9 of 14: George Peabody (1795-1869): A-Z Handbook...., by Franklin and Betty J. Parker, bfparker@frontiernet.net
Following Background "Preface" below 9 of 14 blogs covers alphabetically: PIB, Music. 51 to Salem, Mass.
Background: "Preface" 1 of 14 tells the why-when-where-how-findings-and-motives of the authors’ research on Franklin Parker’s doctoral dissertation, “George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy,” completed 1956 at George Peabody College for Teachers, adjoining Vanderbilt University, which on July 1, 1979, became Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, Nashville.
George Peabody, so well known in the 1850s-60s but since sadly neglected, was a significant 19th century figure as: 1-a Massachusetts-born merchant in the U.S. South: Riggs & Peabody, later Peabody & Riggs (1814-38), who imported dry goods and other commodities (worldwide) for sale to U.S. wholesalers. George Peabody then became: 2-a London-based merchant-banker, George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), who financed in part the B&O RR, the 2nd Mexican War Loan, the Atlantic Cable, and with J.S. Morgan as partner, was the root of the JP Morgan international banking firm. Finally, this merchant-turned-banker became: 3-the best known philanthropist of his time (1850s-60s), who founded the Peabody Homes of London for the working poor; in the U.S. 7 Peabody Libraries and Lecture Halls; the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore; three Peabody Museums at Harvard (Anthropology), Yale (Paleontology), and the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA (maritime history); and founder of the Peabody Education Fund for the South (1867-1914), basis for all later larger U.S. funds and foundations. End of Background.
PIB, Music. 51-Robert Sirota (1949-), Tenth Director during 1995-2005, born in NYC, was a trained in music composition at The Juilliard School, Oberlin (Ohio) Conservatory (B.M.), study in Paris, France; and a Harvard Univ. Ph.D. Early in Sirota's administration Johns Hopkins Univ. trustee Benjamin H. Griswold IV (Baltimore investment banker), chaired a successful $20 million Peabody Conservatory of Music campaign. Griswold himself gave the Conservatory $2 million in honor of his mother, Leith Symington Griswold, who studied at the Peabody Preparatory School and at the Conservatory, 1926-36. The PIB's North Hall (where the Peabody Gallery of Art was originally housed) was renamed the Leith Symington Griswold Hall, March 8, 1998. Sirota's legacy (he left the PIB Conservatory Oct. 2005 to become President of NYC's Manhattan School of Music) included a $27 Million renovation of the PIB Conservatory campus, a sister (Yong Siew Toh) conservatory in Singapore, prominent faculty appointments, and an endowment approaching $100 Million. Sirota was succeeded by interim director Peter Landgren, PIB Conservatory member since 1981 and teaching excellence award winner in 2003. Ref.: Garside, "Peabody Historic Hall to Honor Griswold." Johns Hopkins Magazine (Sept. 2005), seen Sept. 9, 2005: http://www.jhu.edu/~jhumag/0905web/wholly.htmal#sorota
Peabody Conservatory of Music In Perspective
PIB, Music. 52-140 Year Perspective. First collegiate school of music in the U.S. (1857) but the fourth to offer instruction (1868), the PIB Conservatory of Music served Baltimore and the nation for some 140 years. Music scholars and others appreciated that the Johns Hopkins Univ. continued the PIB Conservatory of Music tradition. The PIB remains a marble and red brick cultural complex in Baltimore's historic Mount Vernon Place. Scholars use its research library resources. Visitors still enjoy the PIB building's grandeur. Art students enjoy its art works on loan to various Baltimore art galleries. Lectures still inform, delight, and entertain the public. Music students still study Bach, Beethoven, other classical composers, in traditional form, and also in new electronic music form, using the latest digital synthesis software. (Note: for the massive financial effort to restore PIB solvency under Johns Hopkins Univ. affiliation, including the acquiring of its art collection as part of the Md. State Archives, see PIB Gallery of Art below).
PIB, Music. 53-Computer Music Dept. The PIB Conservatory of Music of Johns Hopkins Univ. was the first in the U.S. with a computer music department. A degree in recording engineering since 1983 allows students to combine PIB Conservatory music classes with courses in the Johns Hopkins' G.W.C. Whiting School of Engineering. In 1992 the PIB Conservatory enrolled 538 students from around the world, 280 of them graduate students, and 258 undergraduate students. After nearly a century and a half of change, the PIB library, music conservatory, art, and lectures still serve Baltimore, the U.S., and the world. Ref.: (below).
PIB, Music. 54-Computer Music Dept. Cont'd. Ref.: (Computer music): Ulrike Huhs, "Peabody Conservatory Generates Sounds of the Future," Asheville Citizen-Times (NC), Nov. 28, 1992, p. 4C. Other Refs. (PIB): Schaaf-a, (compiler), Peabody: An Illustrated Guide. Olson, pp. 105, 168, 192. Kahn. Peabody Conservatory of Music Catalogue, 1991-93, and later issues. "Peabody Institute, Baltimore," The International Cyclopedia of Music, p. 1640.
PIB Gallery of Art
Peabody Institute of Baltimore (PIB) Gallery of Art. 1-Baltimore's First Art Gallery, Third in the U.S. The PIB Gallery of Art (active 1873-mid-1930s) was Baltimore's first and the third art gallery in the U.S. Its only predecessor in Baltimore was the Md. Historical Society's fine art exhibits during 1846-1909. See: PIB for overview.
PIB, Art. 2-Began in 1873. The PIB Gallery of Art began in 1873, when PIB trustee John W. McCoy (1821-89) donated Clytie, a life-size marble statue of a woman in classical Greco-Roman style. PIB Provost Nathaniel Holmes Morison (1815-90) was delighted to have Clytie, which he exhibited with two other marble figures, Venus of the Shell (marble copy of the Vatican's crouching Venus) and Joseph Mozier's (1812-70) Pocahontas, the last presented by trustee George Stewart Brown (1871-1941). These works drew between 20 and 100 visitors a day. During March 4 to April 5, 1879, the Peabody Art Gallery held an exhibition of paintings and sculpture on loan, with average attendance of 280 by day and 246 by evening. Ref.: Schaaf-b, pp. 9-14.
PIB, Art. 3-1881 Exhibition. PIB trustee John Work Garrett (1820-84) bought for the Peabody Gallery of Art in London and Paris casts of antiques, bas-relief, and statuary. These, shown in an 1881 PIB Gallery of Art exhibition, also included a half-size bronze copy made by Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810-92) of the Ghiberti gates in the Baptistry of St. John in Florence. The catalog of this popular exhibition went into three printings. Besides being Baltimore's first art museum, the Peabody Gallery of Art was something of an art school, since art students could by permission copy its works. Ref.: Ibid.
PIB, Art. 4-Donated Art. In 1884, while his private art gallery was being prepared, John Work Garrett lent the PIB Art Gallery 52 paintings he owned for a showing that attracted 13,464 visitors. In 1885, Thomas Harrison Garrett (1849-88, son of John Work Garrett) exhibited his collection of Rembrandt's etchings at the PIB Art Gallery. In 1893 the PIB Art Gallery received trustee Charles James Madison Eaton's (1808-93) art collection of 81 paintings, 62 watercolors, drawings, miniature portraits, porcelain, and bronzes by French-born artist-sculptor Christophe Fratin (1800-64). Eaton's nieces also gave the PIB Art Gallery the considerable art collection of Baltimore merchant Robert Gilmore, Jr. (1774-1848), which their uncle had purchased to prevent its sale to buyers outside of Baltimore. Ref.: Ibid.
PIB, Art. 5-Donated Art Cont'd. In 1908 trustee John W. McCoy, whose gift of Clytie in 1873 started the PIB Gallery of Art, gave it his art collection, which included other sculpture by Md. sculptor William Henry Rinehart, along with paintings by Irish-born American painter Thomas Hovenden (1840-95) and Baltimore-born painter Hugh Bolton Jones (1848-1927). Ref.: "Rinehart, William Henry," Appletons', V, p. 256.
