Gay Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt on horseback trip with Lorena Hickok

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 13:36:58 -0500

Eleanor Roosevelt on horseback trip with Lorena Hickok

fyeah-history: Eleanor Roosevelt’s pistol licence, 1957

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 10:27:13 -0500

fyeah-history:

Eleanor Roosevelt’s pistol licence, 1957

GATLINBURG, Tennessee, Monday—We reached Natural Bridge on Saturday at about 7 p.m. after a most ...

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 17:30:01 -0500

GATLINBURG, Tennessee, Monday—We reached Natural Bridge on Saturday at about 7 p.m. after a most glorious drive through the Shenandoah Park. The Skyline Drive is really very beautiful. Having started late—at a quarter of 1, to be exact—we didn’t stop until nearly 3 o’clock, when we pulled out at one of the parking places with a glorious view down into a ravine and drank hot coffee. We had brought orange juice also, but our hands were so cold that we couldn’t unscrew the top. We’ve learned, however, to accept such vicissitudes with calm, and we were grateful that it happened to be the coffee which we were able to unscrew! With my usual optimism, I thought that Spring began in April, but it really was mid-Winter—beautiful, clear blue sky and cold as Greenland.

After dinner we wandered down to see the illumination and pageant. The lighting is beautiful, and gives it all a mysterious, almost prehistoric aspect. This morning after breakfast we walked down along the stream again, under the Bridge, and thought it just as impressive as it was last night. It is extraordinary to think what years it has taken of slowly dripping water to break through that stone wall, and the old arbor vitae trees, said to be over a thousand years old, were a tremendous surprise to me, for I didn’t know they ever lived that long.

Sunday’s drive began at 10:30, and, until we came in view of the Great Smokies, the scenery was not as impressive as it was yesterday. We were stopped once by a constable, who had a telegram that had evidently been following us since early morning. Miss Hickok was driving, and I cheered her by saying that, while I had no idea what she had done, I was sure we were going to be arrested, so she had the laugh on me when it turned out to be nothing more than a telegram urging me to stop at Greenville, Andrew Johnson’s birthplace. Unfortunately we had not allowed enough time for any stops along the road, and so I had to decline.

We reached Gatlinburg at about 7:30, and we are both enchanted with the hotel, in which the furniture is all made by local craftsmen. The rooms are panelled. The curtains are woven in the local craft shop. And, though it is too dark for me to be sure tonight, I have a feeling that we are going to look out tomorrow morning on a panorama of mountain tops.

The last thing we saw tonight, as we drove in, was the deep blue of the mountain sides in contrast with the white snow and the white clouds floating above, which looked almost like mountain peaks themselves. Mountains have a beauty and a calm which should have a soothing effect on the most worried of little human souls.

We’re off in the morning to Cades Cove, and I have to file this before I go, because the nearest telegraph office is in Knoxville, and I feel that, if I wait until I return in the afternoon, it might not get in in time.

E.R.

todaysdocument: Frances Perkins: First Woman Cabinet member 80...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 13:10:27 -0600

Nomination of Frances Perkins as Secretary of Labor, 03/04/1933 ARC Identifier 595434

Eleanor Roosevelt, Mrs Percy Pennypacker, Frances Perkins in New York City: 01/1931 ARC Identifier 195411

todaysdocument:

Frances Perkins: First Woman Cabinet member

80 years ago today, President Franklin D. Roosevelt notified the U.S. Senate on March 4, 1933, that he had nominated Frances Perkins of New York to be Secretary of Labor. A lifelong labor reformer, she rose to prominence following the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. She was confirmed as Secretary of Labor and became the first woman appointed to a Cabinet position. She was the longest serving Labor secretary, serving for 12 years between 1933 and 1945. She was also the first woman to enter the Presidential Line of Succession.

Keep reading at Prologue: A Factory Fire and Frances Perkins

Eleanor Roosevelt trip to South West Pacific

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 14:34:54 -0600

Eleanor Roosevelt trip to South West Pacific

Eleanor to Lorena Hickok

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 10:43:08 -0600

Only eight more days … Funny how even the dearest face will fade away in time. Most clearly I remember your eyes, with a kind of teasing smile in them, and the feeling of that soft spot just north-east of the corner of your mouth against my lips… .

Eleanor and John Roosevelt

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 21:29:05 -0600

Eleanor and John Roosevelt

Elinor Morgenthau, Eleanor Roosevelt and Jane Addams in...

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 11:28:00 -0600

Elinor Morgenthau, Eleanor Roosevelt and Jane Addams in Westport, Connecticut

The term lesbian was coined in 1890, one year after [Jane] Addams founded Hull House. Although she would not have used the term to define herself, by today’s standards, Jane Addams would be a lesbian. Mary Rozet Smith arrived at Hull House one day in 1890, the daughter of a wealthy paper manufacturer. Over the years she became Jane’s devoted companion, virtually playing the role of a traditional wife: tending to her when she was ill, handling her social correspondence, making travel arrangements.
Unfortunately, we will never know the full extent of Jane’s relationship with Mary Smith. Toward the end of her life, Jane destroyed most of Mary’s letters to her. Perhaps she was trying to cover up a sexual component of their relationship. “I miss you dreadfully and am yours ‘til death,” Addams wrote to Smith. Smith wrote back, “You can never know what it is to me to have had you and to have you…I feel quite a rush of emotion when I think of you.”

Eleanor Roosevelt in Seattle, Washington

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 11:46:09 -0600

Eleanor Roosevelt in Seattle, Washington

Actress Tallulah Bankhead, theater producer Milton Shubert and...

