Social History

Party Pictures• June 15, 2020

Patience and Fortitude

Beautiful late Spring weather as New York begins to re-open. Meanwhile we take a tour down memory lane of the New York Public Library’s gala fundraisers from 1987 to 2009 as photographed by Mary Hilliard...

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Palm Beach Social Diary — Billionaires Row, Part III: Historic Widener’s Curve to Sloan’s Curve

Palm Beach• June 11, 2020.

Augustus Mayhew takes on a detailed historical tour of the architecture of the rich that gave Palm Beach its international lure in the 20th century up to today. Part III of IV... READ MORE

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Palm Beach Social Diary: FORE! Golf Greats @ Seminole for COVID-19 Benefit

Palm Beach• May 17, 2020.

In case you missed it: Today, the Seminole Golf Club is hosting a competitive charity golf event to benefit COVID-19 relief workers. Augustus Mayhew gives us the history of this great golf course with photos from the Ellen Glendinning Ordway Collection... READ MORE

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Oil Swells: The Standard Oil Crowd in Palm Beach

Palm Beach• March 6, 2020.

Augustus Mayhew’s now classic history “Oil Swells: The Standard Oil Crowd in Palm Beach” around the turn of the 19th century to the 20th, when the new industry was comparable to the tech industry around the turn of the 20th to the 21st. La plus ca change ..... READ MORE

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Timeless Palm Beach: Spanish Revival at El Bravo Park

Palm Beach• February 3, 2020.

Palm Beach Social Diary. Augustus Mayhew takes us on an historical tour of a famous Palm Beach mansion in Bravo Park, built in 1930 and completely restored by its present owners... READ MORE

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Best Friends: Jewish Society in Old Palm Beach

Palm Beach• January 28, 2020.

Augustus Mayhew reminds us of the social heritage of Palm Beach in its creation, many of the prominent Jewish leaders of New York who winter there and who were the original backers of the clubs — all of them... READ MORE

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The 20th Century Limited

Social History• January 24, 2020.

We re-visit Michael Grace’s history of the 20th Century Limited train that ran between New York and Chicago, known as the “train of tycoons and stars.” And you’ll wish you could travel that way!... READ MORE

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This Was Then: The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Dinner with D.V.”

Social History• January 23, 2020.

A piece of New York fashion history, a page out of only yesterday, Mary Hilliard’s report on the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum’s “Dinner With DV” (Diana Vreeland) on December 7, 1987... READ MORE

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Guardian Spirit: Newport Legacy of Doris Duke

Social History• January 22, 2020.

A curator and art historian’s visit to the fabled heiress’ Newport, Rhode Island mansion, every inch defining its possessor’s taste and sensibility... READ MORE

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Kate Coleman and the Diamond Horseshoe

Social History• January 8, 2020.

Kate Coleman, the ladies maid at the original Metropolitan Opera House from 1888 to 1919, heard more than 20,000 hours of music (Caruso, Toscanini, and Puccini to name a few) and saw the world of society come and go... READ MORE

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A Debutante’s Diary, Part II: 1920-1921 From Engagement to Honeymoon to First Born

Social History• January 7, 2020.

Take a trip with your imagination to another place, another time, a moment in history in someone’s life when everything was not only all right, but fabulous, in Part Il of Ellen Ordway’s photo memoir, “A Debutante’s Diary, Part II, 1920-1921." ... READ MORE

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A Debutante’s Diary, Part I: 1919-1920

Palm Beach• January 7, 2020.

Returning to Ellen Glendinning Frazer Ordway, whose photo memoir began with her 1919-1920 coverage “A Debutante’s Diary, Part I” of young of Society making their debuts... READ MORE

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The Last Voyage of the SS Ile de France

Social History• January 3, 2020.

Re-visiting Scott Houston McBee’s tour of the fallen SS Ile de France, launched in 1926 with a maiden voyage on June 22, 1927 from Le Havre to New York and still considered one of the most beautifully decorated ocean liners built by the French Line... READ MORE

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