PIB, Art. 6-Donated Art Cont'd. In 1911, the Peabody Gallery of Art received the art collection of Baltimore stock broker George Carter Irwin which included works by artists Andrea Scacciati (1642-1710), Casmicache, Elisabetta Sirani (1639-1665), Charles Volkmar (d. 1914), and Bonheur. George Carter Irwin's sisters established an Irwin Fund used by the Peabody Gallery of Art to purchase paintings by such distinguished American artists as Winslow Homer (1836-1910), George Innes (1824-94), Childe Hassam (1859-1935), and Jonas Lie (1880-1940). Ref.: Rusk-a, pp. 309-338. Rusk-b, XV, pp. 615-617. [William Henry Rinehart], Sun (Baltimore), Jan. 5, 1936. See: Homer, Winslow.
PIB, Art. 7-Active Years. The Peabody Gallery of Art was especially active during 1911-12 when Sunday afternoon hours were introduced. Sun writer H.(enry) L.(ouis) Mencken (1880-1956) wrote humorously of the sacrilege of Sunday viewing. There was a special "Exhibits of Contemporary American Art" in 1911 by the Charcoal Club of Baltimore for prospective buyers, with an illustrated catalog listing 105 participating artists' names and addresses. Over 4,000 visitors came to see such works as Charles (Webster) Hawthorne's (1872-1930) Fisher Boys, George Wesley Bellows' (1882-1925) The Palisades, Jonas Lie's Harbor in Winter, and Childe Hassam's (1859-1935) The Ledges. The successful exhibit was for some years an annual event. Ref.: Ibid.
PIB, Art. 8-1912-22. The first one-man exhibit in 1912 featured Baltimore artist Charles H. Walther (1879-1937). In 1914 a modernist exhibit of Cubism and Futurism paintings caused something of a sensation. In 1916 there was a special exhibit of sculpture by Paul Manship (1885-1966). Baltimore women artists calling themselves "The Six" held frequent exhibits between 1912 and 1922. Ref.: Ibid.
PIB, Art. 9-PIB Art On Loan Since mid-1930s. In the mid 1930s the expanding PIB Conservatory of Music's need for space prompted a decision to close the Peabody Gallery of Art. Its over 1,000 art pieces were placed on extended loan (where they still remain) in the Baltimore Museum of Art (opened 1914) and in Baltimore's Walters Art Gallery (which became public in 1934). Ref.: Ibid. Lynn D. Poole, "Mantle of Success," Sun (Baltimore), May 16, 1948.
PIB Art Acquired by Md. State Archives, 1996
PIB, Art. 10-Transfer to Md. State Archives. Financial problems caused the PIB Library to become part of the Enoch Pratt Free Library for 16 years, July 2, 1866, to July 1, 1882, when it and the PIB Conservatory of Music became part of the Johns Hopkins Univ. (effective July 1, 1982). By the late 1980s, additional state and private aid was needed to endow the PIB. A task force headed by then Md. Lt. Gov. Melvin A. Steinberg (1933-) devised the Peabody Plan to raise $15 million in state aid plus matching private aid, a goal achieved under Md. Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (1951-) as chair of the Peabody Oversight Committee. In return for this aid, the Md. State Archives gained title to the PIB Art Gallery collection, June 28, 1996. Its treasures remain housed as before in the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Walters Art Gallery, the Md. Historical Society, the PIB, and elsewhere. It is hoped that some art pieces will circulate around Md., to be enjoyed by Marylanders and world visitors. Ref.: "The Peabody Art Collection, A Treasure for Maryland," 2 pp., Internet (seen March 2, 2000): http://mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/staagser/s/1259/121/6361/html/history.html
Peabody Institute Library, Danvers, Mass.
Peabody Institute, Danvers, Mass. 1-Name Changes. Brooksby Village, Essex County, Mass., founded 1626, some 20 miles northeast of Boston, was renamed Salem Village (1636-1752), then renamed Danvers (1752-1855). It was called South Parish of Danvers when GP was born there Feb. 18, 1795. Danvers was divided into North Danvers and South Danvers (1855-68), with GP's home in South Danvers, at 205 Washington St., now the George Peabody House Civic Center in what was renamed Peabody, Mass., April 13, 1868. Ref.: Internet (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/Danvers.html): "Historical Sites of Danvers." Danvers Historical Society.
Peabody Institute, Danvers, Mass. 2-Peabody Institute Libraries, Peabody and Danvers. GP founded his first Peabody Institute Library, June 16, 1852, in his hometown of South Danvers (total gift $217,600, renamed Peabody, Mass., April 13, 1868). He founded his second Peabody Institute Library a few miles away in what is now Danvers, Mass., Dec. 22, 1856 (total gift $100,000). In 1692 Salem Village parish (now Danvers) was the center of alleged witchcraft in which inhabitants were arrested and some hanged as witches. Ref.: Ibid.
Peabody Institute, Danvers, Mass. 3-Other Famous Residents. Famous people born in or who lived in or near Danvers, besides GP, include 1-Israel Putnam (1718-90), American Revolution general, prominent in the battle of Bunker Hill; and 2-Grenville Mellan Dodge (1831-1916), Civil War Union general and builder of the Union Pacific Railroad. 3-Poet John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-92), who lived in Danvers from 1875. 4-Writer Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-64) lived in nearby Salem, Mass., where the House of the Seven Gables is located. Ref.: Internet: (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/Danvers.html): Danvers Historical Society "Historical Sites of Danvers." See: institutions named.
Peabody Institute Library, Georgetown, Mass. In 1866 GP gave $30,000 for a library, lyceum, and lecture fund in Georgetown, Mass., where his mother was born (the town was then called Rowley) and where his sister Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Russell Daniels (1799-1879) lived. In 1866 GP also had built in Georgetown, Mass., in memory of his mother and at the suggestion of his sister Judith, a $70,000 Memorial Church. See: Georgetown, Mass. Memorial Church, Georgetown, Mass. Whittier, John Greenleaf.
Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass. GP's first Peabody Institute Library was founded June 16, 1852, in what is now Peabody, Mass., to which he gave a total of $217,000. For the controversy over change of name from South Danvers to Peabody, Mass., see Peabody, Mass. (below). For the Peabody Institute's first librarian Fitch Poole, his partially published diary on GP's library visits and death, and Fitch Poole's library display of GP's honors, see Poole, Fitch. [Poole, Fitch] in Reference. Honors, GP's, in Life and after Death (in chronological order). Peabody, George, Honors in Life.
Peabody Library Association of the Public Library of Washington, D.C. On April 20, 1867, GP gave $15,000 for a Fund for Public Library. A Peabody Room is in the Georgetown branch of the Washington, D.C., Public Library.
Peabody Library, Thetford, Vt. In Sept. 1866 GP gave $5,000 toward a public library in Thetford, Vt., in memory of his maternal grandparents and of his visit to them there in late winter 1810 when he was age 15. His maternal grandparents then lived in Post Mills Village, Thetford, Vt.: Judith (née Spofford) Dodge (1749-1828) and her husband Jeremiah Dodge (1744-1824). GP then stopped to visit his maternal aunt Temperance (née Dodge) Jewett (1772-1872?), whose husband, Jeremiah Jewett (1757-1836), was a physician in Barnstead, N.H. See: Concord, N.H. Mayall, John Jabez Edwin. Towns and persons named.
South Danvers Renamed Peabody, Mass., 1868
Peabody, Mass. 1-Petition & Opposition, March 13, 1868. In March 1868 a petition was sent to the South Danvers town council to change the town's name from South Danvers to Peabody, Mass. South Danvers citizens voted their approval which then went to the Mass. legislature, Boston, where the proposal met opposition. A petition signed by 100 citizens opposed to the name change was presented at a late March 1868 hearing at the State House, Boston. At the hearing a Mr. H.W. Poole explained that GP was unpopular with some in South Danvers because of his alleged southern sympathies during the Civil War. Ref.: South Danvers Wizard, April 1, 1868, p. 2, c. 2; April 22, 1868, p. 2, c. 2; May 6, 1868, p. 1, c. 7 and p. 2, c. 1.
