1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:10,960 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. 3 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:14,720 Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 4 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:16,640 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. 5 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:19,000 Speaker 2: If you listen to the listener mail segments at the 6 00:00:19,079 --> 00:00:22,240 Speaker 2: end of our episodes, you might remember that Kristen wrote 7 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:25,920 Speaker 2: in about a Marie Lawrence exhibition at the Barnes Foundation 8 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:30,120 Speaker 2: in Philadelphia. I did indeed manage to get down there 9 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:34,680 Speaker 2: before it closed on January twenty first. It was absolutely 10 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:37,879 Speaker 2: worth it, even though I had some weather related travel 11 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:41,599 Speaker 2: stress and I picked up a cold that has been 12 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:45,839 Speaker 2: lingering for nearly three weeks now. If you're like Tracy, 13 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:50,479 Speaker 2: that's COVID, it's not COVID. Negative for COVID, including on 14 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 2: a molecular test, not COVID anyway, though the exhibits introductory 15 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 2: signage included this, Before and after the war, Lawrence sah 16 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:07,560 Speaker 2: attended salons inspired by the ancient Greek poet Sappho, held 17 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:12,240 Speaker 2: at the Paris home of lesbian writer Natalie Clifford Barney, 18 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 2: and standing there in the museum, I was like, Okay, 19 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 2: I'm taking that as a message from the universe to 20 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 2: finally do an episode on Natalie Clifford Barney. Her name 21 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 2: has come up before, including in our episodes on both 22 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:29,280 Speaker 2: Brie Lawrencen and Collette, who we talked about last year, 23 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 2: and then she's also she was connected to a bunch 24 00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:36,319 Speaker 2: of other people we have talked about in the past, 25 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 2: including Isidora Duncan, Edna Saint Vincent Malay and Gertrude Stein 26 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:44,360 Speaker 2: and Alice by Toklas. And then every time her name 27 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:47,360 Speaker 2: comes up in something that I'm researching, I'm like, we 28 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:49,960 Speaker 2: gotta do an episode on her sometime, and so now 29 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 2: we finally are. I did not mean for this to 30 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:56,720 Speaker 2: be a two part episode. I got to the end 31 00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:59,080 Speaker 2: of my note taking phase in what I did not 32 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 2: even feel like were particularly like. I didn't feel like 33 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:06,200 Speaker 2: I was taking overly detailed notes. But I got to 34 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:08,959 Speaker 2: the end of notes and I had a word count 35 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:11,639 Speaker 2: that was already a whole episode, and I was like, oh, 36 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:17,280 Speaker 2: I'm in trouble. So this became two parts. Today we 37 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 2: are going to talk about Natalie Clifford Barney's upbringing, her 38 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:24,480 Speaker 2: young adult life in Paris, and then the death of 39 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:28,240 Speaker 2: her father leaving her independently wealthy. And then next time 40 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:32,000 Speaker 2: on Wednesday, we will talk about the Paris Salon that 41 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:33,800 Speaker 2: she became really famous for. 42 00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 1: Natalie Clifford Barney was born in Dayton, Ohio, on October 43 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:42,560 Speaker 1: thirty first, eighteen seventy six. She loved that this was 44 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:45,280 Speaker 1: her birthday. She felt like her life contained a lot 45 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:48,280 Speaker 1: of duality, so she liked that October thirty first had 46 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:52,960 Speaker 1: connections to both Christian and pagan observances. Later, she also 47 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 1: developed an affinity for astrology and numerology, and she formed 48 00:02:56,480 --> 00:03:00,200 Speaker 1: a club called the Scorpions after their astrological sign of 49 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:03,519 Speaker 1: Scorpio for people with the same birthday, and one of 50 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: the other members of that club was Marie Lawrence Soon. 51 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 2: Natalie was the first daughter born to Albert Clifford Barney 52 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:13,480 Speaker 2: and Alice Pike Barney, who were both from wealthy families. 