Eleanor Elkins Widener

{{Infobox person

| name = Eleanor Elkins Widener

| image = Eleanor Elkins Widener.jpg

| caption =

| birth_date = September 21, 1861

| birth_name = Eleanore Elkins{{NoteTag|name=eleanore}}

| birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date|1937|07|13}} (aged 75)

| death_place = Paris, France

| resting_place = Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| resting_place_coordinates =

| education =

| known_for = Gift of Widener Library at Harvard University

| party =

| spouse = {{plainlist|

}}

| children = {{plainlist|

}}

| parents = {{plainlist|

William Lukens Elkins
Maria Louise Broomall

}}

| signature = Eleanor Elkins Widener SignatureToAbbotLawrenceLowell 1912.png

| signature_size = 220px

}}

Eleanor Elkins Widener (September 21, 1861 - July 13, 1937) née Eleanore Elkins,{{NoteTag|name=eleanore}} also known as Eleanor Elkins Widener 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 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic but her husband and son Harry Elkins Widener, did not. She renovated St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, as a memorial to her husband and donated $2 million to Harvard University to build the Widener Library as a memorial to her son.

Widener re-married Harvard professor Alexander 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 grandson Fitz Eugene Dixon Jr., had Penn Morton College in Chester, Pennsylvania, renamed Widener College in her honor.

Early life

Widener was born September 21, 1861 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.{{r|american_kennel_club}} Her father was the wealthy businessman William Lukens Elkins. She attended Vassar 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.{{cite book |last1=Geller |first1=Judith B. |title=Titanic - Women and Children First |date=1998 |publisher=W.W. Norton |location=New York |isbn=0-393-04666-4 |pages=81–85 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dfkiBcUMXw8C |access-date=9 February 2025}}

They lived in the 110-room mansion, Lynnewood Hall, in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.{{cite web |title=Lynnewood Hall |url=https://americanaristocracy.com/houses/lynnewood-hall |website=americanaristocracy.com |publisher=American Aristocracy |access-date=1 February 2025}} Their children were Harry Elkins Widener, George Dunton Widener Jr., and Eleanor Widener Dixon.{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=James Grant |last2=Fiske |first2=John |title=The Cyclopaedia of American Biography |date=1918 |publisher=The Press Association Compilers, Inc. |location=New York |page=252 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gMEOs4na_yAC |access-date=1 February 2025}}

''Titanic'' survival and memorials

In March 1912, Widener traveled with her husband and son on the RMS Mauretania from New York to Liverpool, England.{{sfn|Difulgo|2014|p=47}} The trip to England was to ensure the safe arrival of 30 silver plates once owned by Nell Gwyn being donated to the London Museum. They subsequently traveled to Paris to purchase a wedding dress for the upcoming marriage of their daughter Eleanor{{sfn|Difulgo|2014|p=48}} and to search for a chef for their new hotel, the Ritz Carlton in Philadelphia.{{cite web |last1=Fitzpatrick |first1=Frank |title=Titanic disaster's local reach |url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/living/20120415_Titanic_disaster_s_local_reach.html |website=www.inquirer.com |date=April 15, 2012 |publisher=The Philadelphia Inquirer |access-date=10 February 2025}}

On April 10 they embarked at Cherbourg on the RMS Titanic for their return to the United States.{{refn|{{cite book

|isbn=9780786863037 }} }} She traveled with a pearl necklace valued at $750,000. On the night the ship sank, they hosted a dinner in the À la Carte Restaurant attended by the ship's captain, Edward Smith, Archibald Butt and John B. Thayer. George, Harry, and their valet died in the sinking, but Eleanor and her maid{{Cite web |title=Eleanor Widener |url=https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/eleanor-widener.html |access-date=January 23, 2023 |website=Encyclopedia Titanica |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225234717/https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/eleanor-widener.html |archive-date=December 25, 2022}} survived in lifeboat #4{{cite web |last1=Ireland |first1=Corydon |title=Widener Library rises from Titanic tragedy |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/04/as-result-of-titanics-sinking-widener-library-rose/ |website=new.harvard.edu |date=April 5, 2012 |publisher=Harvard University |access-date=6 February 2025}} along with first-class female passengers Madeleine Astor, Emily Ryerson,{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Andrew |title=Shadow of the Titanic - the Extraordinary Stories of Those Who Survived |date=2011 |publisher=Atria Paperback |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4516-7156-8 |page=47 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rv1gZo3P0S0C |access-date=9 February 2025}} and Marian Thayer. The lifeboat was rescued by the RMS Carpathia after about 2 hours.

