An Encounter with Bertha Palmer

Leslie Goddard

Leslie Goddard is currently an independent scholar and educator at the Elmhurst Historical Museum. She earned her PhD from Northwestern University in an interdisciplinary field of study that covered US history, women's studies, and theater. An award winning scholar, Goddard also has extensive experience in public programs which includes lectures at Chicago area museums and historical societies, civic organizations, schools, and retirement homes.

An Encounter with Bertha Palmer

Chicago socialite and philanthropist, wife of millionaire real estate magnate Potter Palmer, and pace-setting arts patron, Bertha Palmer is best remembered for her outstanding Impressionist collection, now at the Art Institute of Chicago. But the glamorous Mrs. Palmer had her own fascinating history. As shrewd as she was stylish, Palmer helped recoup her husband’s lost fortune after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and presided over Chicago’s glittering society scene for a quarter of a century. At the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, she served as hostess to the world. Intelligent, witty, and fallible, Bertha Palmer still compels our attention today.

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