Bismarck, Mona von (1897-1983) Added Photograph Collection, 1926-1979
Held by The Filson Historical Society
Creator: Bismarck, Mona von
Title: Mona von Bismarck Added Photograph Collection, ca. 1926-1979
Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these photographs, contact the Curator of Photographs and Prints
Size of Collection: 4 Albums
Location Number: 022PC22
Scope and Content Note
This collection is made up of four of Mona von Bismarck’s (1897-1983) photo albums, each varying in size and content, as well as three loose photographs. Three of the albums document Mona’s honeymoon trip which she took with her third husband Harrison Williams, as well as other guests, in the Fall/Winter of 1926. The journey was made on William’s yacht, Warrior, which was considered the largest of its day. These albums document the Eastern leg of the trip, which spanned from Port Said, in Egypt, to Hong Kong, in China, with over a dozen stops within a span of three months. The main subjects of these images are temples, local people, street views, and Mona’s traveling companions. One of the guests on this trip, Paul D. Cravath, wrote a small pamphlet titled “The World Cruise of Warrior,” which documented their travels. The fourth album is smaller, and contains images from much later in Mona’s life, dating to 1978-79. These images show Mona in her famous garden at her villa Il Fortino in Capri. Two of the loose photographs are portraits of Mona’s parents, Bird Shockency and Robert Strader, respectively. The subject of the final loose photograph is the Warrior in a body of water.
Related Collection:
Mona Bismarck Photograph Collection [989PC9X]
Mona von Bismarck Papers [Mss. A B621]
James D. Birchfield Collection [Mss. A B627]
Biographical Note
Mona von Bismarck was born as Mona Travis Strader in Louisville, Kentucky in 1897. She grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, and it was there that she met her first of five husbands, Henry J. Schlesinger, in 1917. The couple moved to Milwaukee, where the much older Schlesinger owned an iron and coke business. Mona had her only child shortly after, a son named Robert Henry.
Following their divorce, in which Mona lost custody of her son, she married banker James Irving Bush. Bush was said to the “handsomest man in America”. The marriage began in 1921 and ended in divorce in 1925.
In 1926, Mona married Harrison Williams, a widower who was 24 years older than her. Williams was a Wall Street financier who was said to be the richest man in America at the time, with an estimated fortune of $600 million. They famously sailed around the world on Williams’s large yacht, the Warrior, for their honeymoon. The trip lasted an entire year.
After Williams passed away in 1953, Mona married her secretary Herbert von Bismarck, grandson of the German Chancellor. When he passed away in 1970, Mona wed his physician, Count Umberto de Martini.
Most importantly to Mona’s life story was her role as an American socialite. She was a well-known celebrity in café society, and called people like the Duchess of Windsor, Cecil Beaton, and Diana Vreeland close friends. Salvador Dali painted a portrait of Mona in 1943, titled The Kentucky Countess. In 1933 she was named “The Best Dressed Woman in the World”, by a panel which included Coco Chanel.
Mona Bismarck spent the last quiet years of her life at either her Paris townhouse or her villa in Capri. She enjoyed tending to her lush gardens and fostering artists. She passed away in 1983 at the age of 86.
Sources:
Sotheby’s article “The Life and Loves of Mona Bismarck”, Apr 18, 2017, https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/the-life-and-loves-of-mona-bismarck
Kentucky Countess: Mona Bismarck in Art and Fashion, Book by James D. Birchfield.
Item in Filson Collection (B B622 B)
Album List
Album 1 (022PC22.01): Honeymoon on the Warrior, Professional Album
This album is large and made of black leather, with now loose and numbered pages that were once held together by a cord binding. These images date to the Fall/Winter of 1926, and depict the honeymoon travels of Mona and her third husband Harrison Williams. There are photos of street scenes, natural landscapes, palaces, and temples that the couple visited across Asia. There are scenes of Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Singapore, Bangkok, and India, as well as photographs taken aboard Harrison’s yacht, The Warrior. Many of the photographs feature two guests of the couple, Russian socialite Lady Iya Abdy and prominent New York lawyer Paul D. Cravath.
Album 2 (022PC22.02): Honeymoon on the Warrior, Personal Album
This album is large and brown, and embossed on the cover with a flag emblem in the upper left-hand corner, as well as the words “ON BOARD WARRIOR” in the bottom right. This album has some overlapping images with the 022PC22.01, but it seems that perhaps while the .01 was a personally made item, this album was professionally put together using select images and higher quality paper. This album depicts a lot of interesting wildlife, like anteaters and elephants. It also features an image of Rivers Worgan, at the time the Commander of the Southern Brigade Area for the British government in India, strolling with the couple and Iya Abdy.
Album 3 (022PC22.03): Honeymoon Visit to Angkor Wat
This album is identical to 022PC22.02 in its material and binding. It contains images of the couple visiting the temple of Angkor Wat, in Cambodia. Once again, the socialite Iya Abdy is the subject of some of the photos. This visit took place in Late February.
Album 4 (022PC22.04): Mona in her Garden
This album is small and made of reddish leather with gold designs. This album contains photographs which date to approximately 1978, and all appear to take place at Mona’s villa, Il Fortino in Capri. The primary subject of the album is the villa’s garden. Mona appears in some of the images, once beside her fifth husband, Count Umberto Nicola Di Martini. This album dates from 1978-1979. Additional related images can be found in the Mona Bismarck Photograph Collection, Box 1, 989PC9X.99 – 989PC9X.107.
Separated Items:
Individual Photograph of Bird Beatrice Shockency Strader, ca. 1893-1902. [Individual Photograph Collection, 022PC22.05]
Individual Photograph of Robert Sims Strader, ca. 1893-1902. [Individual Photograph Collection, 022PC22.06]
Subject Photograph of The Warrior, ca. 1924-1929. [Subject Photograph Collection, BOA-108]