53 00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 2: Albert's father had made a fortune manufacturing railway cars, including 54 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:21,920 Speaker 2: for the Pullman Company, and Alice's father was an entrepreneur 55 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 2: who ran a dry goods store and distilleries, doing well 56 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 2: enough that he eventually moved into investing in things like 57 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:33,720 Speaker 2: property and trolley systems and opera houses. Thanks to those 58 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 2: opera houses, guests at the Pike home when Alice was 59 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:41,880 Speaker 2: young included past podcast subjects Marie Taglioni and Lola Montes, 60 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 2: and Alice developed a deep love of music and the arts. 61 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:49,120 Speaker 1: The Barney family moved to Cincinnati when Natalie was still 62 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:51,720 Speaker 1: a baby, and her younger sister, Laura was born there 63 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy nine. While Natalie was always creative and 64 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: outgoing and sociable in many ways, Laura was nearly her oppice. 65 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:03,080 Speaker 1: She was just a lot more quiet and reserved. But 66 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: the two of them had a very tight and lifelong 67 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:07,119 Speaker 1: bond as sisters. 68 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 2: While their life at home was financially pretty comfortable, it 69 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 2: was not always happy. Albert and Alice's marriage was strained 70 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 2: pretty soon after the wedding. Alice had come to see 71 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:22,359 Speaker 2: him as narrow minded and prejudiced. He also had a 72 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:24,840 Speaker 2: lot of affairs over the course of the marriage, and 73 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 2: there's really not evidence that Alice did the same, but 74 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 2: he was deeply jealous and possessive of her. 75 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:35,320 Speaker 1: For example, not long after they got married, Albert found 76 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:39,160 Speaker 1: letters that explorer and writer Henry Morton Stanley had written 77 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:42,279 Speaker 1: to Alice. Henry and Alice had met in New York 78 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:45,400 Speaker 1: when Alice was seventeen and Henry was thirty three, and 79 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:49,120 Speaker 1: he eventually proposed, but Alice's mother had sent her back 80 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:52,480 Speaker 1: to Dayton to separate the two of them. When Albert 81 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:55,359 Speaker 1: found these letters, Alice insisted they were nothing to be 82 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:58,040 Speaker 1: threatened by, but he made her burn them all while 83 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 1: he was watching Albert. It's jealousy of and antipathy for 84 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 1: Henry Morton Stanley went on for years, and it didn't 85 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:09,880 Speaker 1: help that newspaper reporters writing about Stanley often brought up 86 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:11,960 Speaker 1: the fact that he had once been betrothed to an 87 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:15,360 Speaker 1: heiress who had left him and married someone else. It 88 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:17,360 Speaker 1: was one of those details they liked to drop in 89 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:21,520 Speaker 1: reporting that was not about his relationships at all, They 90 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:24,760 Speaker 1: just throw that in there. Albert's behavior could also be 91 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:29,000 Speaker 1: really frightening, especially when he was intoxicated. Once, after he 92 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:31,560 Speaker 1: had a fight with Alice, he took Natalie and Laura 93 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:34,040 Speaker 1: out of the house and boarded a train with them 94 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: and then threatens to kill all three of them by 95 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:40,720 Speaker 1: throwing them off of it. He only stopped when Natalie 96 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:43,600 Speaker 1: grabbed the emergency brake and threatens a pullet and make 97 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:47,080 Speaker 1: a scene. When Natalie and Laura were still young children, 98 00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 1: the family started spending their summers at seaside resorts. When 99 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:54,360 Speaker 1: Natalie was six, she had a formative experience. While they 100 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:57,479 Speaker 1: were in Long Beach, New York. Natalie was trying to 101 00:05:57,560 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 1: run away from a pack of boys when a tall 102 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: man came to her rescue and picked her up. That 103 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 1: tall man turned out to be Oscar Wilde, who was 104 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:09,360 Speaker 1: in New York on a North American tour. Natalie later 105 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:11,160 Speaker 1: called this her first adventure. 