The Monday Morning Reading Class, Part 2

The photograph of Mrs. Glessner’s Monday Morning Reading Class, taken by her son George on May 5, 1902, is one of the most iconic images of Glessner House.  Thousands of visitors see the image each year, as a copy is on display in the library where the class took place.  It has also been reproduced in various articles and publications about Frances Glessner and her home.

But there have been a few fundamental problems with the interpretation of the photo.  For one, the image is interpreted primarily as a group photo, with little thought given to the individuals within the class.  Secondly, when the women are described, they are usually identified with respect to their husbands. For example, one will learn that several of the women were the wives of professors at the University of Chicago.  While this is true, it minimizes the women under the umbrella of their husbands and their husbands’ profession.  Given Frances Glessner’s propensity for surrounding herself with people of cultural, artistic, and musical backgrounds and interests, it would seem that she in fact gave very careful thought to the women whom she invited to be members of the class.  Mrs. X would not be selected simply because she was the wife of Mr. X, but rather because she would contribute to the intellectual and social structure of the class. 

This led to a journey to discover the identity of the 34 women who are pictured.  Social convention of the time made the journey a bit more difficult.  On the one copy of the photo on which Frances Glessner identified all the ladies, she refers to them simply as Mrs. Clarke, Mrs. Perry, etc. with no first names.  Additionally, the annual roster of the class she prepared only gives the initials, or occasionally the first name, of the husband.  By consulting the 1902 Blue Book of Chicago and the 1905 Book of Chicagoans (with some additional help from Ancestry.com), we have, at long last, been able to give names to the faces we have so long gazed upon.

The roster for the 1901-1902 class year indicates that there were 64 members of the class, so just over half of those women were in attendance for the final class before it disbanded for the summer.  It also happened to be the last class with Miss Anne E. Trimingham as reader, as she had earlier announced her retirement.  Louise Goldsmith, one of the two sisters of Miss Trimingham who were members of the class, prepared and read a history of the class from the time of its founding in 1894.

Frances Glessner identified the women beginning with the ladies standing on the porch from left to right, then right to left for the middle row, and finally left to right again for the women seated in the front row.  (See key below).   For purposes of this article, the women are listed with their husband’s full name first, followed by their own name, including maiden name, in parentheses. 

1 – Mrs. William R. Linn (Nellie B. Butler)

2 – Mrs. William R. Stirling (Alice I. Hibbard)

3 – Miss Helen Macbeth

4 – Mrs. Henry L. Frank (Henrietta Greenbaum)

5 – Mrs. Hugh J. McBirney (Mary Campbell)

6 – Mrs. John J. Glessner (Frances Macbeth)

7 – Mrs. William H. Colvin (Bessie Small)

8 – Miss Anne E. Trimingham, reader

9 – Mrs. Andrew R. Sheriff (Marguerite Mitchell)

10 – Mrs. Henry H. Donaldson (Julia Vaux)

11 – Mrs. Frederic I. Carpenter (Emma Cook)

12 – Mrs. Benjamin S. Terry (Mary Baldwin)

13 – Mrs. Shailer Mathews (Mary P. Elden)

14 – Mrs. Alfred L. Goldsmith (Louise Trimingham)

15 – Mrs. Frank S. Johnson (Elizabeth B. Ayer)

16 – Mrs. Frank Allport (Kate A. Ellwood)

17 – Mrs. Harry P. Judson (Rebecca A. Gilbert)

18 – Mrs. Philo A. Otis (Alice J. Sanford)

19 – Mrs. Robert B. Gregory (Addie V. Hibbard)

20 – Mrs. Secor Cunningham (Althea I. Stone)

21 – Mrs. John J. Herrick (Julia T. Dulon)

22 – Mrs. William H. Moore (Ada W. Small)

23 – Mrs. James N. Hyde (Alice L. Griswold)

24 – Mrs. Howard E. Perry (Grace Henderson)

25 – Mrs. William E. Casselberry (Lilian Hibbard)

26 – Mrs. William G. Hale (Harriet K. Swinburne)

27 – Mrs. John H. Hamline (Josephine Meade)

28 – Mrs. Carl D. Buck (Clarinda Swazey)

29 – Mrs. Blewett H. Lee (Frances Glessner)

30 – Mrs. Frederic A. Delano (Matilda A. Peabody)

31 – Mrs. Horace K. Tenney (Eleanor Favill)

32 – Mrs. William G. Hibbard, Jr. (Susan D. Follansbee)

33 – Mrs. Frank P. Wheeler (Elizabeth F. Trimingham)

34 – Mrs. Edmund A. S. Clarke (Louisa H. Ward)

There are only two single ladies in the photo – Miss Trimingham, the reader, and Helen Macbeth, the sister of Frances Glessner.  As a general rule, only married women were invited into class membership.  Additionally, residency on the South Side was a requirement, although one could remain a member of the class if they later moved to another part of the city.  Only two of the women pictured had “defected” to the north side by 1902 – one moving to Cedar Street, the other to Wellington Avenue.  (The number of north siders would increase dramatically in later years as Prairie Avenue fell into decline.)  Seven of the ladies lived in Hyde Park due to their husbands being on the faculty of the University of Chicago, but it was interesting to note the presence of three women married to physicians who were also professors at Northwestern University.