Peabody, Mass. 2-GP Defended. GP was stoutly defended at the hearing, especially by Gen. William Sutton, who said that relatively few in South Danvers objected to the proposed name change. Ref.: Ibid.
Peabody, Mass. 3-"Peabody" Suggested over Other Names. Two years before, the business community particularly wanted a name change. "South Danvers" implied a section of Danvers, when South Danvers was in fact a separate town. Even the U.S. post office had difficulty separating Danvers and South Danvers mail. "Peabody" was chosen over other suggested names: "Bowditch," after locally born famed navigator and mathematician Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838); "Antwerp," because the French spelling of that city in Belgium, "D'Anvers," was believed to be the original source for "Danvers"; "Brooksby," the name of the village when first settled in 1626 as part of Salem; "Osborne," after many of that family in South Danvers; and "Sutton" after a prominent citizen, Gen. William Sutton. Ref.: Ibid.
Peabody, Mass. 4-Second Vote, April 30, 1868. To overcome the impasse in the change of name, the hearings committee proposed a compromise: the State of Mass. would recognize the name change to "Peabody" if there was a second favorable vote by South Danvers citizens. In April 1868, before the town's second vote, GP's friends issued a handbill which explained: "At a...town meeting, duly called and legally conducted, we voted to change the town's name to Peabody.... Opponents who failed to defeat it at the ballot box protested.... Rather than have the name change take effect under imputation of 'trickery, wirepulling, and underhand work,' we agreed to a second town vote." Ref.: Ibid. Ref.: (Pro-GP handbill, April 1868): Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Peabody, Mass. 5-Second Vote, April 30, 1868, Handbill. The pro-GP handbill then explained his financial record in the Civil War: "The charges against Mr. Peabody are unfounded. He never held a dollar of rebel debt nor dealt in rebel bonds. On the contrary over three million dollars of his own money was in United States bonds on which he drew no interest until the war was over. He used his influence to help sell our bonds when we were hard pressed for money and when other bankers in England invested in the Confederate Loan. The success of the rebellion would have shattered his fortune." Ref.: Ibid.
Peabody, Mass. 6-Second Vote, April 30, 1868, Final Vote. Opposition declined. On the second vote, April 30, 1868, of the 625 votes cast, there were 379 yeas, 246 nays, with change of name advocates winning by 133 votes. Thus, the town was first called Brooksby (1626), later known as Salem Village, then Danvers (1752-1855), then South Danvers (1855-68), and finally Peabody, Mass. (from April 13, 1868, by official Mass. records). Ref.: (Official change of name): Mass., Commonwealth of, Documents...1868..., House Document No. 180, March 31, 1868. Mass., Commonwealth of, General Laws...1868, p. 25.
Peabody Memorial Church, Georgetown, Mass. (1867-68). During 1866-68 at a cost of $70,000 GP had a Memorial Church built in Georgetown, Mass., in honor of his mother who was born there when the town was known as Rowley. GP did this at his sister Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Russell Daniels' (1799-1879) suggestion. This sister Judith also lived in Georgetown and had been part of a group that broke away from the Congregational Church for doctrinal reasons. See: Memorial Church, Georgetown, Mass.
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, Mass. See: Marsh, Othniel Charles. Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale Univ., New Haven, Conn. See: Marsh, Othniel Charles. Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
Peabody Museum of Salem, Mass.
Peabody Museum of Salem, Mass. 1-Brief History: 1799-1867. Salem, Mass., was a leading New England clipper ship sailing port. Its acquisitive shipmasters brought back from China, Sumatra, India, and the Pacific islands ethnological and marine history collections organized by the East India Marine Society, 1799, the oldest museum in the U.S. Next door was the Essex County Natural History Society, founded in 1833, to collect New England's natural history antiquities. In 1848 this Essex County Natural History Society merged with the Essex Historical Society (founded 1821) to preserve the history and relics of Essex County, Mass. The 1848 merger resulted in the Essex Institute. See: Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
PM, Salem, Mass. 2-Building Need Brought to GP's Attention. During GP's May 1, 1866, to May 1, 1867, U.S. visit, it was brought to his attention that the East India Marine Society's ethnological and marine science objects and the Essex Institute's natural history objects were inadequately housed in the moribund East India Marine Society Building in Salem. Ref.: Ibid.
PM, Salem, Mass. 3-Peabody Academy of Science (1867-1915). GP's Feb. 26, 1867, gift of $140,000 founded the Peabody Academy of Science (1867-1915), Salem, Mass., which combined the two organizations' science collections. Soon other New England societies began to donate their ethnological and maritime objects to the then new Peabody Academy of Science. Ref.: Ibid.
PM, Salem, Mass. 4-Peabody Museum of Salem (1915-92). The Peabody Academy of Science (1867-1915) was renamed the Peabody Museum of Salem (1915-92). Next to the Peabody Museum of Salem stood the older Essex Institute (1848), containing Essex Country historical documents. Ref.: Ibid.
PM, Salem, Mass. 5-Peabody Essex Museum Since 1992. In 1992 the Peabody Museum of Salem (1915-92) was combined with the Essex Institute (1848-1992) and renamed the Peabody Essex Museum (since 1992). Thus, the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass. (since 1992), has a lineage going back to 1799 or 200 years, the oldest U.S. science museum. Ref.: Ibid.
Peabody Museum of Yale Univ. See: Marsh, Othniel Charles. Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education. Yale Univ.
PCofVU Predecessors
Peabody Normal College, Nashville, Tenn. 1-Nashville Normal School. First PEF administrator Barnas Sears (1802-80) wanted a normal school in Nashville as a model for the South. He found the Univ. of Nashville trustees willing to transform their moribund "Literary Dept." into a normal school. Aided by newly inaugurated Tenn. Gov. James Davis Porter (1828-1912), Sears got the legislature to amend appropriately the Univ. of Nashville's charter (1875). See: PCofVU, history of. Conkin, Peabody College, index.
Peabody Normal College. 2-Seven Historically Connected Collegiate Institutions. Peabody Normal College grew out of its predecessor collegiate institutions: Davidson Academy (1785-1806); Cumberland College (1806-26); and the moribund Literary Dept. of the Univ. of Nashville (1826-75). The PEF-created State Normal School (1875-89), officially renamed Peabody Normal College (1889-1911), was succeeded by GPCFT (1914-79) and PCofVU since 1979. Ref.: Ibid. For PCofVU's six predecessor colleges and their nineteen chief administrators, see PCofVU and institutions named.
Peabody Notes is a PIB Conservatory of Music publication.
Peabody Park, Univ. of N.C. at Greensboro. See: Peabody, George Foster.
Peabody Reflector. Alumni publication, GPCFT (1914-79), and its successor, PCofVU (since July 1979), Nashville, Tenn.
Peabody, Riggs & Co. (1829-43)
Peabody, Riggs & Co. (1829-43). 1-Dry Goods and Other Commodities. Peabody, Riggs & Co. was the successor to Riggs, Peabody & Co. (1814-29), in Georgetown, D.C. (1814), with a move to Baltimore (1815-29), and with warehouses in NYC and Philadelphia (1822). The firm imported from Europe and elsewhere dry goods and other commodities for sale to U.S. wholesalers. See: Riggs, Sr., Elisha. Riggs, Peabody, and Co.