106 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:15,680 Speaker 2: This was a formative moment for her mother too. The 107 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:18,680 Speaker 2: next day, Oscar Wilde showed up at the beach and 108 00:06:18,839 --> 00:06:23,800 Speaker 2: struck up a conversation with Alice. They were essentially strangers, 109 00:06:23,839 --> 00:06:26,919 Speaker 2: but they wound up having this really intimate discussion about 110 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 2: Alice's life and her marriage. Alice and Oscar were confidants 111 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:33,839 Speaker 2: until Oscar had to go back to his tour, and 112 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:37,719 Speaker 2: their conversations really highlighted for her how unhappy she was 113 00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:41,320 Speaker 2: and how her passions for art and music had been 114 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:43,680 Speaker 2: squashed through her marriage to Albert. 115 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:47,520 Speaker 1: Soon after, Alice convinced Albert to take a trip to 116 00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:50,360 Speaker 1: Europe under the guise of looking for a boarding school 117 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:52,719 Speaker 1: for the girls to attend when they got a little older. 118 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:56,479 Speaker 1: Albert was of the opinion that a European education would 119 00:06:56,520 --> 00:07:00,159 Speaker 1: be necessary for the girls to attract suitable husbands, so 120 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:03,640 Speaker 1: he agreed to this trip. But Alice also had another 121 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: goal in mind, which was figuring out how she could 122 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:08,800 Speaker 1: get herself to Europe to study painting. 123 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:13,080 Speaker 2: About four years later, in eighteen eighty seven, Albert's mother 124 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:17,200 Speaker 2: died and Albert inherited enough money that the family became 125 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 2: really wealthy. This was wealthy enough to actually afford the 126 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:24,280 Speaker 2: kind of lifestyle they'd been living for the last few years, 127 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:27,480 Speaker 2: and to kick it up a notch. Not long after 128 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:31,720 Speaker 2: the estate was settled, Albert started construction on two new homes. 129 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 2: One was the family's main residence in Washington, d c. 130 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 2: The other was a summer cottage in Bar Harbor, Maine. 131 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:44,600 Speaker 2: Although the word cottage has connotations of something small and quaint, 132 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:48,320 Speaker 2: a lot of the so called cottages built in North 133 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:52,080 Speaker 2: America during the Gilded Age were quite the opposite. They 134 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 2: were literally mansions. This Bar Harbor cottage, known as Bannyburn, 135 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 2: had twenty seven rooms, including seven bedrooms just for the servants. 136 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:07,000 Speaker 2: This was also the year that Natalie and Laura were 137 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:09,920 Speaker 2: sent to boarding school in France, to a school called 138 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:12,680 Speaker 2: Le Rouche, which they had visited on that earlier trip 139 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:15,680 Speaker 2: to Europe. Natalie was eleven at this point and her 140 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:19,200 Speaker 2: sister was seven, and Alice convinced their father that since 141 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:21,440 Speaker 2: they were so young and had never been away from 142 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:24,320 Speaker 2: home like this before, that she should go to France 143 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:27,920 Speaker 2: as well and rent an apartment in Paris. Although this 144 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 2: was really about her getting away from Albert and getting 145 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:35,160 Speaker 2: to study painting, this transition really was hard for the girls. 146 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:37,640 Speaker 2: When their parents had first tried to drop them off 147 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:40,079 Speaker 2: at the school, they were both so upset that the 148 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:42,640 Speaker 2: family wound up going back to Paris for a while 149 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:47,400 Speaker 2: before trying again. Yeah, this is also like the pattern 150 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:51,040 Speaker 2: for the rest of Alice's life was finding reasons, like 151 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 2: finding reasonable explanations for her to be in Europe studying 152 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:59,480 Speaker 2: painting instead of back in the United States with her husband. 153 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:03,280 Speaker 2: There was an irony in this choice of boarding school though, 154 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:07,160 Speaker 2: as we said, in Albert's mind this education was going 155 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,319 Speaker 2: to help his daughters attract suitable husbands, and Le Rouche 156 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:15,400 Speaker 2: was a prestigious school. Its curriculum was focused on the 157 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:18,880 Speaker 2: kinds of subjects that were considered appropriate for the future 158 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:23,520 Speaker 2: wives of rich men, so things like languages, music, poetry, 159 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:30,800 Speaker 2: deportment and drawing, but the school's founder, Maurice vest also 160 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:33,920 Speaker 2: she thought that girls should be able to think for themselves. 