Gertrude Clarke Whittall ( – ) was an American philanthropist. She donated five musical instruments built by
Antonio Stradivari
Antonio Stradivari (, also , ; – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinized form of his surname, '' Stradivarius'', as well as the collo ...
to the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
, and the Library's Whittall Pavilion is named for her.
Early life and education
Gertrude Clarke Whittall was born Gertrude Littlefield Clarke on in
Bellevue, Nebraska.
She was one of seven children and the only daughter of
Henry Tefft Clarke, Sr., a Nebraska businessman and politician, and his wife Martha Fielding Clark. She grew up on her parents' Nebraska farm surrounded by her brothers, then at the age of 12, she was sent to a girls' boarding school.
When she was older, she studied at the
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
, learned Spanish and French, and travelled extensively.
On June 4, 1906, she married a British-born Massachusetts carpet manufacturer, Matthew John Whittall.
Initially they lived at his home Whittall Manor in
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...
.
In 1912, they bought property in
Shrewsbury, Massachusetts
Shrewsbury (/ˈʃruzberi/ ''SHROOZ-bury'') is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Shrewsbury, unlike the surrounding towns of Grafton, Millbury, Westborough, Northborough, Boylston, and West Boylston did not become a ...
where they built a sprawling mansion and estate they called Juniper Hill.
Matthew Whittall died in 1922.
Gertrude Whittall donated Juniper Hill to the
Masonic
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
Grand Lodge of Massachusetts
The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, commonly referred to as the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and abbreviated GLMA, is the main governing body of Freemasonry within Massachusetts ...
for use as a hospital. In 1976, Shrewsbury bought the hospital and grounds, demolished the building, and created Prospect Park.
After living in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
for a time, in 1934, Whittall moved to
Washington, DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
, where she spent the rest of her life, living in the
Shoreham Hotel
The Omni Shoreham Hotel is a historic resort and convention hotel in Northwest Washington, D.C., built in 1930 and owned by Omni Hotels. It is located one block west of the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and Calvert Street. The hotel is known ...
, then the
Sheraton-Park Hotel.
Philanthropy
Whittall's lifelong devotion to
chamber music began with a performance by the
Flonzaley Quartet at Whittall Manor in 1908. In Washington, DC, she was known for the musical soirées she hosted.
Encouraged by
Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam
George Herbert Putnam (September 20, 1861 – August 14, 1955) was an American librarian. He was the eighth (and also the longest-serving) Librarian of Congress from 1899 to 1939. He implemented his vision of a universal collection with strengt ...
, Whittall donated four Stradivari instruments to the Library of Congress in 1935, and a fifth in 1937. They were three violins, one viola, and one violoncello:
* 1697 “Castelbarco”
violoncello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D ...
* 1699 “Castelbarco”
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
* 1700 “Ward" violin
* 1704 “
Betts Betts is an English Patronymic surname, deriving from the medieval personal name Bett, a short form of Bartholomew, Beatrice, or Elizabeth. It is also the americanized spelling of German Betz. The surname may refer to
* Alejandro Jacobo Betts (1947 ...
" violin
* 1727 “Cassavetti”
viola
; german: Bratsche
, alt=Viola shown from the front and the side
, image=Bratsche.jpg
, caption=
, background=string
, hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71
, hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow
, range=
, related=
*Violin family ...
Each instrument was accompanied by a
bow created by
François Tourte
François Xavier Tourte (1747 – 25 April 1835) was a French bow maker who made a number of significant contributions to the development of the bow of stringed instruments, and is considered to be the most important figure in the development of ...
. She also donated a large collection of manuscripts and correspondence by numerous composers, including
Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...
and
Mendlelssohn. She funded a foundation to support her donations and public concerts, as well as the construction of the Library's Whittall Pavilion. She stipulated that the instruments were not to leave the Library, so the Library engaged a resident
string quartet, initially the
Budapest String Quartet
The Budapest String Quartet was a string quartet in existence from 1917 to 1967. It originally consisted of three Hungarians and a Dutchman; at the end, the quartet consisted of four Russians. A number of recordings were made for HMV/Victor t ...
in 1940, then the
Juilliard String Quartet
The Juilliard String Quartet is a classical music string quartet founded in 1946 at the Juilliard School in New York by William Schuman. Since its inception, it has been the quartet-in-residence at the Juilliard School. It has received numerous ...
in 1962. In 2003, the Library ended the resident quartet in favor of having numerous visiting musicians perform using the instruments.
In 1950, she created the Gertrude Clarke Whittall Poetry and Literature Fund to support readings, lectures, and other events at the Library.
Through her philanthropy she became friends with poet
Robert Frost. She later said that they had made a pact: "We both enjoyed so much what we are doing here that we couldn't imagine the next world's being any better, so we agreed that if we didn't like the hereafter, we'd just come back."
Death
Gertrude Clarke Whittall died on June 29, 1965 in Washington, D.C.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke Whittall, Gertrude
1867 births
1965 deaths
20th-century American philanthropists
People from Bellevue, Nebraska
Philanthropists from Washington, D.C.