PROVISIONAL VERSION, PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE Elena Laurenzi and Manuela Mosca Harriet Lathrop Dunham – Etta de Viti de Marco (1864-1939) An American activist in liberal Italy Introduction Much has been written about the thought of the Italian economist and parliamentarian Antonio de Viti de Marco, from both the economic and the political points of view1. Nothing is known however about his wife, the American Harriet Lathrop Dunham, or Etta de Viti de Marco as she was called in Italy. This article reconstructs her thought and works in the context of the political battles that marked in Italy the so-called liberal era2. 1. From America to Italy Harriet Lathrop Dunham was born on the first of April 1864 in New York. Her parents were James Harvey Dunham3 and Harriet Winslow Lathrop4. Her mother died when she was 15. Her father, the owner of the Manhattan corporation James H. Dunham & Co.5, was on the board of directors of the Central National Bank of the City of New York6. On his death, she received a large inheritance, the management of which she often discussed in letters to her four sisters, all younger than her. They were Episcopalians7, well educated8, studied pianoforte with maestro Paderewski9, and had their portraits painted by the American artist Singer Sargent10. Active in social life and in philanthropy, they loved Europe, especially England, where they went to stay for long periods. We know little else of Etta’s life prior to her arrival in Italy; her future sister-in-law Carolina, Antonio’s sister, wrote that when her brother met her in Rome, she was in Italy “for pleasure – and not for the first time”11. 1 The secondary literature on Antonio de Viti de Marco is very wide, for an exhaustive description of his activity see M. Mosca, Antonio de Viti de Marco. A Story Worth Remembering, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. 2 Liberal era refers to the period prior to the rise of fascism in the early 1920s. 3 New York 1832-1901 4 1834-1879 5 Broadway 340-342-344. His home was at 37 East Thirty-sixth Street. 6 Obituary notice in NYT. 7 Etta’s wedding was celebrated by an Episcopalian pastor. The same religion was attributed to her sister Grace (Eilish Ryan, Rosemary Haughton: Witness to Hope, pp. 29-30). 8 In the letter to Umberto Zanotti Bianco of 6 September 1933 she says that Lucile’s mother, Lucy Lee, was her schoolmate. 9 Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941) was a Polish pianist, composer, politician and diplomat (Wikipedia). He was obviously very young when he taught James H. Dunham’s daughters. 10 John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) is considered one of the greatest portrait artists of the 1800s. 11 Annales. Unless stated otherwise, the translations of quotations are our own. 1 During their courtship, marquis Antonio, already with a considerable inheritance, went to visit her in Florence12, which is where they were married on 4 June 1895. The wedding was reported also in the New York Times. She was 31 and he 37 years of age. As their “party favor” they published the book by the economist Ugo Mazzola L’imposta progressiva in economia pura e sociale (Progressive tax in pure and social economics), for private circulation in a limited number of copies: not exactly a romantic idea!13 Between the end of the 1890s and the first world war the couple enjoyed an intense social life between Rome, Salento14 and the Tuscan Apennines where they owned marvelous houses with dozens of tastefully furnished rooms. They spent long periods in New York, where their presence was recorded in both the local press in the column “Return from Abroad of Many Well- Known Persons”, and in the city’s Social register15, which confirms that Etta’s family was prominent in New York high society, not less than Antonio’s in Italy. Between 1896 and 1900 their three children were born, one every two years: James, Etta, and Lucia. English was spoken at home16. 2. Culture and patronage Etta had hundreds of books and the remains of her library today would deserve a separate study17. Her correspondence often contained knowledgeable critical references to her reading. Many were history books linked to the places she was in (from the history of Europe18 to that of the Apulian castles19). Etta followed Italian politics closely, for example in 1914 she asked Gugliemo Ferrero20 for his articles published in Il Secolo, especially one in which he compared official diplomatic documents (White Books, Orange Books etc.)21. She was also interested in political news from the Anglo-Saxon world: we know she collected articles from the Times and the Manchester Guardian22. Her cultural interests are also revealed by the people she frequented, the events she organized and her patronage of the arts. Her salon was judged “le plus intéressant de Rome” by the French writer and winner of the Nobel prize for literature Romain Rolland23. The personalities she welcomed included for example the American poetess and activist Julia Ward Howe24 and the dramatist and 12 Letter from Pantaleoni to Colajanni “he is in Florence staying with his fiancée”. 