Abby (Aldrich) Rockefeller (1874-1948)
Mrs. "Abby" Abigail Greene (Aldrich) Rockefeller; Founder of MoMA, etc.
She was born in Providence, Rhode Island, the daughter of Nelson W. Aldrich, the U.S. Senator from Rhode Island who co-founded the Federal Reserve System. Self-confidant and outgoing, she grew up between her father's mansions (see images) in Providence and Warwick, R.I. She was educated by Quaker governesses before attending Miss Abbott's finishing school in Providence (1891-93) and making her debut into society in 1893. In 1894, she and her sister, Lucy, were invited to join Mrs. Elisha Dyer (the wife of their father's close friend) and her son, Hezekiah, on a four month trip to Europe that took them through England, Scotland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and France. Aside from all the art, highlights included dining with the Duke Argyll, sailing down the Rhine, watching Wagner's opera Lohengrin at the Bayreuth Festival, taking the baths at Baden-Baden, and having her fortune read in Nice.
She first met her husband at a dance given for her friend, Madeleine Goddard (the future Marquise d'Andigné) in Providence in the fall of 1894 while he was a sophomore at Brown University. It was the first dance he had ever attended, his strict Baptist upbringing having forbidden him from dancing. On first glance she and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. were an unusual match - he was as shy, stiff, and serious as she was gregarious, relaxed, and fun. But, he later told his biographer, "she treated me as if I had all the savoir-faire in the world and her confidence did me a lot of good... From that time on I began thoroughly to enjoy the social aspects of college life." Nonetheless, his cautious nature, shyness, inability to dance, and dedication to his role as the only son and heir of the world's first billionaire held him back from getting involved with Abby straightaway. She saw several other suitors, and it wasn't until 1895 that they began sharing long walks together. Friendship grew into romance from late 1896, but still it wasn't until the summer of 1901 that he felt confident enough - in her and himself - to propose. On October 9, 1901, they were married at her parents' country estate "Indian Oaks" (see images) and they honeymooned in New York's Pocantico Hills where the Rockefeller family would later build Kykuit.
Although to the cynical eye their marriage appeared to be nothing more than the perfect unification of capitalism and politics, what Abby did with her husband's wedding present would define both their lives and legacy: she donated every cent of his substantial financial gift to the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) of Providence.
In 1910, her husband retired from business to focus entirely on philanthropy. Her own philanthropy corresponded closely to his but focused mainly on art, social reform, and women's rights. She played a crucial role in creating Colonial Williamsburg, donating her entire collection of American folk art to establish the museum there that was named in her honor. She was on the National Board of the YWCA, founded the Good Fellowship Council for immigrant communities, supported Planned Parenthood, and made significant donations to the Metropolitan Museum and the Rhode Island School of Design, all the while consistently championing progressive causes and cultural democratization.
From 1925, she began to take a serious interest in modern art, building a collection that included works by Vincent van Gogh, Edgar Degas, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. As a patron of the arts, her most famous achievement came in 1929 when together with Lillie Plummer Bliss and Mary Quinn Sullivan she co-founded the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, that for the first time marked a step away from traditional art museums which focused on old, established artwork, thereby revolutionizing how art was presented to the general public. Her gift of 1,600 prints are displayed in the museum's Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Print Room and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden was also named in her honor.
She and her husband had six children, including U.S. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. In Manhattan, they at lived at (see images) 10 West 54th Street - built in 1912, at 102-feet tall it remains the tallest private home ever built in New York. They downsized in 1938 to a 40-room triplex apartment at 740 Park Avenue (see video). They kept "Abeyton Lodge" on the Kykuit estate as a separate home from her in-laws, and summered at the "The Eyrie," a 65-room home overlooking Seal Harbor on Mount Desert Island, Maine, with Beatrix Farrand-designed gardens now known as the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Gardens.
She first met her husband at a dance given for her friend, Madeleine Goddard (the future Marquise d'Andigné) in Providence in the fall of 1894 while he was a sophomore at Brown University. It was the first dance he had ever attended, his strict Baptist upbringing having forbidden him from dancing. On first glance she and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. were an unusual match - he was as shy, stiff, and serious as she was gregarious, relaxed, and fun. But, he later told his biographer, "she treated me as if I had all the savoir-faire in the world and her confidence did me a lot of good... From that time on I began thoroughly to enjoy the social aspects of college life." Nonetheless, his cautious nature, shyness, inability to dance, and dedication to his role as the only son and heir of the world's first billionaire held him back from getting involved with Abby straightaway. She saw several other suitors, and it wasn't until 1895 that they began sharing long walks together. Friendship grew into romance from late 1896, but still it wasn't until the summer of 1901 that he felt confident enough - in her and himself - to propose. On October 9, 1901, they were married at her parents' country estate "Indian Oaks" (see images) and they honeymooned in New York's Pocantico Hills where the Rockefeller family would later build Kykuit.
Although to the cynical eye their marriage appeared to be nothing more than the perfect unification of capitalism and politics, what Abby did with her husband's wedding present would define both their lives and legacy: she donated every cent of his substantial financial gift to the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) of Providence.
In 1910, her husband retired from business to focus entirely on philanthropy. Her own philanthropy corresponded closely to his but focused mainly on art, social reform, and women's rights. She played a crucial role in creating Colonial Williamsburg, donating her entire collection of American folk art to establish the museum there that was named in her honor. She was on the National Board of the YWCA, founded the Good Fellowship Council for immigrant communities, supported Planned Parenthood, and made significant donations to the Metropolitan Museum and the Rhode Island School of Design, all the while consistently championing progressive causes and cultural democratization.
From 1925, she began to take a serious interest in modern art, building a collection that included works by Vincent van Gogh, Edgar Degas, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. As a patron of the arts, her most famous achievement came in 1929 when together with Lillie Plummer Bliss and Mary Quinn Sullivan she co-founded the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, that for the first time marked a step away from traditional art museums which focused on old, established artwork, thereby revolutionizing how art was presented to the general public. Her gift of 1,600 prints are displayed in the museum's Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Print Room and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden was also named in her honor.
She and her husband had six children, including U.S. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. In Manhattan, they at lived at (see images) 10 West 54th Street - built in 1912, at 102-feet tall it remains the tallest private home ever built in New York. They downsized in 1938 to a 40-room triplex apartment at 740 Park Avenue (see video). They kept "Abeyton Lodge" on the Kykuit estate as a separate home from her in-laws, and summered at the "The Eyrie," a 65-room home overlooking Seal Harbor on Mount Desert Island, Maine, with Beatrix Farrand-designed gardens now known as the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Gardens.
Parents (2)
Children (6)
Abigail (Rockefeller) Mauzé
Mrs. "Babs" Abigail Aldrich (Rockefeller) Milton, Pardee, Mauzé
1903-1976
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller
41st Vice-President of the United States & 49th Governor of New York
1908-1979