161 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:37,720 Speaker 2: By the time Natalie and Laura enrolled at the school, 162 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:41,800 Speaker 2: she herself had moved on to start a school outside London, 163 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:45,559 Speaker 2: where one of her students would be the famously headstrong 164 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:50,280 Speaker 2: Eleanor Roosevelt. But the school was still very focused on 165 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:53,160 Speaker 2: teaching girls to make their own decisions and to think 166 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:58,280 Speaker 2: about things logically and rationally. This school they were sent 167 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 2: to in France was really not one that was going 168 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 2: to teach them to be obedient to their parents or 169 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:08,960 Speaker 2: subservient to future husbands. Meanwhile, Alice Barney was making a 170 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 2: serious study of art. One of the paintings she created 171 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:16,839 Speaker 2: during her daughter's first term at school, called Paissan Polonaise 172 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:20,320 Speaker 2: or Polish Peasant, was accepted at the Paris Salon in 173 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:23,920 Speaker 2: eighteen eighty nine. We will get to Natalie's life at 174 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:37,440 Speaker 2: school after a quick sponsor break. While in school at LaRouche, 175 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:42,000 Speaker 2: Natalie Clifford Barney was an excellent student in some subjects, 176 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:44,440 Speaker 2: kind of an okay student in other ones. It seems 177 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:47,120 Speaker 2: like it really depended on whether this interested her or not. 178 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:51,320 Speaker 2: She had started learning French from a governess earlier in 179 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:54,480 Speaker 2: her life, and French was the only language allowed to 180 00:10:54,520 --> 00:10:57,960 Speaker 2: be spoken at LaRouche. This put her on the path 181 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:01,760 Speaker 2: to becoming a fluent speaker of both French and English, 182 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:06,400 Speaker 2: and most of her later riding was in French. Natalie 183 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:09,440 Speaker 2: wrote and played the violin, and she also played tennis 184 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:12,120 Speaker 2: and croquet, and she spent as much time as she 185 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:16,880 Speaker 2: could riding horses. Horseback riding was one of her great 186 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:21,960 Speaker 2: loves in life. She also became increasingly free spirited and rebellious, 187 00:11:21,960 --> 00:11:25,520 Speaker 2: so things like refusing to wear corsets and insisting on 188 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:29,640 Speaker 2: riding a stride on her horse instead of side saddle, 189 00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:32,040 Speaker 2: as women and girls were expected to do. 190 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:36,920 Speaker 1: And she also realized that she was attracted to other girls. 191 00:11:37,679 --> 00:11:39,960 Speaker 1: We have talked on the show before about how for 192 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:43,000 Speaker 1: much of the nineteenth century there was a lot of 193 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:47,520 Speaker 1: stigma around lesbianism in adult women, but it was simultaneously 194 00:11:47,559 --> 00:11:51,520 Speaker 1: considered normal and healthy for girls to have physically affectionate 195 00:11:51,559 --> 00:11:55,560 Speaker 1: relationships and even crushes on one another. This was thought 196 00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:58,280 Speaker 1: of as sort of a necessary step in becoming a 197 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:01,480 Speaker 1: good wife to a man. People only started to regard 198 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:05,760 Speaker 1: these relationships with suspicion if girls got too old for 199 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:09,720 Speaker 1: it or if their relationships were too intense. But by 200 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:12,400 Speaker 1: the time she was about twelve, Natalie understood that her 201 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:15,280 Speaker 1: attraction to girls was not just part of her childhood, 202 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:18,959 Speaker 1: that it would be central to her entire life. 203 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:23,600 Speaker 2: Although Natalie had crushes and flirtations at LaRouche, it seems 204 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:26,880 Speaker 2: like the first time another girl returned her affections in 205 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:31,360 Speaker 2: the same way was in Bar Harbor in eighteen ninety three. 