Abby aldrich rockefeller biography

Abby Greene Aldrich Rockefeller was the fourth of ten children of Abby Pearce Truman Chapman and Nelson Aldrich, who built his fortune in the sugar and rubber trade, banking, and public utilities. Aldrich was also an influential United States Senator from Rhode Island for thirty years.

After marrying John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Abby began to adopt and share responsibility for the family&#;s philanthropic interests. She was also devoted to charitable concerns of her own, such as the Girl Scouts, the YWCA, and the American Red Cross, and she was crucial to the management of the family&#;s many homes—in New York, at Tarrytown, at Seal Harbor, Maine, and at Bassett Hall, where she and her husband stayed in Colonial Williamsburg.

Abby began collecting at an early age on European trips with her father. European and Asian works were first loves, tastes she shared with her husband. Although she and Junior also shared enthusiasm for eighteenth-century English and French furniture and the paintings of the Old Masters, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller&#;s other collecting ran in a very different direction. She is best known for her interest in modern art and American folk art, and her collections were unparalleled in her time or since.

She became interested in modern art after discovering the New York gallery of Edith Gregor Halpert in The next year, she was one of three women collectors who founded the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. In , she donated numerous works to its collection and left the museum more works in her will. MoMA&#;s sculpture garden is named in her honor.

Perceiving substantial similarities between the modernist and folk aesthetics, Mrs. Rockefeller then began to collect folk art. She built a large and highly regarded collection of American folk art, most of which she donated to Colonial Williamsburg in The Rockefeller family financed the building in which this collection can now be seen.

Mrs. Rockefeller died in New

Description

Bernice Kert.Abby Aldrich Rockefeller: the woman in the family

The author of Hemingway's Women , which offered new insights into the sources of that famously macho writer's creativity, once again illuminates the impact of a powerful female on American culture and society. Daughter of influential U.S. Senator Nelson Aldrich and wife of industrialist John D. Rockefeller Jr., Abby Aldrich Rockefeller () tactfully managed to fulfill her own interests and abilities while also satisfying the demands of a difficult husband who adored her and resented anything (including their children) that diverted her attention from him. A pioneering art collector, she was the driving force behind the founding of Manhattan's Museum of Modern Art and encouraged a new appreciation of American folk art through her gifts to Colonial Williamsburg, the 18th-century Virginia town restored with her husband's money. She also nudged the notoriously conservative Rockefeller family towards broader-based philanthropy and raised her six children--Babs, John 3rd, Nelson, Laurance, Winthrop and David--with a commitment to public service that the siblings still honor. In this elegantly written, carefully researched and psychologically astute biography, Abby Rockefeller emerges as a loveable and intelligent woman who wielded her great privilege to a variety of socially beneficial ends Publishers Weekly review

Keywords

Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, biography, Museum of Modern Art, art patrons

Recommended Citation

Kert, Bernice, "Abby Aldrich Rockefeller: The Woman in the Family" (). The Rockefellers.

Abby Greene Aldrich Rockefeller was born on October 26, , in Providence, Rhode Island, the fourth child of Abby Pearce Chapman and Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich. Her father served in the state House of Representatives, was Speaker of the House, and served as a U.S. Senator, including as chair of the Senate Finance Committee. Abby grew up in Providence and Warwick Neck in Rhode Island and in Washington, DC.

Abby received her early education from Quaker governesses. At 17, she began attending Miss Abbott’s School for Young Ladies in Providence, taking classes in English composition and literature, French, German, art history, ancient history, gymnastics, and dancing. She graduated in and made her debut the following November. In June , she sailed for Liverpool, inaugurating a lifetime of European travel. Her first trip included England, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and France. Among other benefits, the aesthetic education she received while abroad helped to form her judgment as an art collector.

In the fall of at the Providence home of a former classmate, Abby met John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (JDR Jr.), son of the founder of the Standard Oil Company, who was then a sophomore at Brown University. After a lengthy courtship, they married on October 9, They had six children:

• Abby ()
• John Davison, 3rd ()
• Nelson Aldrich ()
• Laurance Spelman ()
• Winthrop ()
• David ()

Abby and JDR Jr. lived at 13 W. 54th Street in Manhattan until , when the construction of 10 W. 54th Street was completed. They stayed at there until , when they moved to an apartment at Park Avenue. They also had homes in Pocantico Hills, New York; Seal Harbor, Maine, and Williamsburg, Virginia, where they were active members of each community.

When the United States entered World War I, Abby’s charitable and philanthropic activities began in earnest. From to , she served as chair of Auxiliary of the American Red Cross, completely financing it

American socialite and philanthropist (–)

For other people named Abby Rockefeller, see Abby Rockefeller (disambiguation).

Abigail Greene Aldrich Rockefeller (October 26, – April 5, ) was an American socialite and philanthropist. She was a prominent member of the Rockefeller family through her marriage to financier and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr., the son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller Sr. Her father was Nelson W. Aldrich, who served as a Senator from Rhode Island. Rockefeller was known for being the driving force behind the establishment of the Museum of Modern Art. She was the mother of Nelson Rockefeller, who served from to as the 41st vice president of the United States.

Early life

Abigail Greene Aldrich was born in Providence, Rhode Island, as the fourth child of Senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich and Abigail Pearce Truman Chapman. The majority of her childhood was divided between Providence and Warwick Neck (in Rhode Island), and Washington, D.C.

Owing to her father's prominence as a congressman, Rockefeller was introduced at an early age to elevated political circles. The figures that her parents entertained included Senator Eugene Hale, Senator William P. Frye, General Ambrose Burnside, and Elizabeth Bacon Custer.

Her early education came at the hands of Quaker governesses. From to , she was enrolled at Miss Abbott's School for Young Ladies in Providence, Rhode Island. There she studied English composition and literature, French, German, art history, ancient history, gymnastics, and dancing. In November she made her social debut at her coming-out party, which sparked her lifelong love of social events.

On June 30, , on a trip fostered by her father, Rockefeller sailed to Liverpool, beginning a lifetime of extensive European and later Asian travel. Her initial four-month sojourn included stops in England, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Aus