Peabody, Riggs & Co. 2-Partners. GP as senior partner had three junior partners: Samuel Riggs (d.1853), nephew of GP's previous senior partner, Elisha Riggs, Sr. (1779-1853), and two later younger partners: Henry T. Jenkins (b.1815) and Adolphus William Peabody (b. 1814), GP's younger first cousin (son of GP's paternal uncle, John Peabody [1768-1827]). Samuel Riggs managed the Baltimore office and then the NYC warehouse. For the firm, GP traveled in the U.S. and abroad, including five European buying trips (1827-37). Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Peabody, Riggs & Co. 3-Merchant to Securities Broker to Investment Banker. On his fifth European trip, GP remained in London after Feb. 1837, initially as Md.'s agent to sell the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal part of Md.'s $8 million bond issue abroad for internal improvements. Peabody, Riggs & Co. declined after the Panic of 1837. GP withdrew his capital in 1843, though some transactions lasted until 1848. Though still head of Peabody, Riggs & Co., GP formed George Peabody & Co., London, Dec. 1838, and became increasingly a broker-banker trading in U.S. state securities. Samuel Riggs left Peabody, Riggs & Co. to join Lawrence Stone & Co., connected with the Bay State Cotton Mills in Lawrence, Mass. Junior partners H.T. Jenkins and Adolphus William Peabody joined other firms. Ref.: Ibid.
Peabody, Riggs & Co. 4-George Peabody & Co. & Successors. George Peabody & Co. prospered (1838-64). Often ill, GP took as partner Oct. 1, 1854, Boston merchant Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90), whose son John Pierpont Morgan (Sr., 1837-1913) began as NYC agent for George Peabody & Co. GP retired Oct. 1, 1864, asked that his name be withdrawn from the firm, which was succeeded by J. S. Morgan & Co. (1864-1909), Morgan Grenfell & Co. (1910-18), Morgan Grenfell & Co., Ltd. (1918-90), and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990), London. Ref.: Hidy, M.E.-c. See: persons and firms named.
Peabody School, St. Louis Public Schools, Mo., opened 1872, still existing, 2002. See: Peabody, George (1795-1869), Named Institutions, Firms, Buildings, Ships, Other Facilities, Music, & Poems Named for GP (26th entry).
Peabody Statue in London. See Statues of GP.
Peabody Trust of London. GP founded the Peabody Donation Fund, London, March 12, 1862 (total gift, $2.5 million), which built and managed the Peabody Homes of London for low-income working families. Renamed the Peabody Trust Group of London, it housed, in 2005, over 50,000 low income Londoners (1999: 59% white, 32% black, and 9% others) in over 19,500 Peabody apartments in 30 London boroughs. Some Inner London Borough public housing authorities chose to come under the Peabody Trust’s better living facilities, playgrounds for the young, recreation for the elderly, computer training centers, job training, and job placement for working adults. The Peabody Trust also has computer-equipped mobile vans for job training in needy neighborhoods. For more information, see www.peabody.org.uk Peabody Homes of London. Authors' Preface, Sources, Overview.
GP at the Peace Jubilee, Boston
Peace Jubilee, Boston. 1-GP's Unannounced Visit. In mid-June 1869, during GP's last U.S. visit (June 8 to Sept. 29, 1869) GP paid an unannounced visit to the Peace Jubilee and Music Festival in Boston. He listened quietly to the orchestra and choir. He was recognized and his presence was announced from the stage at intermission by Mayor Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff (1810-74). His introduction by the Mayor as "the friend of the whole world" brought "a perfect storm of applause," attributed to the publicity and praise for his philanthropy, particularly the Feb. 7, 1867, PEF ($1 million) and his doubling of that gift to $2 million (June 29, 1869) to revive the defeated South through public education. See: Shurtleff. Nathaniel Bradstreet.
Peace Jubilee, Boston. 2-GP Praised in Sermon. On Sunday, June 20, 1869, Unitarian minister, the Rev. William Rounseville Alger (1822-1905), in his sermon closing the Boston Peace Jubilee, mentioned that GP had done more to keep the peace between Britain and the U.S. than a hundred demagogues to destroy it. Ref.: Ibid.
Peboddy, Annis (17th century, dates not known), sister of Francis Peboddy (1612 or 13-1697), first of the paternal family to leave for America in 1635. Annis Peboddy came to America the next year, 1636. See: Peabody Genealogy, Paternal.
Peboddy, Francis (1612 or 14-1697), son of John Paybody (1590-1667), was the first of the paternal family to leave for America, one of a group of dissenters who sailed on the ship Planter for Mass. on April 2, 1635. A year after landing he lived in Ipswich, Essex County, Mass. See: Ibid.
Second Dean, PCofVU
Pellegrino, James William (1947-). 1-Second Dean, PCofVU. James William Pellegrino was the second dean of PCofVU from Jan. 1992 to July 1998 (he remained as professor and researcher). He was succeeded by PCofVU Dean Camilla Persson Benbow (1956-) from Aug. 1998. James William Pellegrino, who succeeded first PCofVU Dean Willis D. Hawley (1938-), PCofVU's first dean during 1980-89, was acting dean at the Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, before joining Vanderbilt Univ. as holder of the Frank W. Mayborn Chair of Cognitive Studies (from 1989). See PCofVU, history of. Conkin, Peabody College, index.
Pellegrino, James William. 2-Innovative Technology. Dean Pellegrino said of PCofVU in the fall of 1992: "I inherited a financially stable and intellectually robust institution" (enrollment was over 1,500 [870 undergraduate, some 630 graduate students]). His goals were to so undergird PCofVU's instructional programs with innovative technology that they would be "uniquely superior" and set a standard for other universities. In his six years as dean, he helped keep PCofVU among the top ranking U.S. graduate schools of education and is credited with linking PCofVU to 70 joint projects with the Nashville Metro School system. Ref.: Ibid.
GP and Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (Penn.). 1-1869 U.S. Visit. On July 19, 1869, and on Sept. 1 and 2, 1869, GP visited Philadelphia-born financier Charles Macalester (1798-1873) at his home in Torresdale near Philadelphia. Charles Macalester, who had visited London in 1842, became GP's agent and business correspondent in Philadelphia, was one of the 16 original PEF trustees, was among the few PEF trustees and others who saw GP aboard the Scotia on Sept. 29, 1869, on his last return to London. Macalester's founding of Macalester College, St. Paul, Minn., may have been influenced by GP's philanthropic example. See: Macalester, Charles. Philadelphia, Penn. Visits, U.S., GP.
Penn. 2-GP and Other Pennsylvanians. GP's other Pennsylvania connections included: a-Civil War General Martin W. Gary (1819-73), whom he met with other northern and southern leaders, including Robert E. Lee, at White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., summer 1869. b-PEF trustee U.S. Army Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes (1817-83). c-PEF trustee financier Anthony Joseph Drexel (1826-93) who, in founding Drexel University, Philadelphia, publicly credited GP's philanthropic influence. Drexel's partner was John Pierpont Morgan (later Sr. 1837-1913), son of Peabody's partner, Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90). Young JP Morgan began his career as NYC representative of London's George Peabody & Co. See: persons named.
Penn. 3-GP and Other Pennsylvanians (Cont'd.). For other Pennsylvania-GP connections, see Forney, John Wien. Hirsch, Samuel. Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth. Lambdin, James Read. Moran, Benjamin. Schenley, Edward W.H.
Perman, Annette Emma. See: Thomas Perman (below).
Perman, Thomas. GP's last will of Sept. 9, 1869, left $5,000 (ƒ1,000) to his London office clerk Thomas Perman or wife Annette Emma or her child. See: Wills, GP's.
Perry, Matthew Calbraith (1794-1858), was the U.S. Navy Commodore under U.S. Navy Secty. John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870), who engaged isolationist Japan in U.S. trade (treaty of March 31, 1854). It was Baltimorean John Pendleton Kennedy, GP's friend since their first meeting as fellow soldiers in the War of 1812, who at GP's urging, planned the five part PIB, based partly on the British Museum, to which GP gave a total of $1.4 million (1857-69), consisting of: 1-a specialized reference library, 2-music conservatory, 3-art gallery, 4-lecture hall and fund, and 5-annual prizes to Baltimore's best public school scholars. See: Kennedy, John Pendleton. PIB.