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 19:03:35 -0600

Actress Tallulah Bankhead, theater producer Milton Shubert and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in 1942 at a banquet to establish the Stage Door Canteen at the National Theatre in Washington.

The story also goes that Eleanor Roosevelt visited Hollywood and, for whatever reason, was going to visit Ms. Bankhead. Ms. Roosevelt is escorted into Ms. Bankhead’s dressing room only to find it empty. She then hears, “I’m in here.” Ms. Roosevelt follows the voice only to open the door and find Tallulah Bankead sitting on the toilet. Said Ms. Bankhead, “How do you do? So very glad that you could come visit.”

Eleanor Roosevelt and Mayris (Tiny) Chaney at Chazy Lake, New...

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 18:38:00 -0500

Eleanor Roosevelt and Mayris (Tiny) Chaney at Chazy Lake, New York

Mayris Chaney (Mrs. Hershey Martin), a renowned dancer who worked with ER in the Office of Civilian Defense, was one of ER’s closet friends for almost twenty years. Their friendship began in the early thirties after ER’s bodyguard Earl Miller introduced his charge to Chaney and her dance partner Eddie Fox. ER felt so at ease with Martin that she quickly nicknamed her “Tiny,” included her in the close circle of friends with whom she could relax in private (at Val-Kill and the White House, in their homes, and on vacation). Although both women had extremely heavy travel schedules, they tried to make time to visit when ever possible. In 1941, ER, as assistant director of the Office of Civilian Defense, recruited Chaney to coordinate a nationwide physical fitness program. ER’s critics quickly used Chaney’s appointment as the means to attack ER’s role in home front defense programs and the two women resigned in early 1942. The attack strengthened their friendship and after Chaney’s 1943 marriage to bandleader Hershey Martin, ER visited them whenever she came to Los Angeles and was especially pleased to be godmother to their daughter, Anna Eleanor.

with Lillian Smith and Mary McLeod Bethune

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 16:17:08 -0500

with Lillian Smith and Mary McLeod Bethune

"Hick my dearest— I cannot go to bed tonight without a word to you. I felt a little as though..."

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 16:43:20 -0500

“

Hick my dearest—

I cannot go to bed tonight without a word to you. I felt a little as though a part of me was leaving tonight. you have grown so much to be a part of my life that it is empty without you, even though I’m busy every minute.

[details of day deleted]

Oh! darling. I hope on the whole you will be happier for my friendship. I felt I had brought you so much discomfort and hardship today & almost more heartache than you could bear & I don’t want to make you unhappy—All my love I shall be saying to you over thought waves in a few minutes.

Good night my dear one
Angels guard thee
God protect thee
My love enfold thee
All the night through

Always yours

”

- March 5, 1933
Written on the first evening after FDR’s inauguration.

Discussion (and footage!) of Val-kill at the 14 minute mark.

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 19:48:10 -0500

Discussion (and footage!) of Val-kill at the 14 minute mark.

Eleanor Roosevelt with Alaine Locke and Peter Pollack, 1941

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:03:48 -0500

Eleanor Roosevelt with Alaine Locke and Peter Pollack, 1941

"We left Miss Dreier’s at three o’clock Tuesday afternoon and went back into Ellsworth to..."

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 20:31:52 -0500

“We left Miss Dreier’s at three o’clock Tuesday afternoon and went back into Ellsworth to file this daily record and send some telegrams. Miss Cook and Miss Dickerman were following us but they had to wait while Miss Dreier came up with eyeglasses which they had forgotten!”

- My Day column, July 23rd, 1936

"Miss Lape and Miss Read had breakfast with us this morning and Miss Lape is travelling down with us..."

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:33:08 -0500

“Miss Lape and Miss Read had breakfast with us this morning and Miss Lape is travelling down with us to Washington. We are very good travelling companions for we all have plenty of work to do and none of us feel the urge to waste anyone else’s time. Miss Lape is reading proof, Mrs. Scheider and I going through stacks of mail and wondering how much more will be waiting for us when we arrive in Washington.”

- My Day column, February 26th, 1937

Eleanor Roosevelt and Mrs. Winston Churchill at Quebec, Canada...

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 22:01:15 -0500

Eleanor Roosevelt and Mrs. Winston Churchill at Quebec, Canada for conference

"My mother-in-law who arrived several weeks ago and who has the cottage next to us up here, came over..."

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:27:04 -0500

“My mother-in-law who arrived several weeks ago and who has the cottage next to us up here, came over to supper with us last night, and my neighbors on the other side, Mrs. Prince and her daughter, Mildred, originally from St. Louis joined us also. We sat after supper in the old school room, which Miss Cook and Miss Dickerman have been rearranging for me with Val-Kill furniture, they were making and hanging gay tan and red and green curtains.”

- My Day column, July 24th, 1936

"The rest of the way through the city was uneventful, but it always seems to me a rather bewildering..."

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 16:53:22 -0500

“

The rest of the way through the city was uneventful, but it always seems to me a rather bewildering place. We reached Westbrook, and Miss Lape and Miss Read took us for a swim in the Sound. The beach near them is sandy and clean. so we enjoyed the first dip we have had this summer in salt water.

In a little while, however, people began to look at us rather curiously, and we realized that it was probably time to go home. As we drove away one lady waved her hand at me and before long I imagine every one up and down the beach would have been finding out how badly I swim!

”

- My Day column, August 27th, 1936