Surprisingly, one lady pictured resided in New York City, Ada Small Moore.  We shall learn more about her in our next installment.

The Glorious Fourth of July

The Fourth of July was celebrated in grand style at the Glessners’ summer estate, The Rocks, in 1911.  The event included a parade in which the Glessners’ seven grandchildren and their friends participated, along with their horses and ponies – a total of 17 children and 13 horses.  A grand stand was erected in front of the farm house, where lemonade was served following the spectacle.  John Glessner served as the master of ceremonies and orator of the day, delivering the following speech to explain the holiday to his grandchildren:

“My dear children – I wonder if you know just what the 4^th of July means.  More than 135 years ago this country was a colony of Great Britain and all the laws were made in England, and a large amount of the taxes collected here were spent there.  This was so unjust and burdensome that the people here determined to change it and make a new nation and choose their own rulers to make their laws and collect and spend their taxes here at home.  And they resolved to do this even if it meant a long and bloody war, which it did.  So on July 4, 1776 they made their Declaration of Independence and it is this that we now celebrate every July 4^th.  For a great many years the celebration was largely in fireworks and shooting guns and cannon.  I don’t know why this way was chosen unless because people like the blaze of fire, the smell of gunpowder and the noise of explosion, but a great many persons were hurt by it and some were killed every 4^th of July and a great deal of property was burned up, until now in many places fireworks etc. are prohibited by law and this is why we have our pleasant little celebration.”

A program was printed giving the details of the parade, with the various grandchildren and their horses assuming the roles of characters from mythology, fairy tales, and literature.  Isaac Scott and Helen Macbeth (Frances Glessner’s sister) made the banner which read, “THE ROCKS, JULY 4^th.”  Frances Glessner Lee, in her usual highly efficient manner, served as “stage manager,” coordinating and the details of timing, props, etc.  Following a variety of races and another parade, this time on bicycles, John Glessner awarded prizes to the participants.  Not surprisingly, every child won a prize – a crisp new $1.00 bill.

The printed program, entitled “THE GLORIOUS FOURTH OF JULY, Patriotic Celebration at THE ROCKS 1911,”  announced the following participants and activities:

ORDER OF PROCESSION

Grand Marshal on Horseback

Which is Mrs. George Glessner on Dixie Crow

Herald riding Boabdil and carrying Banner

Frances Glessner and Bob

Queen Mab bestriding Pegasus

Emily Glessner on Queen

Cobweb and Mustardseed

Diminutive fairy princesses, drawn by miniature horses in midget jaunting car

Frances and Martha Lee with ponies

Queen Elizabeth in Chariot of State

Drawn by black charger Bucephalus

Elizabeth Glessner in cart with Harry

Titania, Queen of Fairies

Mounted on Firefly

Frances Sullivan on Bessie

Cinderella, escorting Prince Charming in Pumpkin Coach

Drawn by Æsculapius

Barbara Beattie and John Glessner with Doe

Oberon, driving Ginger and Blue Blazes in Carriole

With Hyacinth and Squash Blossom in back seat

John Lee and Florence and Loyal Betts, with Ruby and Belle in pony wagon

Mercury on a Heaven-kissing Hill

Togo in solitary grandeur

Flower and Other Fairies with the horses of Helios

Driven by Phaethon in the Chariot of the Sun

Sam and Topsy in Charibanc, driven by Charlie Green, and containing the three Maxners and three Greens

Exhibition of Lady Equestriennes

(Excuse the Tantalogy)

Barbara Beattie on Doc

Frances Sullivan on Dandy

Frances Lee on Buster

Frances Glessner on Queen

RACES—Open to All

Marathon—Prize for Fastest Runner—No Handicap

Sack Race

Uni-legged Contest

Bi-legged Competition

Tri-legged Struggle

Quadrupedal Effort

BICYCLE PARADE

AWARDING OF PRIZES

STAGE MANAGER . . . MRS. FRANCES G. LEE

It sounds as though it was a glorious Fourth of July indeed!