Pershing, John Joseph (1860-1948). Six U.S. nationals were offered and five accepted and received the Freedom of the City of London: Andrew Stevenson (did not accept), GP (first to accept), U.S Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Gen. J.J. Pershing, and Dwight David Eisenhower. See: London, Freedom of the City of London, and GP. Persons named
Persia (ship). On Aug. 19, 1857, GP left NYC for England on the Persia, ending his first U.S. visit after nearly 20 years' absence as a London based merchant-banker (the visit began Sept. 15, 1856). See: Visits to the U.S., by GP.
Perthshire, Scotland. GP spent mid-Aug. 1862 resting and fishing at Dalguise by Dunkeld in Perthshire, Scotland. Ref.: GP, Dalguise by Dunkeld, Scotland, to Horatio Gates Somerby, Aug. 18 and 21, 1862, Somerby Papers, Mass. Historical Society, Boston.
GP & the War of 1812
Peter, George (1779-1861). 1-GP, War of 1812 Soldier. George Peter was the captain of a military company, military district of Washington, D.C. GP, then age 18, served in this company, July 15-26, 1813, for eleven days. While serving in the Washington, D.C. area, GP first met older established merchant Elisha Riggs, Sr. (1779-1853), who took him as junior partner in Riggs, Peabody & Co. (1814-29). GP also met John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870), original PIB planner and trustee and GP's longtime friend and advisor. See: War of 1812.
Peter, George. 2-War of 1812 Veterans' Land Bounty. GP also served Oct. 5-7, 1814, three days, while visiting Newburyport, Mass., in Capt. Joseph T. Pike's Co., Col. Merrill's Regiment, or a total of 14 days. Forty-three years later, during his Sept. 1856 to Aug. 1857 U.S. visit, GP was with longtime business associate and friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888) in Washington, D.C., Feb. 14-23, 1857. With the help of Corcoran's colleague, Anthony Hyde, a justice of the peace, GP prepared affidavits to apply for a land bounty to which War of 1812 veterans were entitled by Act of Congress, March 3, 1855. GP's application requested the land bounty as a memento and not for profit. Ref.: Ibid.
GP & Philadelphia, Penn.
Philadelphia, Penn. 1-GP's Contacts in Philadelphia. GP's known direct and indirect connections with Philadelphia, Penn., included Riggs, Peabody & Co. (1814-29), in which GP was the traveling junior partner, which moved from Georgetown, D.C., to Baltimore in 1814, and by 1822 had opened warehouses in NYC and Philadelphia. In early 1827 GP's improvident brother Thomas Peabody (1801-35) worked as clerk with GP's senior partner Elisha Riggs, Sr. (1799-1853) in Philadelphia and caused difficulty to the older Riggs. Thomas's faults--hinted at rather than detailed in family letters, included debts, gambling, borrowing at exorbitant rates, inability to hold jobs--led to his untimely death at age 34. See: persons named.
Phila., Penn. 2-Esther E. Hoppin and Alexander Lardner. About 1835 Esther Elizabeth Hoppin (1819-1905) of Providence, R.I., then age 16, visited Philadelphia, where she met and formed a friendship with Alexander Lardner (1808-48), then age 27. They separated, she to finish school; he to establish himself. Three years later she went to England to attend Queen Victoria's coronation (June 28, 1838). In London she met and became engaged to GP. Returning home to Providence, R.I., she again met Alexander Lardner. Their previous friendship turned to love. See: persons named.
Phila., Penn. 3-Hoppin and Lardner Cont'd. Esther E. Hoppin broke her engagement to GP about Jan. 1839 and returned his gifts through an intermediary. She married Alexander Lardner Oct. 2, 1840. They lived in Philadelphia where he was a cashier in the Bank of the U.S. GP's NYC business friend John Cryder, knowing of the broken engagement, wrote GP of Lardner's death in 1848, leaving his widow and two children. For the broken engagement and its effect on GP's later philanthropy, see Curry, Jabez Lamar Monroe. Humphreys, Mr.
Phila., Penn. 4-Benjamin Moran from Philadelphia. Benjamin Moran (1820-86), who began as a printer in Philadelphia, worked in the U.S. Legation in London as clerk (1853-57), assistant secretary (1857), and as Legation Secty (1857-75). In his private journal, partly published, he wrote critically about GP and others he came in contact with at the U.S. Legation. See: Moran, Benjamin.
Phila., Penn. 5-In Philadelphia for Portrait by Artist James Read Lambdin. GP was in Philadelphia Jan. 10-18, 1857, partly to sit for a portrait in artist James Read Lambdin's (1807-89) studio, partly to see his 18-year-old niece Julia Adelaide Peabody (b. April 25, 1835), daughter of GP's deceased oldest brother David Peabody (1790-1841) and his second wife. Niece Julia was in school in Philadelphia, at uncle GP's expense. Baltimorean and PIB trustee Charles James Madison Eaton (1808-93), an art collector, was also with GP and niece Julia in Philadelphia. See: Eaton, Charles James Madison. Other persons named.
Phila., Penn. 6-GP and Art. Artist James Read Lambdin was also director of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Wanting to ask GP for a donation, Lambdin took the group to visit the gallery. GP preferred to wait for them on a bench in the academy. Years after GP's death (Nov. 4, 1869), Lambdin recorded GP as saying on that occasion, "I do not feel much interested in such matters. You may be surprised when I tell you that, although I have lived for twenty years within pistol shot of the Royal Academy and the National Gallery in London, I have never been within their walls." Ref.: Ibid.
Phila., Penn. 7-GP and Art Cont'd. Lambdin later commented in his manuscript: "Such was the personal appreciation by this good man of those arts, the value of which he has since acknowledged by his princely gifts to the institution bearing his name. I need not say that after this confession the subject nearest to my heart was left unmentioned." Ref.: Ibid.
Phila., Penn. 8-GP was also in Philadelphia on Oct. 22, 1866, during his May l, 1866, to May 1, 1867, U.S. visit. He was then met by some PIB trustees who reported on preparations for the PIB's dedication and opening on Oct. 25-26, 1866. He was in Philadelphia again on Nov. 15-16, 1866. See: Visits to the U.S. by GP.
Phila., Penn. 9-Newspaper Editor John Wien Forney. Philadelphia newspaper owner and editor John Wien Forney (1817-70) was among the 271 passengers aboard the British Cunard Royal Mail ship Scotia from NYC to Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland, May 1-9, 1867. Forney interviewed and wrote about GP. In turn GP arranged for Forney to see the Peabody apartments in London's borough of Islington. See: Forney, John Wien.
Phila., Penn. 10-Last Visit to Charles Macalester. On GP's last June 8 to Sept. 29, 1869, U.S. visit, he visited PEF trustee Charles Macalester (1798-1873) at Torresdale near Philadelphia on July 19, again on Sept. 1-2, and again about Sept. 24-26, 1869. Charles Macalester was among those who saw GP depart the U.S. for the last time from NYC on the Scotia, Sept. 29, 1869. See: Macalester, Charles. Penn. (above). Visits, U.S., GP.
Phila., Penn. 11-Resolution at GP's Death. After GP's Nov. 4, 1869, death in London, in Philadelphia, Nov. 5, 1869, at a national convention of Jewish religious leaders (rabbis), the Rev. Dr. Samuel Hirsch (1815-89), rabbi of Philadelphia’s Knesseth Israel (1866-88) and chairman of the convention, spoke of GP's life, philanthropy, and death. The convention unanimously passed a resolution of esteem for GP. See: Death and Funeral, GP's. Hirsch, Samuel.
Philanthropy, GP's. See: under Peabody, George, Philanthropy.