[[File:HarvardUniversity WidenerLibrary ExteriorFront c1915 cropped.jpg|thumb |right |link=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HarvardUniversity_WidenerLibrary_ExteriorFront_c1915.jpg

|Eleanor donated $2 million dollars to Harvard University to build the Widener Library as a memorial to her son Harry Elkins Widener who died during the sinking of the Titanic]]

She returned to Philadelphia to recover and renovated St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, as a memorial to her husband. She donated, at a cost of $2 million,{{cite book |last1=Farrell |first1=Joe |last2=Farley |first2=Joe |last3=Knorr |first3=Lawrence |title=Murders, Massacres, & Mayhem in the Mid-Atlantic - Volume 1 |date=2018 |publisher=Sunbury Press |location=Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania |isbn=978-1-62006-187-9 |page=181 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xi6LDwAAQBAJ |access-date=9 February 2025}} the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library to Harvard University.{{r|bentinck1980|page=14}} Harry, was a collector of rare and valuable books and had graduated from Harvard College in 1907.{{px1}}{{r|3rd_report}} She asked Luther S. Livingston to be the first librarian of the Harry Elkins Widener Collection in the library.{{sfn|Difulgo|2014|p=50}} She gave a $300,000 science building to The Hill School, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, where Harry had graduated in 1903.

Second marriage and South American adventures

File:AlexanderHamiltonRice and EleanorElkinsRice May1920.png, in May 1920]]

At the library's June 1915 dedication, Widener met{{r|rotunda}} Harvard professor Alexander Hamilton Rice Jr., a surgeon, South American explorer, and Boston Brahmin.{{cite web |last1=Plotkin |first1=Mary J. |title=Vita: Alexander Hamilton Rice - Brief Life of an Amazon Explorer: 1875-1956 |url=https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2013/02/vita-alexander-hamilton-rice |website=www.harvardmagazine.com |date=February 14, 2013 |publisher=Harvard Magazine |access-date=7 February 2025}} In October 1915, she married Rice in a ceremony led by Bishop William Lawrence.{{r|weds}} They lived together at Miramar, a 30,000 square-foot mansion in Rhode Island.{{cite book |last1=Burns |first1=Benjamin J. |title=The Flying Firsts of Walter Hinton - From the 1919 Transatlantic Flight to the Arctic and the Amazon |date=2012 |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |isbn=978-0-7864-6447-0 |page=176 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uAw4ZwcARpgC |access-date=9 February 2025}}{{r|panamerican}}

File:Miramar, Dr. Hamilton Rice's residence, Newport, R.I.-master-pnp-pcrd-1d00000-1d06000-1d06400-1d06425u copy.jpg mansion in Rhode Island]]

She used her fortune to fund his field work and accompanied him on several excursions in South America, Europe and India. Their wedding trip included a voyage aboard a boat outfitted for a 5,000-mile journey through South America. They returned several times in search of the source of the Orinoco River to dispel a myth that a tribe of White Indians ruled the area. On one trip, 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 showered with gifts. She made many friends with the women of the tribes by her gifts of beads, knives and other trinkets.{{px1}}{{r|NYevetel}} She received approval from the Brazilian government to study the women of the region and built schools for the children.

During a 1920 trip on the Amazon River, the party warded off an attack by "savages and killed two cannibals".{{px1}}{{r|nyt_obit}} Widener remained on the yacht during the attack.{{r|NYevetel}} That particular trip was abandoned on the advice of their Indian guides, but the Rices ventured several more times into the jungles.{{px1}}{{r|nyt_obit}}

Death and legacy

File:Peter Widener Mausoleum.jpg]]

On July 13, 1937,{{cite web |title=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 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/11/20/archives/mrs-ee-rice-left-14284276-estate-former-wife-of-the-late-gd-widener.html |website=The New York Times |date=November 20, 1941 |access-date=8 February 2025}} Widener died of a heart attack in a Paris store{{r|nyt_obit}} and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia{{cite web |title=Eleanor Elkins Widener Rice |url=https://remembermyjourney.com/memorials/eleanor-elkins-widener-rice?id=o0OB9deM |website=remembermyjourney.com |publisher=webCemeteries |access-date=29 January 2025}} in the Widener family mausoleum. Her crypt makes no mention of her Titanic survival, however the cenotaphs to her husband and son in the same mausoleum mention the sinking. She left her fortune of $11 million,{{refn|{{cite news |title = Mrs. Rice Left Big Estate: It Is Reported as $10,811,645 in Filing at Newport |work = The New York Times |date = June 7, 1942 |page = 36 }} }}

with minor exceptions, to a trust for the benefit of Rice, to pass on his death to her surviving son George and daughter Eleanor.{{refn|{{cite news |title = Dr. Alexander H. Rice Gets Wife's Millions |work = The New York Times |date = August 17, 1937 |page = 17 }} }}

