Gertrude Sumner Ely

Gertrude Sumner Ely (September 20, 1876 – October 15, 1970) was an American philanthropist, based in Philadelphia. She was decorated for her bravery during World War I.

Mary Noel Arrowsmith and Gertrude Sumner Ely at Field Hospital No. 3., Froissy, May 7, 1918.
Gertrude Sumner Ely
Gertrude Sumner Ely, from a 1919 publication.
BornSeptember 20, 1876
Altoona, Pennsylvania
DiedOctober 15, 1970
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Years active1890s-1960s
Parent(s)Theodore N. Ely
AwardsCroix de Guerre

Early life

Gertrude Sumner Ely was born September 20, 1876, in Altoona, Pennsylvania, the second daughter of Theodore Newell Ely (1846–1916) and Henrietta Van Siden Brandes Ely.[1] Her father was a railroad executive, as vice president of the Pennsylvania Railroad; he was also director of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Her mother died in 1880; her stepmother, Susanna Wierman, died in 1904. Her older sister Katrina Ely Tiffany (1875–1927) and her younger sister Henrietta Brandes Ely were also active in suffrage and war work.[2] Gertrude Ely graduated from The Baldwin School in 1895[3] and from Bryn Mawr College in 1899.[4]

Career

World War I

During World War I Ely and her sister Henrietta worked with the YMCA and the American Red Cross in France,[5] with Gertrude Ely operating a canteen near the front. Her work was explained in Katherine Mayo's 1920 account of the YMCA's contributions in the war:

Gertrude Ely had a flivver, lucky woman. Into that flivver, on the word to move, she packed a lot of rations, a cook-stove, a boiler, chocolate, a fiddle, some maps, a Y red triangle sign, writing paper, pens, ink, candles, her own bedroll, a lot of useful odds and ends, and all the cigarettes that room remained for. Then she started out a little ahead of the column.[6]

She was believed to be the first American woman to cross the Rhine into Germany after the signing of the armistice.[7][8] She received the Croix de Guerre, twice,[3] for bravery under fire.[9][10] She shared a place of honor in a 1919 parade in New York, with fellow YMCA war workers Mary Noel Arrowsmith, Frances Gulick, Ethel Creighton Torrance, and Marjorie Skelding.[11]

Philadelphia

Ely was active in many feminist and cultural organizations; her associates included President William H. Taft,[12][13] Jane Addams,[14] journalist Dorothy Thompson,[15] Albert Einstein,[16] and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.[17] She was president of the Junior League of Philadelphia from 1915 to 1917.[18] She was head of the Pennsylvania chapter of the League of Women Voters,[19] and served on the League's national board.[20] She was Pennsylvania director of women's projects for the Works Progress Administration.[21][22]

She spent a summer in Tesuque, New Mexico, living in an adobe house with her Bryn Mawr friend Elizabeth Shepley Sergeant,[23] who later described their adventure in a serial for Harper's Magazine, titled The Journal of a Mud House.[24][25]

Ely was a delegate to the 1928 Democratic National Convention. In 1934 she ran for the Pennsylvania state senate.[8] In the 1950s she took an interest in legal representation for Native American tribes;[26] she served a term on the board of the National Association of American Indian Affairs.[3] At the beginning of World War II, she served refreshments to the recruits at Camp Blanding in Florida,[9] and wrote to her friend Eleanor Roosevelt about the plight of German Jewish families.[27]

Ely served on the executive committee of UNICEF, and in 1967 hosted UNICEF's "Trick of Treat" at her home, Wyndham Barn, welcoming Halloween visitors collecting donations for the project.[4] She was a patron of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Bryn Mawr Hospital. She received the first annual Baldwin School Alumnae Award in 1967.[28][3] In 1968 she was named a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania.[29]

Personal life

Gertrude Sumner Ely died in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, on October 15, 1970, aged 94 years.[9][8] Bryn Mawr College named a fellowship for Ely.[30] She donated her family's photo album to Bryn Mawr.[31]

