Gertrude Sumner Ely Explained

Gertrude Sumner Ely
Birth Date:September 20, 1876
Birth Place:Altoona, Pennsylvania
Death Date:October 15, 1970
Death Place:Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Years Active:1890s-1960s
Parents:Theodore N. Ely
Awards:Croix de Guerre

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.

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, for bravery under fire.[9] [10] Ely was captain of a women's baseball team that played US army units in occupied Germany in 1919.[11] 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.[12]

Philadelphia

Ely was active in many feminist and cultural organizations; her associates included President William H. Taft,[13] [14] Jane Addams,[15] journalist Dorothy Thompson,[16] Albert Einstein, 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. 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. At the beginning of World War II, she served refreshments to the recruits at Camp Blanding in Florida, 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. 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] 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. Bryn Mawr College named a fellowship for Ely.[30] She donated her family's photo album to Bryn Mawr.[31]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Oakes, Rensselaer Allston. 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. 1905. Higginson Book Company. 1220–1221. en.
  2. Book: Society, Sons of the Revolution Pennsylvania. Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Society, Sons of the Revolution. Carl Brandes Ely.. 1917. The Society. 42-43. en.
  3. News: A Jet-Age Reunion at Baldwin School. Seltzer. Ruth. May 16, 1967. The Philadelphia Inquirer. September 15, 2019. 21. Newspapers.com.
  4. News: At Wyndham Barn; Launching Trick or Treat. October 31, 1967. The Philadelphia Inquirer. September 15, 2019. 28. Newspapers.com.
  5. News: Writes from France. November 6, 1917. Harrisburg Telegraph. September 14, 2019. 5. Newspapers.com.
  6. Book: Mayo, Katherine. "That damn Y"; a record of overseas service. 1920. Boston : Houghton. University of California Libraries. 268-269.
  7. June 21, 1919. Churchwoman Cited for Bravery. The Living Church. 61. 284.
  8. News: Gertrude S. Ely, Social Crusader, Dead at Age 94. October 28, 1970. The Morning Call. September 15, 2019. 41. Newspapers.com.
  9. News: Gertrude S. Ely, Heroine of 1918. 1970-10-28. The New York Times. 2019-09-14. en-US. 0362-4331.
  10. Web site: 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. 2019-09-14.
  11. News: Wood . Junius . Ladies' Ball Team Tours Army Area . 7 April 2024 . [Washington, DC] Evening Star . 26 June 1919.
  12. News: Five Women in the Big Parade Today. Stevenson. Fay. September 10, 1919. The Evening World. September 16, 2019. 18. Newspapers.com.
  13. Web site: William H. Taft to Gertrude Ely. Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. 2019-09-14.
  14. News: 'Rot', She Thinks Root Said, of Harding's Views. October 24, 1920. The Baltimore Sun. September 15, 2019. 1. Newspapers.com.
  15. Web site: Mabel L. Hyers to Gertrude Sumner Ely, letter. October 13, 1915. Jane Addams Digital Edition. 2019-09-14.
  16. Book: Kurth, Peter. American Cassandra: The Life of Dorothy Thompson. 2019-08-09. Plunkett Lake Press. en.
  17. Book: Cook, Blanche Wiesen. Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 2: The Defining Years, 1933–1938. 2000-06-01. Penguin. 9781101567456. en.
  18. Web site: Past Presidents The Junior League of Philadelphia, Inc.. en-US. 2019-09-14.
  19. News: Women Will Launch 'Get-Out-Vote' Campaign. March 13, 1924. Bluefield Daily Telegraph. September 15, 2019. 15. NewspaperArchive.com.
  20. News: Woman Democrat to Speak. July 13, 1936. Lincoln Nebraska State Journal. September 16, 2019. 5. NewspaperArchive.com.
  21. Web site: Hear us roar - A look at great women of the Main Line. O’Loughlin. Kathy. March 10, 2013. Main Line Media News. en. 2019-09-15.
  22. News: Project Exhibit at Beaver Falls. June 18, 1936. New Castle News. September 15, 2019. 12. NewspaperArchive.com.
  23. Book: Stout, Janis P.. Cather Among the Moderns. 2019-03-19. University of Alabama Press. 9780817320140. 110. en.
  24. News: War Worker is Heroine of Story. July 3, 1924. Washington Court House Herald. September 15, 2019. 11. NewspaperArchive.com.
  25. Book: Mullin, Molly H.. Culture in the Marketplace: Gender, Art, and Value in the American Southwest. 2001-03-20. Duke University Press. 9780822380603. 74. en.
  26. Web site: Correspondence Between Gertrude Ely and Matthew J. Connelly, with Related Material. Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. 2019-09-14.
  27. Book: Cook, Blanche Wiesen. Eleanor Roosevelt. 2000. Penguin. 9780140178944. 543. en.
  28. Web site: Full List of Alumnae Awards. The Baldwin School. 2019-09-14.
  29. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 60th Anniversary Directory of the Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania (2008).
  30. News: Knepper Wins Ely Award. January 14, 1971. The Ithaca Journal. September 15, 2019. 10. Newspapers.com.
  31. Bryn Mawr College. 1926-01-01. Ely Photo Album. Books, Pamphlets, Catalogues, and Scrapbooks.

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