206 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:35,280 Speaker 2: Eva Palmer's family also summered there, and she and Natalie 207 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:39,239 Speaker 2: had become friends a few summers before. When their relationship 208 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:42,959 Speaker 2: moved from platonic to physical, Natalie was sixteen and Eva 209 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:47,400 Speaker 2: was nineteen. Their first sexual experience together was after Eva 210 00:12:47,559 --> 00:12:51,680 Speaker 2: read a poem by Sappho at a variety show. She 211 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:55,120 Speaker 2: read this in its original Greek, so unless they knew Greek, 212 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:58,120 Speaker 2: the people and the audience were not really aware of 213 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:02,000 Speaker 2: its significance. Can't imagine there were a lot of people 214 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:03,680 Speaker 2: fluent in Greek. Probably not. 215 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:07,760 Speaker 1: For the next couple of years, Natalie traveled back and 216 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:10,720 Speaker 1: forth between Europe and North America, and she spent some 217 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:14,040 Speaker 1: time at a finishing school in New York. Although there 218 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:16,840 Speaker 1: were a number of women's colleges by this point, she 219 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:19,600 Speaker 1: never really aspired to go to one of them, and 220 00:13:19,679 --> 00:13:23,160 Speaker 1: she also did not aspire to get married. Seeing the 221 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 1: realities of her parents' marriage had made her wary of 222 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:29,280 Speaker 1: the whole institution, and seeing how her father behaved while 223 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:32,000 Speaker 1: drunk also led her to avoid alcohol. 224 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:36,480 Speaker 2: Getting married was the expected path for her, though, and 225 00:13:36,559 --> 00:13:41,360 Speaker 2: since she was witty and vivacious, beautiful, and very rich, 226 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:46,280 Speaker 2: she attracted plenty of suitors. She liked the attention, she 227 00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:49,640 Speaker 2: liked to flirt, but she made it clear that she 228 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:52,840 Speaker 2: was not interested in these men. But then, in eighteen 229 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:57,240 Speaker 2: ninety five, she met Robert Kelso Cassatt, nephew of Mary Cassat, 230 00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:00,920 Speaker 2: and he fell deeply in love with her. Natalie told 231 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:04,400 Speaker 2: him directly that she was interested in women and not men, 232 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:08,240 Speaker 2: and he proposed that they get married anyway, their relationship 233 00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:10,720 Speaker 2: to one another would be platonic, and each of them 234 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:14,360 Speaker 2: would be free to see other people. At least in theory, 235 00:14:14,559 --> 00:14:17,800 Speaker 2: this seemed like an ideal scenario. Bob would get to 236 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:20,440 Speaker 2: marry the woman he was in love with, Natalie would 237 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:22,760 Speaker 2: get to marry a man, which is what society and 238 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:26,680 Speaker 2: particularly her father expected of her, and it was also 239 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:29,520 Speaker 2: a man she liked, even if she wasn't physically attracted 240 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:32,160 Speaker 2: to him, and they'd each meet their physical needs with 241 00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:35,800 Speaker 2: other people, something that Bob thought that he could handle. 242 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:39,800 Speaker 2: By the time Natalie had her formal society debut, they 243 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:44,200 Speaker 2: were unofficially engaged. We will pause here for a second 244 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:48,200 Speaker 2: to talk about Natalie Clifford Barney's thoughts on monogamy, because 245 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:51,080 Speaker 2: they were at play here. Of course, they would also 246 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:54,120 Speaker 2: be a very big part of the rest of her life. 247 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:57,840 Speaker 2: She really advocated for having lots of lovers without being 248 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:01,480 Speaker 2: jealous or possessive of anybody. She had a number of 249 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:05,320 Speaker 2: long term relationships that overlapped with one another, some of 250 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:09,480 Speaker 2: them lasting for decades. Later in her life, she sorted 251 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:13,560 Speaker 2: all of these into three broad categories. There were the liaisons, 252 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:17,800 Speaker 2: the demi liaisons, and the adventures. The liaisons were the 253 00:15:17,840 --> 00:15:19,120 Speaker 2: most important of them. 254 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:24,440 Speaker 1: Some writers discuss Barney's concurrent relationships in terms of infidelity, 255 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:29,320 Speaker 1: but that has some connotations of secrecy or of deception 256 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:33,280 Speaker 1: or breaking a commitment to be faithful to someone. Barney 257 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:35,840 Speaker 1: did make commitments to some of the women she was 258 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:40,880 Speaker 1: involved with, but those commitments did not involve being monogamous. Yeah, 259 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:44,680 Speaker 1: she might commit to like somebody being first in her heart, 260 00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:48,200 Speaker 1: but like not to just excluding other people from her life. 261 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:54,160 Speaker 1: For example, in eighteen nineteen, Natalie Clifford Barney and Elizabeth 262 