GP & the Freedom of the City of London
Phillips, Benjamin Samuel (1811-89). 1-City of London Alderman. Benjamin Samuel Phillips was a City of London Alderman who in London's Court of Common Council seconded council member Charles Reed's (1819-81) motion on May 22, 1862, to grant GP the Freedom of the City of London. This honor was proposed following GP's March 12, 1862, Peabody Donation gift for apartments for London's working poor (total gift $2.5 million). A suggestion by Council member James Anderton (1785-1868), a solicitor (lawyer) that, instead of the Freedom of the City of London a bust of GP be placed in the Council Chamber, was defeated by a unanimous show of hands. The original motion was passed to grant GP the Freedom of the City of London (July 10, 1862). Charles Reed was later an MP (1868-74), president of the London school board (1873-81), an executor of GP's estate in England after GP's death (Nov. 4, 1869), and was knighted in 1876. See: London, Freedom of the City, to GP. Reed, Charles.
Phillips, B. S. 2-Career. Benjamin Samuel Phillips, son of Samuel Phillips, was a warehouseman and importer of fancy goods (firm: Faudel, Phillips & Sons, 36 to 40 Newgate St., London, 1830-86). His biographical sketch listed him as the first Jew in London to be elected common councilman (1847), alderman of the City of London for the ward of Farringdon (June 24, 1857-April 1888); sheriff (1859-60); and lord mayor (1865-66). He was knighted on Dec. 28, 1866. Ref.: Boase, Frederic, p. 1501.
GP & Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.
Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. 1-Nephew Othniel Charles Marsh. At GP's expense, his nephew Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99) attended Phillips Academy, later Yale College, Yale's graduate Sheffield Scientific School, and three German universities. Marsh, who became first prof. of paleontology in the U.S. at Yale Univ. and the world's second such professor, influenced GP's founding of three science museums: the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard Univ.(Oct. 8, 1866), the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale Univ. (Oct. 22, 1866), $150,000 each, and what is now the Peabody Essex Museum (Peabody Academy of Science, 1867-1915, renamed Peabody Museum of Salem, 1915-92, renamed Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass., since 1992), $140,000. See: Paradise, Scott Hurtt. Persons and institutions named. Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. 2-GP's Gift and Papers to Phillips Academy. GP donated $25,000 to Phillips Academy on Oct. 30, 1866, for a professorship of mathematics and natural science. In the early 1870s, the bulk of GP's business and personal papers were taken from his London firm (J.S. Morgan Co.; previously George Peabody and Co., 1838-64) by nephew Robert Singleton Peabody (1837-1904) and stored at Phillips Academy. In the early 1930s the GP papers were sorted by date and subject into 140 boxes and 250 account and ledger books, newspaper albums, and memorabilia and deposited in 1935 at the Essex Institute, now the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass., where they are calendared and indexed. Ref.: Ibid.
Phipps, Charles Beaumont (1801-66), was Queen Victoria's private secretary. In Feb. 1866 the Queen read the Peabody Donation fund trustees' annual report indicating that GP had added $500,000 to the Peabody apartments for London's working poor (total gift $2.5 million). She asked secty. Phipps to consult Foreign Secretary Lord John Russell (1792-1878) about how best to honor GP. She followed Lord Russell's advice, given through secty. Phipps, to write him her thanks and to have a miniature portrait of herself made for GP. See: Victoria, Queen.
Photos and illustrations of GP. See: Peabody, George (1795-1869), Illustrations.
Physicians, GP's. See: Keep, Nathan Cooley, Dr.. Putnam, Dr. Charles Gideon, Dr..
Piatigorsky, Gregor (1903-76), Russian-born cellist who performed at the PIB Conservatory of Music while Otto Randolph Ortmann (1889-1979) was director during 1924-41. See: Ortmann, Otto Randolph. PIB Ref. Library. PIB Conservatory of Music.
GP Portrait by H.W. Pickersgill
Pickersgill, Henry William (1782-1875). 1-Painted GP's Portrait. London-born artist Henry William Pickersgill's portrait of GP is in the Corporation of London's Guildhall, paid for by Philip Cazenove (1798-1880). Ref.: London Times, April 10, 1866, p. 5, c. 3; and April 11, 1866, p. 5, c. 5.
Pickersgill, H.W. 2-Career. H.W. Pickersgill originally worked for a silk manufacturer but the decline in the silk trade because of the Napoleonic Wars led to his study of painting under George Arnald (1763-1841), study at London's Royal Academy Schools, and public exhibits of his landscapes. He turned to portrait painting, quickly established a reputation, painted the philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), virtually every eminent person in England, and illustrated passages from Shakespeare and Byron. He exhibited regularly and was Librarian, Royal Academy (1856-75). Ref.: Grove Dictionary of Art Online (seen Feb. 9, 2000): http://www.groveart.com
Pickersgill, H.W. 3-Other GP Portrait Artists. Other known portraits of GP were painted by (in alphabetical order): a-British painter Lowes Cato Dickinson (1819-1908); b-Conway, Mass.-born Chester Harding (1792-1866); c-James Reid Lambdin (1807-89); c-Boston-born George Peter Alexander Healy (1813-94). d-Philadelphia-born photographer John Jabez Edwin Mayall (1810-1901), whose life-size photo of GP was said to have been painted over by Queen Victoria's portrait painter, Jules Arnoult, to resemble an oil painting; and e-London-born Henry William Pickersgill (1782-1875). e-Boston-born John Neagle (1796-1865). See: artists named. Engravers-artists. Peabody, George, Illustrations. Peabody, George, Portraits of. Schuler, Hans (for his bust of GP in N.Y.U. Hall of Fame). Story, William Wetmore (for his seated GP statue in London, a copy of which is in Baltimore). See: Peabody, George (1795-1869), Illustrations.
Pierce, Franklin (1804-69), was 14th U.S. President during 1853-57 when a frictionable incident occurred at GP's July 4, 1854, Independence Day dinner at the Star and Garter Hotel, London. New, controversial, and jingoistic U.S. Legation Secty. Daniel Edgar Sickles (1825-1914) objected to GP's toast to Queen Victoria before a toast to the U.S. President. Sickles refused to stand while the other 149 guests rose. He then stalked out of the banquet room "stiff and red-gorged." See: Sickles, Daniel Edgar.
Pierce, Robert, was PIB Conservatory of Music director during 1983-95. See: PIB Conservatory of Music.
Pierpont Morgan Library of N.Y. (29 East 36th St.). 1-Papers. The Pierpont Morgan Library has the papers of Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90), his son John Pierpont Morgan, Sr. (1837-1913), grandson John Pierpont Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943), and some GP papers. Junius Spencer Morgan was GP's partner from Oct. 1, 1854 to Oct. 1, 1864 in George Peabody & Co. (1838-64). J.S. Morgan's son John Pierpont Morgan, Sr. began his banking career at age 19 as the NYC agent for George Peabody & Co. GP was thus the root of the banking house of Morgan, carried on by grandson John Pierpont Morgan, Jr. Their papers are important in the history of the firm under the following names: 1-George Peabody & Co., London (Dec. 1, 1838-Oct. 1, 1864 [GP had asked that his name be withdrawn after his Oct. 1, 1864 retirement]; 2-J.S. Morgan & Co. (Oct. 1, 1864-Dec. 31, 1909); 3-Morgan Grenfell & Co. (1910-18); 4-Morgan Grenfell & Co., Ltd. (1918-90); and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, a German owned banking firm since June 29, 1990. See: persons named.
Pierpont Morgan Library of N.Y. 2-GP in 1988 Exhibit. "Creating a Legend: George Peabody and the House of Morgan" was part of a larger exhibit at the Pierpont Morgan Library from about Feb. 28 through May 8, 1988. The author of the New York Times article describing the exhibit (the article featured a portrait of GP) waxed eloquently about GP's career, his founding of George Peabody & Co., London (1838-64), its subsequent history, the menus from GP's London U.S.-British friendship dinners, and other facts. Ref.: John Gross, "A Banker with a Gift for Giving, A Golden Touch and a Taste for Dining Well, New York Times, Sunday, Feb. 28, 1988, Section 2, p. 39, c.1.
