubwoman, based in Boston, Massachusetts. She was the mother of diplomat Paul Cushing Child, and the mother-in-law of celebrity chef and author Julia Child.
Early life
Bertha May Cushing was born in Stamford, Connecticut, the daughter of a Methodist minister, John Russell Cushing, and his wife, Mary Hebard Cushing. Her great-uncle was diplomat Caleb Cushing. She attended Wesleyan Academy in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and studied voice with Clara Munger in Boston, with further vocal training in Paris.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22088503/bertha_cushing_child_1933/ "Mrs. Bertha Cushing Child Dies in Paris"] Boston Globe (February 9, 1933): 5. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22088678/bertha_cushing_child_1902/ "Great Contralto Will Sing at Wednesday Club's Festival"] The Times (April 6, 1902): 18. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}
Career
Bertha May Cushing was noted as a "true contralto" concert singer in Boston.[https://books.google.com/books?id=GxvOAAAAMAAJ&dq=Bertha+Cushing+Child&pg=PA156 "Our Illustrations"] Photo-era Magazine (March 1909): 156. Child's voice was described as "luscious" by a New York critic.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22088397/bertha_cushing_child_1904/ "Mrs. Bertha Cushing Child"] The Times Dispatch (April 3, 1904): 6. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} She gave recitals, sang with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and was a soloist in the King's Chapel Choir. She also sang at Synagogue Ardath Israel in Boston, and with the city's Handel and Haydn Society, Cecilia Society, and Browning Society.[https://books.google.com/books?id=2ixMAQAAMAAJ&dq=Bertha+Cushing+Child&pg=RA6-PA35 "Bertha Cushing Child, Contralto"] Musical Courier (February 12, 1908): 35. She was a soloist at the White House in a 1917 concert for President Woodrow Wilson.[https://books.google.com/books?id=I0c0AQAAMAAJ&dq=Bertha+Cushing+Child&pg=PA60 "Sings Before President"] Musical America (January 20, 1917): 12. She also taught singing, and gave musical performances with her children, billed as "Mrs. Child and the Children".Laura Shapiro, [https://books.google.com/books?id=x3whzgVYBuQC&dq=Bertha+Cushing+Child&pg=PA13 Julia Child] (Penguin 2007): 13. {{ISBN|9780670038398}}
She performed at a benefit concert for the Eudowood Consumption Hospital Fund in Baltimore in 1908,[https://books.google.com/books?id=2ixMAQAAMAAJ&dq=Bertha+Cushing+Child&pg=RA13-PA37 "Later Baltimore News"] Musical Courier (April 15, 1908): 37. and at a Boston concert raising funds for war relief causes in 1916.[https://books.google.com/books?id=I0c0AQAAMAAJ&dq=Bertha+Cushing+Child&pg=RA3-PA42 "Two Boston Clubs Resume Concerts"] Musical America (December 2, 1916): 42. Child was a charter member of the Professional Woman's Club,[https://books.google.com/books?id=VJhFAQAAMAAJ&dq=Marsh%27s+Magazine&pg=RA2-PA29 "Bertha Cushing Child"] Marsh's Magazine (October 1908): 29. and was a member of the Equal Suffrage Association, the Woman's City Club, and the Copley Society.
Personal life
In 1899 Bertha Cushing married Charles Tripler Child, an electrical engineer who worked for the Smithsonian Institution. She was widowed with three very young children when Charles died suddenly in 1902.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22088929/bertha_cushing_child_1907/ "Mother Love Expressed in Song"] Boston Globe (April 7, 1907): 55. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} Son Paul Cushing Child (1902-1994) became a diplomat, and in 1946 the husband of chef Julia Child (1912-2004).Alex Prud'homme, [https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/dining/a8339/julia-child-marriage/ The French Chef in America] (Random House, 2016), excerpted in Town and Country (October 20, 2016).[http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~sch00222 Papers of Julia Child, 1925-1993: A Finding Aid] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703043640/http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~sch00222 |date=2018-07-03 }}, Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University.
Bertha Cushing Child followed the teachings of Theosophy and was a vegetarian.Julia Child, [https://books.google.com/books?id=t98oDwAAQBAJ&dq=Bertha+Cushing+Child&pg=PT75 My Life in France] (Gerald Duckworth & Company 2009). {{ISBN|9780715639924}} She died from meningitis or a heart attack in 1933, aged 61 years, in Paris."Mrs. Bertha Cushing Child" New York Times (February 10, 1933): 18. via ProQuest She is buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery.
References
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Category:American operatic contraltos
Category:American women in World War I
Category:20th-century American women opera singers
Category:Musicians from Stamford, Connecticut
Category:Singers from Connecticut
Category:Classical musicians from Connecticut