Bismarck, Mona, Photograph Collection, 1860-1979
Held by The Filson Historical Society
Title: Mona Bismarck, Photograph Collection, c. 1930-1950
Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Curator of Special Collections.
Size of Collection: .33 cubic feet
Location Number: 016PC13
Scope and Content Note
The collection includes portrait photographs of Mona Bismarck, many by Sir Cecil Beaton, and photographs of her family, her husbands, and friends from her years in society. There are also photographs of the villa on Capri and her Paris apartment in the Hotel Lambert. Identified persons include Count Edward Bismarck, Harrison Williams, Umberto di Martini, Robert Sims Strader, Margaret Sims Strader, members of the Shockency family, Birdie Bell Shockency Hussey, John Hussey, Sir Cecil Beaton, Bernard Baruch, Marlene Dietrich, Lorraine Rowan Cooper (Mrs. John Sherman Cooper), Randolph Churchill, and Cristobal Balenciaga.
Biographical Note
Countess Mona Bismarck, born Mona Travis Strader in Louisville, married in 1917 the first of five husbands. After a divorce from her second husband, she became part of the “cafe society” world in New York and her marriage to Wall Street financier Harrison Williams in 1926 gave her further entree into a glamorous lifestyle. After his death in 1953, she married Count Edward Bismarck, grandson of Germany’s Chancellor Bismarck. In her later years, she lived quietly in Paris and at her villa on the Isle of Capri.
Photograph List
| COLLECTION # | PHOTOGRAPH DESCRIPTION | LOCATION |
| 989PC9X.01 | Strader, Robert Sims (age 3 months) and Margaret Sims Strader | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.02 | Strader, Robert Sims (age ca. 2 years old) and Margaret Sims Strader | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.03 | Shockency, John Bird (ca. 3 years old) | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.04 | Shockency, John Bird (ca. 13 years old) | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.05 | Bird, Elizabeth Holmes | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.06 | Shockency, Martha Ann Bird | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.07 | Shockency, Martha Ann Bird | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.08 | Shockency, Mary (Polly) Woodside | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.09 | Shockency, John Wesley | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.10 | Shockency, John Bird | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.11 | Shockency, John Bird | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.12 | Bismarck, Mona as a child | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.13 | Strader, Margaret Sims, ambrotype | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.14 | Shockency, Martha Ann Bird (Mrs. John Wesley Shockency), tintype | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.15 | Bismarck, Mona ,close up highlighting her eyes | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X.16 | Bismarck, Mona and “Micky,” her dog | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.17 | Bismarck, Mona seated in a chair, photo by Cecil Beaton | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.18 | Bismarck, Mona, in profile | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.19 | Bismarck, Mona, photo by Hoyningen-Huene, 1933 | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X.20 | Bismarck, Mona, wearing a hat | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.21 | Bismarck, Mona, and her dog, “Micky,” photo by Cecil Beaton | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.22 | Bismarck, Mona, looking out through ripped paper, photo by Cecil Beaton | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.23 | Bismarck, Mona, wearing a cape, photo by Cecil Beaton | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.23B | Bismarck, Mona, wearing a cape, photo by Cecil Beaton | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.24 | Bismarck, Mona, with flower netting background, photo by Cecil Beaton | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.25 | Bismarck, Mona, with flower netting background, photo by Cecil Beaton | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.26 | Bismarck, Mona, with flower netting background, photo by Cecil Beaton | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.27 | Bismarck, Mona, wearing a dark evening dress, photo by Cecil Beaton | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.28 | Bismarck, Mona, wearing business attire, photo by Cecil Beaton | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.29 | Bismarck, Mona, portrait by Salvador Dali, 1948 | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X.30 | Bismarck, Mona, in Mexico | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.31 | Bismarck, Mona and Edward Bismarck | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.32 | Bismarck, Mona and Umberto di Martini | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.33 | Williams, Harrison | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.34 | Williams, Harrison | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.35 | Bismarck, Edward | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.36 | di Martini, Umberto, photo by Cecil Beaton | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.37 | di Martini, Umberto, photo by Cecil Beaton | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.38 | di Martini, Umberto, photo by Cecil Beaton | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.39 | di Martini, Umberto, photo by Cecil Beaton | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.40 | Balenciaga, Cristobel, 1962 | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.41 | Sutherland, Duchess of | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.42 | Sutherland, Duke | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.43 | unidentified man | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.44 | Worgen, Col. Rivers | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X.45 | Worgen, Col. Rivers, 1932 | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X.46 | Baruch, Bernard, 1918 | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X.47 | Fasso, Carlo | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X.48 | Beaton, Cecil | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X.49 | Beaton, Cecil at the Metropolitan Opera Ball, photo by Cecil Beaton | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.50 | Churchill, Randolph | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.51 | Lowmon, Barry (?) | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X.52 | Hill, Derek, photo by Cecil Beaton | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.53 | Dietrich, Marlene | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X.54 | unidentified man | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X.55 | Brecknock, Countess of | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.56 | Brecknock, Countess of | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.57 | Brecknock, Countess of | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.58 | Doris, Lady Castlerosse | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X.59 | Doris, Lady Castlerosse | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X.60 | Doris, Lady Castlerosse | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.61 | Doris, Lady Castlerosse | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.62 | Cooper, Lorraine Rowan (Mrs. John Sherman Cooper), photo by Cecil Beaton
|
Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.63 | Williams, Harrison and Robert Kennedy, Hugh Traber, Pat Kennedy, Jean Kennedy, Eunice Kennedy and Rose Kennedy | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.64 | Bismarck, Mona and Franklin Roosevelt, Jr. | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.65 | Bismarck, Mona and the Duke of Windsor, Baron and Baronesse de Cabrole and others at the Lido in Paris, 1959 | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.66 | Bismarck, Mona, Edward Bismarck and Arthur Rubenstein and others | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.67 | Spoleto, Duke of | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.68 | Duke d’ Osta, 1935 | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.69 | Duke d’Osta | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.70 | Umberto, King of Italy | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.71 | Bismarck, Mona, Umberto di Martini, the Duchess of Windsor and others at Maxim’s | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X.72 | Alexandra R and Peter R, 1948 | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.73 | Portarlington, Lady, photo by Cecil Beaton | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.74 | Warwick, Duke of, as a child, 1945 | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.75 | Churchill, Randolph | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.76 | Churchill, Randolph, 1934 | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.77 | “Boy”, a dog | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.78 | Pope Pius XII, 1939 | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.79 | Pope Pius XII, 1939 | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.80 | Pope Pius XII, 1939 | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.81 | Nanny and child (unidentified) | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.82 | miscellaneous color snapshot | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.83 | “Micky,” Mona Bismarck’s dog | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.84 | portrait of three unidentified children | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X.85 | Forkland Farm | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.86 | painting by Sert (?) | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X.87 | painting by Goya | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X.88 | drawing by J. Cooper of the Arcturus (a boat) with the sentiment “Many happy returns of the tide Will Beebe”
|
Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.89 | drawing by Don Dickerman of the Arcturus (a boat) with the sentiment “Will Beebe wishes you a Happy New Year” | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.90 | drawing by Umberto di Martini of a marketplace stall which is selling honey | Box 3 |
| 989PC9X.91-.98 | “Casa del la Lune”, unidentified location | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.99-107 | Capri | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.108-111 | miscellaneous color snapshots | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X.112-130 | Hotel de Lambert, Mona Bismarck’s Paris apartment | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X | Shockency, John Wesley | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X | Bismarck, Mona, as a child, and her brother (?) | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X | Hussey, Birdie Bell Shockency and Winston (?) | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X | Hussey, John, ca. 1905 | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X | Bismarck, Mona, as a child, and her brother (?) | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X | Hussey, Birdie Bell Shockency and Winston | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X | Bismarck, Mona, as a child, and her brother (?) | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X | Hussey, Birdie Bell Shockency | Box 1 |
| 989PC9X | Terrace Park, Louisville | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X | Shockency, John Wesley | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X | Shockency, Martha Ann Bird | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X | Hussey, Birdie Bell Shockency | Box 2 |
| 989PC9X | unidentified woman | Box 2 |