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:58,040 Speaker 1: de Grimmau wrote up what was basically a marriage contract, 263 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:00,880 Speaker 1: and this was not the only such commitment that she 264 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:04,920 Speaker 1: made with another woman. By that point, they had been 265 00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:08,680 Speaker 1: together for nine years, during which they had each also 266 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:13,119 Speaker 1: been involved with other people at various points, and Elizabeth 267 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:16,160 Speaker 1: de Grandma was married to a man, although that marriage 268 00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:20,560 Speaker 1: had been horrifically abusive. This contract set in part quote, 269 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:24,960 Speaker 1: Adultery is inevitable in these relationships when there is no prejudice, 270 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:28,320 Speaker 1: no religion other than feelings, no laws other than desire, 271 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:32,760 Speaker 1: incapable of vain sacrifices that seemed to be the negation 272 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:36,680 Speaker 1: of life itself. This contract later went on to say quote, 273 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:40,160 Speaker 1: since the danger of affairs is ever present and impossible 274 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:43,600 Speaker 1: to foresee, one will just have to bring the other back, 275 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:47,880 Speaker 1: neither out of revenge nor to limit the other, but 276 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:51,800 Speaker 1: because the union demands it. No other union shall be 277 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:56,240 Speaker 1: so strong as this union, nor another joining so tender, 278 00:16:56,600 --> 00:17:02,280 Speaker 1: nor relationships so lasting polyamory would not be coined until 279 00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:05,680 Speaker 1: about two decades after Barney's death, and today polyamory has 280 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:09,480 Speaker 1: its own vocabulary and cultural elements that absolutely had not 281 00:17:09,600 --> 00:17:12,879 Speaker 1: developed at this point. But there were some similarities in 282 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:15,760 Speaker 1: terms of the idea that everyone in these relationships was 283 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:18,639 Speaker 1: meant to know about the other partners, to consent to 284 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:21,359 Speaker 1: being involved, and to approach it all with a sense 285 00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:25,000 Speaker 1: of trust. But all of that is way more true 286 00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:29,640 Speaker 1: in terms of how Barney conceptualized these relationships than how 287 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:34,960 Speaker 1: they actually worked in practice. Sometimes she was really jealous 288 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:39,080 Speaker 1: or possessive. She could be deeply petty when this was 289 00:17:39,119 --> 00:17:41,960 Speaker 1: the case. There were times when she would try to 290 00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:45,000 Speaker 1: keep her partners from seeing other people or from seeing 291 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:48,280 Speaker 1: specific other people. And then there were also times when 292 00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:51,720 Speaker 1: one of her partners, who had at least theoretically agreed 293 00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:54,560 Speaker 1: to this kind of open relationship, did the same thing 294 00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:58,960 Speaker 1: to her. Sometimes somebody thought they would be okay with 295 00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 1: Barney's other relationlationships until they were actually in the middle 296 00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:03,880 Speaker 1: of a relationship with her. 297 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:08,800 Speaker 2: At various points there was just a lot of drama 298 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:12,560 Speaker 2: and mess and angst. We're not going to like go 299 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:16,120 Speaker 2: through all the drama with all of the relationships we're 300 00:18:16,119 --> 00:18:18,600 Speaker 2: going to talk of, but like there was a lot 301 00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:25,080 Speaker 2: simultaneously though Natalie Clifford, Barney maintained lifelong friendships, sometimes very 302 00:18:25,119 --> 00:18:29,040 Speaker 2: close friendships with a lot of these women after their 303 00:18:29,119 --> 00:18:31,320 Speaker 2: romance had ended, even if that romance had been like 304 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:35,840 Speaker 2: really tumultuous. So to return to the timeline, one of 305 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:38,400 Speaker 2: the people who thought they would be okay with Barney's 306 00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:42,400 Speaker 2: other relationships but turned out not to be was Bob Cassot. 307 00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:45,240 Speaker 2: He visited her in Paris in the spring of eighteen 308 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:49,160 Speaker 2: ninety nine, so about four years into their relationship. By 309 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:52,680 Speaker 2: that point, their engagement was considered official enough that Barney 310 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:56,280 Speaker 2: was allowed to be out with him unchaperoned. They met 311 00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:58,840 Speaker 2: up with a woman named Carmen Rossi, who was one 312 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:02,520 Speaker 2: of Alice Barney's favor art models. By this point, Alice 313 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:05,760 Speaker 2: Barney had studied painting with James McNeil Whistler and was 314 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:09,800 Speaker 2: hosting a salon out of her Paris apartment. Barney and 315 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:13,480 Speaker 2: Rossi already had a sexual relationship, which Cassatt knew about. 