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.{{cite web |title=Rice, Eleanore Elkins |url=https://research.frick.org/directory/detail/4556 |website=research.frick.org |publisher=The Frick Collection |access-date=1 February 2025}}

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.{{cite web |title=Inscriptions to Be Put Over Widener Memorial Room in Mrs. Rice's Honor |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1938/5/5/inscriptions-to-be-put-over-widener/ |website=www.thecrimson.com |publisher=The Harvard Crimson |access-date=8 February 2025}}

Her grandson, Fitz Eugene Dixon Jr., requested that Penn Morton College in Chester, Pennsylvania, be renamed Widener College in honor of his grandmother.{{cite web |last1=Bjorkgren |first1=David |title=Titanic Survivor was Namesake of Widener College (Now University) |url=https://delco.today/2023/05/titanic-eleanor-widener-survivor/ |website=delco.today |date=May 2, 2023 |publisher=American Community Journals, LLC |access-date=8 February 2025}}

Portrayals

Diana Kent (2012) Titanic; TV series{{cite web |title=Titanic (2012) Full Cast & Crew |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1869152/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_ql_1 |website=www.imdb.com |publisher=IMDb.com, Inc. |access-date=9 February 2025}}

Notes

{{noteFoot|refs=

{{NoteTag|name=eleanore

|{{r|american_kennel_club}}

"The December{{nbsp}}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 signed letters to Harvard President A. Lawrence Lowell without the 'e'."{{px1}}{{r|bentinck1976|page=77n}}

}}

References

Citations

{{Reflist|refs=

{{refn|name=rotunda| {{cite web |title = The Memorial Library. The Rotunda |author = Harvard College Library |date = 2009 |access-date = May 15, 2014 |website = History of the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Collection |publisher = The President and Fellows of Harvard College |url = http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/houghton/exhibits/widener/library/5_5.cfm }} }}

{{refn|name=weds| {{citation |url = https://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F4071EFF395D16738DDDAE0894D8415B858DF1D3 |title = 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 |work = The New York Times |date = October 7, 1915 |access-date = November 24, 2017}} }}

{{refn|name=nyt_obit| {{citation |title = 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 |work = The New York Times |date = July 14, 1937 }} }}

{{refn|name=NYevetel |{{citation |work = New York Evening Telegram |date = May 2, 1920 |page = 10 |title = 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 |url = http://fultonhistory.com/Newspapers%206/New%20York%20NY%20Evening%20Telegram/New%20York%20NY%20Evening%20Telegram%201920%20May-%20Jun%20Grayscale/New%20York%20NY%20Evening%20Telegram%201920%20May-%20Jun%20Grayscale%20-%200037.pdf }} }}

{{refn|name=bentinck1980|{{cite book |author = William Bentinck-Smith |publisher = Harvard College Library |title = "... a Memorial to My Dear Son": Some Reflections on 65 Years of the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=rLWxGQAACAAJ |year = 1980 }} }}

{{refn|name=3rd_report|{{citation

| pages=334–5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nsgnAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA334 | year =1913

| work = Third report{{nbsp}}/ Harvard College Class of 1907.

| author = Harvard College (1780- ). Class of 1907 | title=Harry Elkins Widener

| location = New York | publisher = Press of Styles and Cash

}} }}

{{refn|name=panamerican| {{citation |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fT09AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA778 |work = Bulletin of the Pan American Union |volume = 43 |number = 6 |page = 778 |date = Dec 1916 |title = The 'Alberta' leaving New York for the Amazon River |department = Pan American Notes |last1 = Union |first1 = Pan American }} }}

{{refn|name=american_kennel_club| {{citation |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EWQZAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA310 |page = 310 |title = Mrs. Eleanore Elkins Widener (31840) |work = Lineage Book – National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution |year = 1911 |volume = 32 }} }}

{{refn|name=bentinck1976|{{cite book |title = Building a great library: the Coolidge years at Harvard |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DmWoEAAAQBAJ |year = 1976 |last = Bentinck-Smith |first = William |publisher = Harvard University Library |isbn = 978-0-674-08578-7 }} }}

}}

Sources