Bertha Palmer was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist. She is remembered especially for her active contributions to women’s, artistic, and Chicago civic affairs. Palmer was the main organizer of the Woman's Building at the Columbian Exposition of 1893.
Background
Bertha Palmer was born on May 22, 1849, in Louisville, Kentucky, the United States. She was the of Henry H. Honoré, who was descended from a Louisville mercantile family, and Eliza J. Carr Honoré, who was related to the Edward D'Arcy family who settled 17th-century Maryland. As members of old aristocratic Southern families, both parents also took particular pride in the French portions of their lineage. Bertha Honoré had a younger sister, Ida, and four brothers, Adrian, Henry, Nathaniel, and Lockwood. Bertha Honoré's family moved to Chicago from Louisville, Kentucky when she was six.
Education
Bertha enjoyed a privileged, comfortable childhood and a sheltered academic education at the most prestigious schools for young ladies of the day. She excelled academically and won high praise for her exemplary demeanor. Bertha Palmer studied under private tutors. She also began her education at St. Xavier Academy and moved on to the Dearborn Seminary.
Distinguished for her academic achievements in botany, logic, philosophy, astronomy, literature, algebra, and chemistry, she was one of six students in the senior circle who received the highest honors at her graduation. She was also chosen to be one of the harpists who performed the Grand March at the graduation ceremony.
Career
About 1875 Palmer started on a social career that within a generation reached into every modern capital. On April 25, 1890, President Benjamin Harrison signed a bill into law, making Chicago the official site of the World’s Columbian Exposition. Steering committees were formed for fundraising and general planning, which included an exhibition hall for the achievements of women. Officers were appointed and Potter Palmer became a second vice president of the Exposition. Given her husband’s prestigious appointment, her social position, and formidable civic and cultural achievements, Bertha Palmer was a popular choice for the presidency of the Board of Lady Managers of the Women’s Building.
In this position, she had the opportunity to exercise both her social gifts and her business acumen. She went to Europe to represent the fair and was very successful, especially in Italy and Belgium, in arousing interest in the project. The social connections she made at that time remained important to her all her life. It was principally due to her efforts that the women's department of the fair was so important a feature; she urged that the women's exhibits should have space in each state-building, persuaded an imposing list of royal women to lend exhibitions, and obtained equal consideration for the activities of women.
In 1892 she was chosen as a trustee of Northwestern University and served until 1896. She became the first vice president of the Chicago Civic Federation (forerunner of the National Civic Federation) on its organization in December 1893. Eight years later, in 1900, President McKinley appointed her as a member of the committee to the Paris Exposition. During her later years, she gave attention to the management of the vast estate she had inherited from her husband in 1902.
In 1910, Bertha Honoré Palmer heralded the migration to the southernmost state and led the flock in the purchase and development of land in the Sarasota/Tampa Bay area. During a period of eight years, Mrs. Potter Palmer as she was known, along with her father, her sons, and her brother, masterminded the transformation of a frontier fishing village into a winter haven for the wealthy and a lucrative wellspring of employment for others. The Palmer legacy endures in the local archives of history and folklore. At her death, its value had more than doubled under her management. She spent a great deal of her time and money on charitable and philanthropic work.
On one occasion she opened her home for a meeting of the national civic federation, at which several hundred representatives of capital and labor were present. Each year she lent her executive ability and her social experience to the management of the charity ball of Chicago, which grew increasingly important as a social event and as a means of collecting funds. She was said to give some $50, 000 annually to charity, and by her will, she left about half a million dollars for various philanthropic purposes
Bertha Honoré Palmer became the unquestioned social leader of the city of Chicago and maintained a social position in other cities of her own country and of Europe. She was the president of the Board of Lady Managers of the World's Columbian Exposition and also the owner of Chicago's Palmer House Hotel.
Religion
The Honorés attended the First Christian Church and followed its credo of charity.
Views
Bertha Palmer personally championed better education for women and equality of wages. She became a patron of the Women’s Trade Union League and was instrumental in organizing millinery workers to improve their working conditions, holding a number of meetings in her home.
Quotations:
"Consider the value to the race of one-half of its members being enabled to throw aside the intolerable bondage of ignorance that has always weighed them down!"
Membership
Bertha was a member of the Fortnightly Club, the first women’s literary association in the city. Subsequently, she joined the Friday Club, another exclusive literary group, and the Chicago Women’s Club, which helped to support women in public work in the city. She also became involved in the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, founded in Chicago by Frances Willard.
Bertha Palmer became a leader in the Fortnightly in 1880 and became its president in 1901.
Fortnightly Club
Bertha Palmer was active in the Chicago Women’s Club beginning in 1888 and served on its reform committee beginning in 1891.
Chicago Women’s Club
Friday Club
Woman’s Christian Temperance Union
Personality
Bertha entertained most frequently in the rooftop ballroom with its adjoining picture gallery. She indulged her art-buying habit on Paris shopping sprees, picking up works by contemporary French artists like the Impressionists Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Edgar Degas. The "Gold Coast Queen" also bought works from Mary Cassatt, Camille Pissaro, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, and Alfred Sisley. Many a guest accepted an invitation to the Palmers' home just to see the paintings. She never did part with any of her paintings during her lifetime, but when she died in 1918, she left them to the Art Institute of Chicago.
Although a frequent and spectacular hostess, Bertha also treasured her privacy. There were no doorknobs on the outside of the house. From 1910 she devoted much of her time to ranching and farming on her large estate in Florida.
Interests
ranching, farming, art collecting
Artists
Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Auguste Rodin
Connections
After her return to Chicago, Bertha became a popular debutante there, and soon was being courted by Potter Palmer, a wealthy young entrepreneur whom she had first met when she was 12. They were married at her family's home by the Rev. J.S. Sweeney on July 28, 1870. The ceremony, which was attended by 40 close friends, was followed by an elaborate reception and dinner for 500 guests. After a honeymoon tour of Europe, the newlyweds returned to Chicago.
Soon after the marriage, her husband lost a large part of his fortune in the great fire that swept the city, and she bent her energies to helping him repair his losses. To her aid and to the excellent business judgment she developed he attributed much of his very great success. Palmer and her husband had two sons, Honoré, born on February 1, 1874, and Potter II, born on October 8, 1875, the fourth anniversary of the Chicago fire.
Father:
Henry Hamilton Honoré
Mother:
Eliza J. Carr Honoré
Eliza Honoré had always been an ambitious cheerleader for her children and had taken great pride in their accomplishments. While the young Bertha was close to her mother and followed her lead in the proprieties of social behavior, there is no available information on their adult relationships.
Spouse:
Potter Palmer
Potter was taken by the precocious young girl, who acquired an avid interest in business and politics and often discussed real estate development with him and her father. Thought the most eligible bachelor in Chicago, he waited until Bertha made her debut at twenty-one before coming to court her. Older by twenty-three years, Potter's persistence eventually won her over.
Despite the age difference, they were well matched. Both possessed a keen intelligence and drive, though Bertha, nicknamed "Cissie" by her besotted husband, was extroverted, and loved to socialize, while Potter preferred his business pursuits.
Sister:
Ida Honoré
Brother:
Adrian Honoré
Bertha Honoré’s greatest devotion was for her brother Adrian, whom she called Bud. She went to her big brother with her problems, and he always tried to solve them. Their close friendship continued throughout her life.