316 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:17,280 Speaker 2: They all went to a restaurant that had these small 317 00:19:17,359 --> 00:19:21,520 Speaker 2: dining rooms that were basically made for privacy the view 318 00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:25,320 Speaker 2: of the room was blocked by a screen, and the 319 00:19:25,359 --> 00:19:28,919 Speaker 2: wait staff did not enter beyond that screen unless they 320 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:33,280 Speaker 2: were invited to do so. Rossi and Barney became increasingly 321 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:36,200 Speaker 2: affectionate with each other, so Cassatt decided that he would 322 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:39,520 Speaker 2: leave them alone for a little while. He did not 323 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:42,520 Speaker 2: actually leave the room, though, he watched what they were 324 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:47,040 Speaker 2: doing from behind that screen and eventually started audibly sobbing. 325 00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:52,000 Speaker 1: This led to an argument between him and Barney. She 326 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:54,679 Speaker 1: was really frustrated by the fact that he was the 327 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:57,879 Speaker 1: one who suggested they have a sexless open marriage, and 328 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:01,679 Speaker 1: now the very first time he had experienced firsthand what 329 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:04,720 Speaker 1: that would mean, he was breaking down and describing it 330 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:05,760 Speaker 1: as unbearable. 331 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:11,680 Speaker 2: Their engagement was not immediately over, though Natalie's father had 332 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:14,919 Speaker 2: started to make some preliminary plans for the wedding and 333 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:18,040 Speaker 2: for how her dowry would be handled. By the time, 334 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:21,639 Speaker 2: Bob apparently decided he was not up for this after all, 335 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:26,199 Speaker 2: and he doesn't seem to have formally told her that 336 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:30,399 Speaker 2: it was over. She soon learned from friends, though, that 337 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:34,280 Speaker 2: he had married Amanda Drexel Fell known as Many in 338 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:36,040 Speaker 2: January of nineteen hundred. 339 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:40,280 Speaker 1: We'll get to some things that were happening simultaneously in 340 00:20:40,359 --> 00:20:43,080 Speaker 1: Natalie's life. After We paused for a sponsor break. 341 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:56,360 Speaker 2: In nineteen hundred, when she was twenty three, Natalie Clifford 342 00:20:56,400 --> 00:21:00,240 Speaker 2: Barney published her first book. This was a chap book 343 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:04,040 Speaker 2: length collection of poetry called kilk portraits sont de femme 344 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:09,200 Speaker 2: or some portrait Sonnets of Women. This had four illustrations 345 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:12,800 Speaker 2: that were created by her mother, Alice. There are a 346 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:15,679 Speaker 2: bunch of accounts that say that Alice didn't know that 347 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:20,480 Speaker 2: these were love poems to women. I kind of feel 348 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:23,120 Speaker 2: like that was only really possible if she just didn't 349 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:25,800 Speaker 2: read it, although there were some early reviews of the 350 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:29,760 Speaker 2: book that seemed to have been oblivious to that aspect 351 00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:32,760 Speaker 2: of it. A number of these poems were dedicated to 352 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:37,240 Speaker 2: specific women, although only by their initials. Those women included 353 00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:41,480 Speaker 2: Natalie's first love, Eva Palmer, and Pauline Tarn, who wrote 354 00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:46,040 Speaker 2: sapphic poetry under the pen named Rene Vivien. We have 355 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:49,359 Speaker 2: not mentioned Pauline yet, but she and Natalie had started 356 00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:52,639 Speaker 2: seeing one another in eighteen ninety nine. There was also 357 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:56,840 Speaker 2: one to actor Sarah Bernhardt, following her appearance in the 358 00:21:56,920 --> 00:21:59,879 Speaker 2: role of Napoleon. The second in the play leglo. 359 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:03,600 Speaker 1: In the words of a Washington Post article on Natalie 360 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:06,800 Speaker 1: and her sister Laura that was published eleven years later, quote, 361 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:12,000 Speaker 1: those poems scandalized Washington. They were written in French. The 362 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 1: French was very good, but the tone of the verse 363 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:20,199 Speaker 1: was very unconventional. According to Barney, at some point a 364 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:24,000 Speaker 1: New York City gossip magazine called Town Topics the Journal 365 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:27,439 Speaker 1: of Society published an article about this book that was 366 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:30,160 Speaker 1: called Sappho Sings in Washington. 