Mrs. Russell Sage: Women's Activism and Philanthropy in Gilded Age and Progressive Era America

Philanthropic and Nonprofit Studies

by Ruth Crocker

This is the biography of a ruling-class woman who became a major American philanthropist. The wife of robber-baron Russell Sage (partner of Jay Gould) and in her husband's shadow for 37 years, Olivia Sage took on the mantle of active, reforming womanhood in New York voluntary associations. When Russell Sage died in 1906, he left her a vast fortune. Already in her 70s, she took the money and put it to her own uses. An advocate for the rights of women and the responsibilities of wealth, for moral reform and material benefit, Sage used the money to fund a wide spectrum of progressive reforms that had a lasting impact on American life, including her most significant philanthropy, the Russell Sage Foundation.

525 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2006

Reviews

[Wiebke Kuhn]

A very interesting read about late 19th century/early 20th century philanthropy, rich women, and the US through the lense of of one woman's life. Very detailed research shows quite clearly how any arguments that charity is the way for us to help all others is misguided.