Pinchon, Edgcumb (b.1883), author of Dan Sickles, Hero of Gettysburg and "Yankee King of Spain" (New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1945). See: Sickles, Daniel Edgar.
Pisa, Italy. In a lengthy Aug. 25, 1831, letter to his sister Judith (1799-1879), GP described his second commercial trip to Europe during April 1830 to Aug. 15, 1831 (15 months). GP went with a traveling companion (name not known) by carriage and with frequent change of horses covered 10,000 miles in England, France, Italy (including Pisa), and Switzerland. See: Daniels, Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Russell. Visits to Europe by GP.
Pittsburgh, Penn. During GP's Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug. 19, 1857, U.S. visit, his first return to the U.S. after nearly 20 years' absence in London (since Feb. 1837), he visited Pittsburgh, Penn., April 14-16, 1857, where he stayed with Capt. and Mrs. Edward W.H. Schenley (he, 1798-1878; she, 1827-1903), who gave a dinner for him. For GP's March-April 1857 travel itinerary, see Augusta, Ga. See: Schenley, Edward W.H.
Pius IX, Pope (1792-1878, born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti). GP visited Rome, Italy, with Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94), Feb. 19-28, 1868, had an audience with Pope Pius IX, and GP gave a $19,300 gift to the Vatican's charitable San Spirito Hospital, Rome, via Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli (1806-76). See: persons and institutions named.
Planter, ship on which Francis Peboddy (1612 or 13-1691) sailed to Mass., April 2, 1635. See: Peabody Genealogy, Paternal. Peboddy, Francis.
Plymouth, USS (ship). Soon after GP's death in London, Nov. 4, 1869, British officials arranged to return his remains aboard British warship HMS Monarch from Portsmouth, England, across the Atlantic for burial in Mass. U.S. Secty. of State Hamilton Fish (1809-93) ordered USS Plymouth as escort vessel to accompany the Monarch. U.S. Rear Adm. William Radford (1808-90), commanding the U.S. Naval European squadron in Marseilles, France, sent the USS Plymouth from Marseilles to Portsmouth Harbor, England, to join the Monarch. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
Poem mentioning the Peabody Museum of Yale Univ., New Haven, CT. See: Whittemore, Reed.
Poems about GP. For specific poems, with sources, see Dole, George T. Glyndon, Howard. Greenwood, Grace. Holmes, Oliver Wendell. Whitman, Walt. Whittier, John Greenleaf. See also Quotations by and about GP. For GP eulogies, see Blanc, Louis. Hugo, Victor Marie. Winthrop, Robert Charles.
Poem about the Peabody Museum of Yale. See: Whittemore, Reed.
Polk, James Knox (1795-1849), 11th U.S. Pres. during 1845-49, was a trustee of the Univ. of Nashville during 1839-41, for three years. See: Presidents, U.S., and GP.
Pompeii, Italy. In a lengthy Aug. 25, 1831, letter to sister Judith Dodge Peabody (1799-1879), GP described his second commercial trip to Europe during April 1830 to Aug. 15, 1831 (15 months). GP went with a traveling companion (name not known) by carriage and with frequent change of horses covered 10,000 miles in England, France, Italy (including Pompeii), and Switzerland. See: Daniels, Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Russell. Visits to Europe by GP.
Librarian Fitch Poole
Poole, Fitch (1803-73). 1-Librarian. Fitch Poole was the first librarian of the Peabody Institute Library, South Danvers (renamed Peabody on April 13, 1868), from Jan. 3-Sept. 27, 1854, and during 1856-73. He represented South Danvers in the Mass. legislature (1841-42), was on the School Committee (1847-72), and was a member of the Board of Selectmen. He co-edited the Danvers Courier and was editor of the South Danvers Wizard (from 1859), when Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-94) referred to him (Fitch Poole) as "the most genuine humorist in New England." Ref.: (below).
Poole, Fitch. 2-Ref.: Wells, pp. 33, 35, 37-38. For Fitch Poole's partially published Diary covering 1849-72, including information on GP's visits to the library and library activities at GP's death and funeral, see Death and Funeral, GP's. [Poole, Fitch] in Reference. For GP's honors which Fitch Poole displayed in the library, see Honors, GP's, in Life and after Death (in chronological order).
Pope Pius IX (1792-1878). See: Pius IX, Pope (above).
Tenn. Gov. J.D. Porter & the Peabody Normal College
Porter, James Davis (1828-1912). 1-Tenn. Gov. J.D. Porter's Career. The son of a physician, James Davis Porter was born in Paris, Tenn., was a Univ. of Nashville graduate (1846), a lawyer (from 1851), Tenn. House member (1859-61), helped organize the Provisional Army of Tenn., and was a staff officer to Confederate Gen. Benjamin Franklin Cheatham (1820-86). Ref.: Losson, pp. 745-746.
Porter, J.D. 2-Univ. of Nashville Chancellor & Peabody Normal College's Third President. After the Civil War he was a circuit judge; was elected twice as Tenn. governor (1875-79); was president of the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railroad (1880-84); was U.S. Asst. Secty. of State (1885) and U.S. Minister to Chile (1892), both under U.S. Pres. Grover Cleveland; and was Univ. of Nashville chancellor and Peabody Normal College's third president (1901-09). Ref.: Ibid.
Porter, J.D. 3-Barnas Sears. Barnas Sears (1802-80), first PEF administrator during 1867-80, wanted a teacher training normal school in Nashville as a model for the South. He asked the Univ. of Nashville trustees to consider transforming their inactive Literary Dept. into a normal school (1875). Sears then went to newly inaugurated Tenn. Gov. James Davis Porter, asking him to coordinate the trustees' agreement with the legislature to amend the Univ. of Nashville's charter. Toward his retirement as president of Peabody Normal College in 1911, Gov. Porter told how in 1875, just after his inauguration as governor, he helped Sears establish the Peabody Normal College on the campus of the Univ. of Nashville. See: Sears, Barnas. PEF. Conkin, Peabody College, index.
Porter, J.D. 4-Gov. Porter's Account: "...I was with Dr. Sears, the first General Agent of [the] Peabody Board in 1875, and he said to me, 'If you will furnish the house I will establish a normal college in Nashville. I am satisfied it is the best place in the South.' This was within twenty minutes of my inauguration as Governor of the State." Ref.: White, R.H., Vol. Six, p. 428. Garrett, W.R., pp. 14-25.
Porter, J.D. 5-Gov. Porter's Account Cont'd.: "I said to him, 'Meet me here tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock and I will inform you whether I can secure the building for you. I am very anxious to see the school established. Before that hour I interviewed Judge William F. Cooper [1820-1909], Edwin H. Ewing [1809-1902], Edward D. Hicks, III [1831-94] and other members of the Board of Trustees of the University of Nashville and obtained from them consent to establish the college in buildings of the University, and when Dr. Sears called I was able to offer him the most eligible building and the best location of any point in the City of Nashville. He accepted the offer, and in the winter following, the school was organized and entered upon a career of the very greatest success." Ref.: Ibid.
Porter, J.D. 6-GPCFT. Peabody Normal College, initiated by the PEF, was jointly subsidized by the PEF ($555,730 during 1875-1909) and the Tenn. legislature ($429,000 during 1881-1905). Gov. Porter also helped secure funds the PEF trustees required to match their own $1.5 million to endow GPCFT. He helped raise as matching funds $250,000 from the state of Tenn., $200,000 from the city of Nashville, and $100,000 from Davidson County for GPCFT. See: PCofVU, history of.
