Rich in Good Works: Mary M. Emery of Cincinnati

At the death of her husband in 1906, Mary Muhlenberg Emery (1844-1927) became one of the richest women in the United States. Recognising her vast responsibility, she embarked on a philanthropic program that endowed or initiated children’s programs, hospitals and medical institutions, orphanages, colleges and universities, an art museum, a zoological park, various cultural agencies, and other causes that benefited humankind. Mary Emery’s most costly benefactions were directed to the founding of Mariemont, Ohio, a planned community near Cincinnati, and to the formation of a major collection of paintings. Her paintings by such old masters as Titian, Mantegna, Van Dyck, Gainsborough, and Hals were bequeathed to the Cincinnati Art Museum. This well-illustrated biography explores her gifts and life from its beginnings in New York City through family tragedies to the legacy she left behind.