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References
  1. Oakes, Rensselaer Allston (1905). Genealogical and Family History of the County of Jefferson, New York: A Record of the Achievements of Her People and the Phenomenal Growth of Her Agricultural and Mechanical Industries. Higginson Book Company. pp. 1220–1221.
  2. Society, Sons of the Revolution Pennsylvania (1917). Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Society, Sons of the Revolution. The Society. pp. 42-43. Carl Brandes Ely.
  3. Seltzer, Ruth (May 16, 1967). "A Jet-Age Reunion at Baldwin School". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 21. Retrieved September 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "At Wyndham Barn; Launching Trick or Treat". The Philadelphia Inquirer. October 31, 1967. p. 28. Retrieved September 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Writes from France". Harrisburg Telegraph. November 6, 1917. p. 5. Retrieved September 14, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. Mayo, Katherine (1920). "That damn Y"; a record of overseas service. University of California Libraries. Boston : Houghton. pp. 268-269.
  7. "Churchwoman Cited for Bravery". The Living Church. 61: 284. June 21, 1919.
  8. "Gertrude S. Ely, Social Crusader, Dead at Age 94". The Morning Call. October 28, 1970. p. 41. Retrieved September 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Gertrude S. Ely, Heroine of 1918". The New York Times. 1970-10-28. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-09-14.
  10. "Citation of Miss Henrietta Ely, of the American Red Cross, who was awarded the Croix de Guerre for her services in giving aid to the wounded under fire. Miss Ely was Directrice of an American Red Cross canteen". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2019-09-14.
  11. Stevenson, Fay (September 10, 1919). "Five Women in the Big Parade Today". The Evening World. p. 18. Retrieved September 16, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. "William H. Taft to Gertrude Ely". Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Retrieved 2019-09-14.
  13. "'Rot', She Thinks Root Said, of Harding's Views". The Baltimore Sun. October 24, 1920. p. 1. Retrieved September 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. "Mabel L. Hyers to Gertrude Sumner Ely, letter". Jane Addams Digital Edition. October 13, 1915. Retrieved 2019-09-14.
  15. Kurth, Peter (2019-08-09). American Cassandra: The Life of Dorothy Thompson. Plunkett Lake Press.
  16. Gertrude Ely to Albert Einstein (letter), Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists Records, Special Collections & Archives Research Center, Oregon State University, May 27, 1946, retrieved 2019-09-15
  17. Cook, Blanche Wiesen (2000-06-01). Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 2: The Defining Years, 1933–1938. Penguin. ISBN 9781101567456.
  18. "Past Presidents | The Junior League of Philadelphia, Inc". Retrieved 2019-09-14.
  19. "Women Will Launch 'Get-Out-Vote' Campaign". Bluefield Daily Telegraph. March 13, 1924. p. 15. Retrieved September 15, 2019 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  20. "Woman Democrat to Speak". Lincoln Nebraska State Journal. July 13, 1936. p. 5. Retrieved September 16, 2019 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  21. O’Loughlin, Kathy (March 10, 2013). "Hear us roar - A look at great women of the Main Line". Main Line Media News. Retrieved 2019-09-15.
  22. "Project Exhibit at Beaver Falls". New Castle News. June 18, 1936. p. 12. Retrieved September 15, 2019 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  23. Stout, Janis P. (2019-03-19). Cather Among the Moderns. University of Alabama Press. p. 110. ISBN 9780817320140.
  24. "War Worker is Heroine of Story". Washington Court House Herald. July 3, 1924. p. 11. Retrieved September 15, 2019 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  25. Mullin, Molly H. (2001-03-20). Culture in the Marketplace: Gender, Art, and Value in the American Southwest. Duke University Press. p. 74. ISBN 9780822380603.
  26. "Correspondence Between Gertrude Ely and Matthew J. Connelly, with Related Material". Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. Retrieved 2019-09-14.
  27. Cook, Blanche Wiesen (2000). Eleanor Roosevelt. Penguin. p. 543. ISBN 9780140178944.
  28. "Full List of Alumnae Awards". The Baldwin School. Retrieved 2019-09-14.
  29. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 60th Anniversary Directory of the Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania (2008).
  30. "Knepper Wins Ely Award". The Ithaca Journal. January 14, 1971. p. 10. Retrieved September 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. Bryn Mawr College (1926-01-01). "Ely Photo Album". Books, pamphlets, catalogues, and scrapbooks.
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