George Foster Peabody
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George Foster Peabody (July 27, 1852 – March 4, 1938) was an American banker and philanthropist.
Early life
He was born to George Henry Peabody and Elvira Peabody (née Canfield) as the first of four children.[1] Both parents were New Englanders of colonial ancestry. George Henry Peabody, who came from a line of merchants, bankers and professional men, had moved from Connecticut to Columbus, Georgia, where he ran a prosperous general store. After attending private school in Columbus, young Peabody spent a few months at Deer Hill Institute in Danbury, Connecticut. The Civil War, however, impoverished his family, and in 1866 they moved to Brooklyn, New York, and young Peabody went to work as an errand boy.[2]
Business career
In the evenings Peabody read extensively at the library of the Brooklyn
Social activism
Peabody retired from business in 1906 to pursue a life of public service. Long interested in social causes, he supported such progressive ideas as the single tax as advocated by
Political activities
From early in his life Peabody was interested in Democratic Party politics. In the early 1880s, he helped his close friend
Philanthropic activities
Peabody served from 1884 to 1930 as a trustee of Hampton University, one of Virginia's historically black universities, where he established in the university library the Peabody Collection of rare materials on African-American history, one of the largest collections in the United States.[7]
In 1901, Peabody donated land for Peabody Park at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.[8]
He funded YMCA of Metropolitan Columbus, in Georgia, built in 1903, believed to be the only marble "Y" building in the United States.[9]
Warm Springs, Georgia
After years of visiting the estate of his partner Spencer Trask in
Honorary degrees
While his formal education was limited and he had no college degree, Peabody received honorary degrees from Harvard and Washington and Lee Universities in 1903, and the University of Georgia in 1906. This latter institution was the recipient of much of Peabody's philanthropy, including funds to build a fireproof building to house the university's library. He also donated land to help reorganize the State College of Agriculture, and founded the university's School of Forestry.
Personal life
A tall man, in later years he developed a mane of white hair, and wore a heavy mustache and pointed beard, becoming known for his dignified and courtly manner. He maintained a mansion in Brooklyn, where he entertained lavishly. He also purchased a summer home known as Abenia at Lake George, where he spent most of each year. He was frequently a guest at Yaddo, the Saratoga Springs estate of Spencer Trask and his wife, Katrina Trask, and from both estates he developed a wide circle of influence, including many persons from the literary world, church, business, and government, who came to enjoy his gracious hospitality.
A longtime bachelor, in 1921, eleven years after Trask's death in a railroad accident, Peabody married Trask's widow Katrina, and they lived at Yaddo until her death in 1922. Thereafter Yaddo became a great retreat for artists. Peabody continued to live on the estate, and in 1926 he adopted a daughter, Mrs. Marjorie P. Waite, a young woman whom he had come to know in connection with his civic and humanitarian activities and who aided him in them.
Peabody died in 1938 at his home in Warm Springs, Georgia and is buried at Yaddo.[10]
George Foster Peabody Awards
The George Foster Peabody Awards was established by the National Association of Broadcasters. It has been presented annually since 1941 for excellence in radio and, since 1948, television broadcasting, followed by World Wide Web content in the late 1990s. The award is administered by the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and was named for Peabody, a benefactor of the university.[11]
References
- ISBN 978-0820334561.
- ISBN 978-0252004100.
- ^ Hart, John Mason. Empire and Revolution: The Americans in Mexico since the Civil War. Berkeley: University of California Press 2002, pp. 40, 52, 128, 137, 138, 183–4, 345.
- ISBN 978-0826264169.
- Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.
- ISBN 978-0252031106.
- ^ "Peabody Park History". Uncg.edu. Archived from the original on January 30, 2015. Retrieved 2014-07-27.
- ^ Nancy Alexander; Roger Harris; Janice P. Riggers (1980). "Historic Resources of Columbus, Muscogee County, Georgia: Young Men's Christian Association of Metropolitan Columbus / The YMCA of Columbus". National Park Service. Retrieved June 18, 2018. With accompanying pictures
- ^ "George Foster Peabody". findagrave.com. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
- ^ "Origin of the Award", The Peabody Awards
Further reading
- David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896–1900", Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555–75.
- Dorothy Orr. (1950). A History of Education in Georgia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
- Ware, Louise (1951). George Foster Peabody : banker, philanthropist, publicist. Athens: University of Georgia Press. ISBN 9780820334561. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
- Who Was Who in America, Volume I: 1897–1942 (Chicago, 1942).
External links
- George Foster Peabody (1852–1938) and Peabody Park at UNCG – a biographical excerpt written by Louise Ware in the Dictionary of American Biography (23: 520–521, 1958)
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