Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America

Rice, Eleanore Elkins

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role Collector
dates 1862-1937
city New York City
stateNY
other citiesPhiladelphia, PA; Poughkeepsie, NY; Newport, RI; Paris, France; Palm Beach, FL;
sex F
historical notes Eleanore Elkins Widener Rice was an art collector, socialite and philanthropist.

Her art collection included, among other items, 18th century French furniture, Sèvres porcelain, Louis XVI furniture, terracotta figures by Clodion and Beauvais, eighteenth-century English silver, and tapestries by François Boucher and others.

Rice left the Louis XVI drawing room and contents in her Fifth Avenue home (901 Fifth Avenue) to the Pennsylvania Museum of Art At Philadelphia.

A survivor of the RMS Titanic, Eleanor Rice was married twice; her first husband George Dunton Widener (1861 - 1912) and son Harry Elkins Widener (1885 -1912) were victims of the RMS Titanic; her second husband was the surgeon and Amazon explorer Alexander Hamilton Rice (1875 - 1956). She was the daughter of William Lukens Elkins (1832 – 1903).

In memory of her son, Rice gave Harvard University $2,000,000 for the Widener Memorial; she built the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Science building at the Hill School, Pottstown (1931), and rebuilt St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Elkins Park.
decades
of activity
1900-1910
1910-1920
1920-1930
1930-1940
1940-1950
updated 10/31/2024 13:33:24
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Archives/Repository Collection Title Collection Details
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Archives
Fiske Kimball Records, 1908-1955, n.d. (bulk 1925-1954) see details...
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania
1300 Locust Street
Horace Trumbauer collection, 1898-1947. see details...
Temple University
Paley Library, Special Collections
Honorary diploma, 1935. see details...
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Gottscho-Schleisner Collection (Library of Congress), 1896-1970, bulk 1935-1955 see details...
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Johnston photograph collection (Library of Congress), ca. 1864-ca. 1947, bulk 1897-1927. see details...
Houghton Library
Harvard Yard, Harvard University
Letters to Eleanor Elkins Widener and A. Hamilton Rice : manuscript, 1915-1940. see details...
Houghton Library
Harvard Yard, Harvard University
Letters to Flora Livingston: 1914-1937. manuscript, 1914-1937 see details...
Houghton Library
Harvard Yard, Harvard University
Letters to Eleanor Elkins Widener from collectors and libraries : manuscript, 1914-1915. see details...

see also:
Elkins, William L. (William Lukens), 1832-1903
Widener, P. A. B. (Peter Arrell Brown), 1834-1915