13 We thank Massimo Paradiso for pointing this out. 14 The Salento peninsula is in the southernmost part of Italy's heel, in Apulia. 15 “de Viti Mq & Mchss de Marco (Etta Lathrop Dunham) care J.H. Dunham” (p. 103) 16 Their son James recalls this in his memoir, and the letters between brothers and sisters also are in English. 17 At the “Fondazione Le Costantine di Casamassella” they are only just starting to open the boxes of books from the house at Boscolungo Pistoiese, in Tuscany. 18 1897 Inspired letter to Angelica from Courmayeur (August) about Creighton’s History of the Papacy during the Reformation. 19 Letter to Umberto Zanotti Bianco, 10 December 1932. 20 Guglielmo Ferrero (1871-1942) was a sociologist, historian and writer, and worked closely with the radical newspaper Il Secolo. 21 Letter to Ferrero in December 1914. 22 Letter to Luigi Einaudi in 1918. 23Rolland 1962, letter in 1907. Romain Rolland (1866-1944) was a French writer and dramatist, winner of the 1915 Nobel Prize for Literature. 24 Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910), known mainly for writing the American patriotic anthem The Battle Hymn of the Republic, fought for the abolition of slavery and women’s suffrage. 2 librettist Modest Tchaikovsky25, brother of the famous composer. Two figures in particular are worth remembering among Etta’s countless social contacts. One was Maria Montessori (1870-1952), for whom she acted as interpreter when meeting Americans26; in 1913 she hosted the first of the three lessons in the course held by the pedagogist27 in the presence of “the Ambassadors of the United States and Great Britain, as well as the Italian Ministers of Public Instruction and of the Colonies”28. The other figure to remember was the “divine” actress Eleonora Duse (1858-1924), who was Etta’s guest repeatedly: it was a deep and lasting friendship which appears to have started before her marriage to Antonio29. From her correspondence, on which she spent many, many hours each day30, we also learn about her social relations with artists and literary figures: we find the English poetess Violet Fane31 and the American writer Hamlin Garland32. Letters from the theologian Paul Sabatier33 attest to the family’s affinity with the Modernist movement. Etta was also in contact with the Webbs, both in Rome and London34. Her correspondents included figures connected to her husband such as his economist colleagues and the editors of the journals to which he contributed, which we deal with later, and with whom she interacted both on her own account and on his behalf. 3. A modern concept of welfare services To her companion, the socialist leader Filippo Turati35, Anna Kuliscioff36 described Etta thus: an intelligent lady, very cultured, active and with some inclination towards socialism. She is very involved in the female industries and was the organizer of the exhibition of Abruzzese37 lacework recently held in London. In other words, she is one of the most serious and modern feminists in Rome, perhaps precisely because she is not Roman or even Italian38. 25Modest Ilic Tchaikovsky (1850-1916) devoted his life to pedagogy, music and literature. 26 Kramer, 1988. 27 General review of the Montessori method as introducing a new experimental science 28 Feez, 2013, pp. 10-13. 29 In 1917 Duse wrote to her daughter “Je la connais depuis quelque 28 ou 30 ans”. 30 At the end of a very long letter to Duse, Etta implied that she spent an exaggerated amount of time on her correspondence, saying “Etta and Lucia have come to send me to bed”. 31 Pseudonym of Lady Mary Montgomerie Currie (1843-1905), poetess, writer and ambassador (wife of the diplomat Barone Philip Currie), linked to Aestheticism and Medievalism. 32 Hannibal Hamlin Garland (1860-1940), known for his descriptions of the harsh working conditions on farms in the Midwest. Between 1909 and 1919 there were many letters to Hellen Buchanan, who lived with Etta’s daughter in Rome, but we don’t know who she was. 33 Charles Paul Marie Sabatier (1858-1928) was the French historian who started modern Franciscan historiography; a Calvinist pastor, he was part of Christian theological modernism. 34 Letter to Ferrero on 26 March 1909. 35 Filippo Turati (1857-1932) was an Italian politician, journalist and political expert, the leader of the reformist group of the Italian Socialist Party, which he helped to found in 1892 with Anna Kuliscioff. 36 Anna Kuliscioff (1957-1925) was a Russian revolutionary, physician and journalist, naturalized Italian, one of the founders and main exponents of the Italian Socialist Party.