Porter, J.D. 7- Next to Vanderbilt Univ. Although Gov. Porter wanted GPCFT to remain at the south Nashville site, he acquiesced in its move to Hillsboro Rd. adjacent to Vanderbilt Univ. for academic strength. Peabody College historian Sherman Dorn wrote (1996): "Wallace Buttrick [d. 1926], general agent of the General Education Board..., arranged for a pension from the Carnegie Fund for the Advancement of Teaching for James Porter, in hopes that "Governor Porter would cooperate in establishing a teachers college in close affiliation with Vanderbilt." Ref.: Dorn, p. 16.
Porter, J.D. 8-Other Services. During his two terms as Tenn. governor, besides helping establish Peabody Normal College, he helped to found Meharry Medical College for black students in Nashville. He was a PEF trustee, succeeding U.S. Surgeon-Gen. Joseph K. Barnes (1817-83). Ref.: GPCFT, Nashville (Oct. 1941). Darnell, p. 455. Dillingham, pp. 13, 17, 21, 25, 27, 31, 37, 39-41, 48, 52-54, 56-57, 65, 68-70, 74, 77, 80, 84, 89-90, 103, 109, 113, 115, 117, 120. For details of PCofVU's six predecessor colleges and their nineteen chief administrators, see PCofVU, history of. PEF. Peabody Normal College.
GP & Portland, Me.
Portland, Me. 1-May 28, 1857. Of GP's two known connections with Portland, Me., the first occurred during his Sept. 15, 1856, to Aug. 19, 1857, U.S. visit, his first return to the U.S. in nearly 20 years since leaving for London. On that occasion he visited the Thomas Shaw family in Portland, Me., the morning of May 28, 1857, and left on the afternoon train for Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
Portland, Me. 2-Jan. 25-Feb. 1, 1870. 2-The second known connection was that after GP's death and transatlantic funeral, the British Admiralty chose Portland, Me., because of its deeper harbor, over Boston and NYC, as U.S. receiving port for GP's remains. Portland thus became the mecca of thousands of visitors who witnessed the Portland ceremonies (Jan. 25-Feb. 1, 1870). These included gun salutes from Fort Preble, the receiving of HMS Monarch and accompanying USS Plymouth by a U.S. Navy flotilla led by Adm. David G. Farragut (1801-70), thousands who viewed the remains aboard HMS Monarch, the disembarkation of remains, the elaborate British-to-U.S. military handing over proceedings and speeches, the lying-in-state of remains at Portland City Hall, the transfer of remains on a specially decorated funeral train (Feb. 1) bound for the final service and eulogy in Peabody, Mass., and final burial in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass. (Feb. 8). Ref.: Ibid.
Portraits of GP. See: Peabody, George, Portraits of.
Portsmouth harbor, England. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
Post Mills Village, Thetford, Vt. For GP's visit to his maternal grandparents, Thetford, Vt., at age 15 in the winter of 1810, with sources, see Concord, N.H. Jeremiah Dodge.
Postage stamp, U.S., Honoring GP. See: U.S. Postage Stamp Honoring GP.
Potter, John R. (b. 1815). In his private journal, U.S. Legation in London Secty. Benjamin Moran (1820-86), often critical of GP, reported GP's Civil War view as told to him by legation visitor John R. Potter, Manchester, England, merchant and former mayor (1848-50), on Dec. 2, 1863. According to Secty. Moran, Potter, in Scotland in the summer of 1863, saw and spoke to GP and found him pro-Confederate in his views. See: Civil War and GP. Moran, Benjamin. Persons named.
Powell, M.J. When GP died (Nov. 4, 1869), his obituary in the London Morning Herald stated that he first came to England in 1837. To correct this error, a Mr. M.J. Powell wrote the Morning Herald editor to say that he had seen GP in Manchester in 1832 and remembered his good face, kind manner, and the good impression GP had made on him. GP was then on his third buying trip to Europe, May 1, 1832, to May 11, 1834 (two years). Ref.: Morning Herald (London), Nov. 5, 1869, p. 4. c. 5-6; and Nov. 8, 1869, p. 3, c. 4. See: Visits to Europe by GP.
GP & U.S. Sculptor Hiram Powers
Powers, Hiram (1805-73). 1-U.S. Sculptor in Florence, Italy. Born in Woodstock, Vt., sculptor Hiram Powers, with a studio in Florence, Italy, had several GP connections. Powers early moved to Ohio where he was a clock maker's assistant, learned to model in clay from a German sculptor, and was director of the waxworks department at the Western Museum, Cincinnati. He modeled busts of distinguished U.S. statesmen (Franklin, Jefferson) in Washington, D.C. (1835). His more notable statues include The Greek Slave (1843), The Fisher Boy (1846), and Eve Tempted (1850). Powers used George Peabody & Co.'s service in London to forward his mail, to secure and ship statuary materials, and to help sell and collect payment for his statues from clients.
Powers, Hiram. 2-GP's aid to U.S. Sculptor Shobal Vail Clevenger. Powers' biographer Richard P. Wunder related that when U.S.-born sculptor Shobal Vial Clevenger (1812-43) was dying from advanced tuberculosis in Florence, Powers, seeking funds to return Clevenger to the U.S., received £10 (about $50) from GP. Ref. Wunder, Vol. 1, pp. 59, 135, 246.
Powers, Hiram. 3-Greek Slave, 1849. Powers and GP were connected in a complex transaction in 1849 about the sale of Hiram Powers' highly regarded classic marble statue, The Greek Slave, completed in 1843. An Englishman, Lord Ward (later the first earl of Dudley, 1818-85), had seen the original statue and asked Hiram Powers to make a copy for him. Powers made a copy in Jan. 1849 and let Lord Ward know that it was ready. In March 1849 when Powers had not heard from Lord Ward, he asked GP to collect the price of ƒ400 (about $2,000). GP located Lord Ward in Paris. Powers wanted to dispose of the statue but did not want to incur Lord Ward's displeasure by too many requests for payment. Ref.: Hiram Powers, Florence, Italy, to GP, London, Jan. 13, 1849; March 2 and 19, 1849, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. Wunder, Vol. 1, p. 160.
Powers, Hiram. 4-Greek Slave, 1849 Cont'd. By May 1849, GP learned that Lord Ward did not want the statue. Not understanding why Lord Ward had changed his mind, Powers wrote to GP to say that he would return Lord Ward's down payment after deducting his losses. He asked GP to try to sell the statue for him. Powers, who crated and shipped the statue from Florence to London, was short of money and asked GP for credit. By Nov. 1849 GP learned that Lord Ward had changed his mind again and would now buy the statue. Powers sent the bill for GP to collect from Lord Ward and the transaction ended. Ref.:: Hiram Powers, Florence, Italy, to GP, London, May 7, 1849; Aug. 1, 1849; Oct. 23, 1849; Nov. 2 and 20, 1849, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. Wunder, Vol. 1, p. 187.
Powers, Hiram. 5-GP's other Aid. In 1850 GP secured for Powers (at Powers' request) gutta percha, a harder-than-rubber like resin made from Malayan gutta-percha trees. Powers used the gutta percha as a tool for polishing his sculpturing tools and also as plumbing tubing. Gutta percha was used as insulation for Cyrus W. Field's (1819-92) Atlantic Cable from the 1850s. GP was a director of the Atlantic Cable Co. In 1851 GP took Hiram Powers' son, Longworth Powers (1835-1904), to the Great Exhibition, London (first world's fair). GP also arranged for this son's passage by ship from England to the U.S. Ref.: Ibid, pp. 164, 169. See: Field, Cyrus West.
Great Exhibition of 1851, London
Powers, Hiram. 6-Great Exhibition of 1851, London. Hiram Powers' Greek Slave, part of the U.S. exhibit at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London might not have been seen to best advantage or won second prize had not GP intervened at a crucial moment with a loan to the exhibitors. The crisis for U.S. exhibitors came in March before the May 1, 1851, opening. The U.S. Congress had not appropriated money to decorate the large U.
bfparker
Profile
Calendar
