Английская Википедия:Eleanor Elkins Widener

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Eleanor Elkins Widener (Шаблон:Nee Elkins,Шаблон:NoteTag later known as Eleanor Elkins Widener Rice or Mrs. Alexander Hamilton Rice; Шаблон:CircaШаблон:Ndash1937) was an American heiress, socialite, philanthropist, and adventuress best remembered for her donation to Harvard University of the Widener LibraryШаблон:Mdashba memorial to her elder son Harry Elkins Widener, who (along with her first husband, George Dunton Widener) perished in the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

Widener later married Harvard professor Alexander Hamilton Rice Jr., a surgeon and explorer, then accompanied him on a number of expeditions, including one on which she "went further up the Amazon than any white woman had penetrated" and, purportedly, he was attacked by cannibals.

Early life and education

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Lynnewood Hall

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Widener, son George Dunton Widener (left), and Widener Library architect Horace Trumbauer in Harvard Yard

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Widener Library at Harvard University

Eleanor Elkins was born the daughter of Philadelphia streetcar magnate William Lukens Elkins.

First marriage

In 1883, she married George Dunton Widener, son of her father's business partner, thereby "[uniting] two of the largest fortunes in the city. She was known as one of the city's most beautiful women."Шаблон:Px1Шаблон:R

In later marriageШаблон:Clarify they lived in her father-in-law's 110-room Pennsylvania mansion, Lynnewood Hall. Their children were Harry Elkins Widener, George Dunton Widener Jr., and Eleanor Widener Dixon.Шаблон:R

Titanic survival and Widener Library

In 1912, she and her husband traveled to Paris with their elder son Harry, in search of a chef for their new hotel, Philadelphia's Ritz Carlton. 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.Шаблон:Refn George, Harry, and their valet all perished in the sinking, but Eleanor and her maid survived.Шаблон:Px1Шаблон:RШаблон:NoteTag

Soon after, Widener donated, at a cost of $3.5Шаблон:Nbspmillion (equivalent to $Шаблон:Inflation million in Шаблон:Inflation-year), the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library to Harvard University.Шаблон:RШаблон:Inflation-fn (Harry Widener, who was "intensely interested in the collection of rare and valuable books", had graduated from Harvard College in 1907.)Шаблон:Px1Шаблон:R She alsoШаблон:When rebuilt St.Шаблон:NbspPaul's Protestant Episcopal Church in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania as a memorial to George Widener, and gave a $300,000 science building to Pottstown, Pennsylvania's The Hill School, from which Harry Widener had graduated in 1903.Шаблон:R

Second marriage

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Widener with A. H. Rice in May 1920

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Miramar, the home Widener planned in Newport with her first husband and completed with her secondШаблон:Citation needed

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The yacht specially constructed for the Rices' Amazon explorationsШаблон:R

At the library's June 1915 dedication, Widener metШаблон:R Harvard professor Alexander Hamilton Rice Jr., a surgeon and noted South American explorer,Шаблон:R a "certified Boston Brahmin"Шаблон:Px1Шаблон:R who "knew headwaters the way other society folk knew headwaiters."Шаблон:Px1Шаблон:R In October she married Rice while wearing her "celebrated [$750,000] string of pearls which she saved from the Titanic disaster".Шаблон:NoteTag (Another string, worth $250,000, had been lost.Шаблон:R One headline read: "Explorer Weds Titanic Widow".)Шаблон:Px1Шаблон:R She gave up her Philadelphia home, dividing her time among Newport, New York, and Paris when not accompanying Rice in his explorations.Шаблон:Citation needed

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."Шаблон:Px1Шаблон:RШаблон:Refn

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"Шаблон:Px1Шаблон:RШаблон:MdashbШаблон:Zwsp"scantily cladШаблон:Nbsp... very ferocious and of large stature"Шаблон:Px1Шаблон:RШаблон:Mdashbthough "as luck would have it, [Widener had] remained on the specially constructed yacht" during this phase of the explorations.Шаблон:R That particular trip "was abandoned on the advice of Indian guides, but the Rices ventured several more times into the jungles."Шаблон:Px1Шаблон:R (A subsequent headline read: "Explorer Rice Denies That He Was Eaten By Cannibals".Шаблон:Px1)Шаблон:R

Death

In 1937, Widener died in a Paris store.Шаблон:R She left her fortune of $11 million,Шаблон:Refn with minor exceptions, to a trust for the benefit of Rice, to pass on his death to her surviving son George and daughter Eleanor.Шаблон:Refn

References

• Шаблон:Cite book