Next week:  The Chicago Museum, Part II

A Frankenstein painting

The museum recently placed a gouache painting on display that has been in storage since it was donated by the Glessners’ granddaughter Martha Batchelder in 1989.  The painting, showing a scene in the Alps, was created by Gustavus Frankenstein, an Ohio artist and friend of Frances Glessner’s family, the Macbeths.  It now occupies a place of honor in the courtyard bedroom.

Gustavus Frankenstein, was born Gustav Ludwig Tracht on January 23, 1828 in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, the fifth of six children of Johannes and Anna Tracht.  In 1831, the family immigrated to the United States and the story nearly ended there for they were shipwrecked off of the coast of Virginia.  They survived and were fortunate in being able to save nearly all of their valuables.  An “exceedingly kind and wealthy family” took in the family, but later in the year they continued their journey west to their future home, Cincinnati, Ohio.  The father, who changed the family name to Frankenstein upon arriving in the United States, was a teacher and professor of languages, and later became a talented cabinetmaker. 

Godfrey Frankenstein at Niagara Falls

As the children grew to adulthood, they all showed significant artistic talent, the most prominent artist being Gustavus’ older brother Godfrey.  In 1844 Godfrey visited Niagara Falls for the first time and was so moved by the grandeur and beauty of the place that he spent much of the next 22 years depicting the falls during every season of the year on huge canvases.  During the early 1850s, Gustavus assisted his brother in this undertaking.  These paintings were eventually formed into an immense panorama which was rolled from one spindle to another while a lecture was read, and exhibitions were held in Cincinnati, New York, and Philadelphia.

Frankenstein Home in Springfield, Ohio

The family moved to Springfield, Ohio in 1849 and by May 1853 Gustavus had moved there as well, where he and his brother taught art classes at the Springfield Female Seminary.  One of Gustavus’ students was Helen Macbeth, Frances Glessner’s older sister.   (A number of her canvases, including several depicting the Glessner summer estate, The Rocks, in New Hampshire, will go on permanent exhibit at the museum on April 9, 2014).

Milky Lake, Alps (1867-1869); The back reads:

Painted originally from Nature by Gustavus Frankenstein

and Given to Miss Helen Macbeth (private collection)

In 1867, the two brothers traveled to Europe, spending a season in England painting scenes of the countryside.  They then travelled through the Alps creating numerous canvases including the one now in the collection of Glessner House Museum.  Upon their return to London, “it was acknowledged that Mont Blanc and Chamouni Valley had never before been painted with such power and beauty.”  They returned to the United States in 1869, and Godfrey died four years later. 

Gustavus Frankenstein is best remembered today for his contributions to the field of mathematics.  In 1875, he discovered a perfect magic cube of order 8, which was announced in the March 11, 1875 edition of the Cincinnati Commercial in an article entitled “A Big Puzzle: New and Marvelous – Magic Cubes – A Great Curiosity – Magic Cubes of 8 – Composed of 512 Numbers, Including Every Number from 1 to 512, and Consisting of Thirty Different Equal Squares and 244 Different Equal Rows – Common Sum 2,052.”  That same year, he published a book about his discoveries entitled Magic Reciprocals: Involving a New, Wonderful and Beautiful Theorem.

By the late 1870s, Gustavus left Ohio for Bermuda (or the Bahamas, or the Sandwich Islands, accounts are not consistent), but returned to Springfield in 1880, where he wrote numerous stories, including several for St. Nicholas, An Illustrated Magazine for Young Folk.  One of his articles was “TheLittle Boy and the Elephant” considered by some to be an inspiration for Edgar Rice Burroughs character of Tarzan.  Gustavus also became adept at the repair of clocks and watches, and called himself a “horologist.”  

View from Mitchell Hill Looking Towards Lagonda Village, 1891
(Springfield Museum of Art)

His last paintings were a series of three of the nearby countryside for Ross Mitchell, a Springfield businessman, completed in 1891.

Frankenstein family plot, Spring Grove Cemetery

In 1893, Gustavus and his two sisters moved to Cincinnati where he died on December 11, 1893 after suffering a paralytic stroke.  He was buried at Spring Grove Cemetery. 

The painting on display at Glessner House Museum was executed between 1867 and 1869 when Gustavus and Godfrey Frankenstein were traveling through the Alps.  An inscription on the backside of the board explains the scene:

“Mer de Glace.  Chamonix Valley.  Alps.  Painted from Nature.  By Gustavus Frankenstein.  The View is taken from the Flegere, directly opposite the Mer de Glace, and 6000 feet above the Sea.  The Mer de Glace cuts the Mont Blanc Chain deeply in two.”

NOTE:  The Mer de Glace (Sea of Ice) is a glacier on the northern slopes of the Mont Blanc massif in the Alps.  It is the longest glacier in France, measuring nearly 4.3 miles long and 660 feet deep.