367 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:35,159 Speaker 2: This magazine really existed, and Barney mentioned this article and 368 00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:38,320 Speaker 2: the furor that it caused a number of times in 369 00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 2: her own writing, but biographer Suzanne Rodriguez, author of Wild Heart, 370 00:22:43,359 --> 00:22:47,119 Speaker 2: Natalie Clifford Barney and the Decadence of Literary Paris, was 371 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:50,360 Speaker 2: not able to find an actual copy of it. At 372 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:54,320 Speaker 2: some point, though, Natalie's father, Albert, read the article and 373 00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:57,280 Speaker 2: was outraged and bordered a ship to Europe, where he 374 00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:00,879 Speaker 2: stormed the publisher's office in Paris and demanded to buy 375 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:04,199 Speaker 2: all the remaining copies of the book and the printing 376 00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:06,320 Speaker 2: plates so that he could destroy them. 377 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:10,000 Speaker 1: Then he shamed his wife for her having been involved 378 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:10,280 Speaker 1: with it. 379 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:15,960 Speaker 2: Alice was initially disgusted and horrified at the realization of 380 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:19,240 Speaker 2: what this book was about and what that meant about 381 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:23,560 Speaker 2: her daughter. She eventually seems to have come to see 382 00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:27,000 Speaker 2: her daughter's sexuality as part of who she was, but 383 00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:30,199 Speaker 2: their relationship was always really complicated after this, and it 384 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:33,560 Speaker 2: also seems like Alice felt conflicted about it for the 385 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:37,880 Speaker 2: rest of her life. Like twenty years later, when Alice 386 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,200 Speaker 2: was in the middle of some drama of her own, 387 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:43,280 Speaker 2: she was supposed to stay with Natalie in Paris for 388 00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:46,320 Speaker 2: a while, but after they had a series of arguments, 389 00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:50,240 Speaker 2: Alice abruptly changed her mind, and she said outright that 390 00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:54,520 Speaker 2: she disapproved of Natalie and that staying with her at 391 00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:56,359 Speaker 2: her house would make it seem otherwise. 392 00:23:57,200 --> 00:23:59,919 Speaker 1: In spite of her parents' reactions and the fact that 393 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:03,240 Speaker 1: some of her society friends back in Washington d C 394 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:06,439 Speaker 1: cut ties with her, Natalie kept living her life in 395 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:09,120 Speaker 1: the way that she wanted to live it. In addition 396 00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:12,240 Speaker 1: to her relationship with her mother's art model Carmen Rossi, 397 00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:15,919 Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety nine, she had started seeing Cortizon Leande 398 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:19,639 Speaker 1: de Pougee. Natalie had seen Leanne while driving in a 399 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:23,280 Speaker 1: carriage with a male friend, and she had been instantly captivated, 400 00:24:24,119 --> 00:24:26,960 Speaker 1: she bought a page costume and went to visit her, 401 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:30,440 Speaker 1: saying that she was a page of love sent by Sappho. 402 00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:35,080 Speaker 2: These two women gave very different accounts of how this 403 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:39,040 Speaker 2: was received in each of their written works. In Leanne 404 00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:44,600 Speaker 2: de Pougee's Idel Safique, Barney was frivolous and worshipful, but 405 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:48,560 Speaker 2: in Barney's memoir Secret, she told Depougee that she should 406 00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:52,000 Speaker 2: stop being a cortisan, and Depouge was so insulted by 407 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:55,679 Speaker 2: this that she demanded that Barney leave. This was a 408 00:24:55,720 --> 00:24:58,840 Speaker 2: case where like Barney supported the idea of a woman's 409 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:03,800 Speaker 2: autonomy over her own body, but Depugie's work as a courtisan, 410 00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:07,200 Speaker 2: especially with male clients, really bothered her, and she kept 411 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:08,680 Speaker 2: trying to get her to stop. 412 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:13,280 Speaker 1: Barney wrote her memoir Secret in the nineteen forties and 413 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:16,520 Speaker 1: did not publish them, but leand de Pouge published her 414 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:20,560 Speaker 1: Idel Safique in nineteen oh one, and this novel is 415 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:24,440 Speaker 1: often described as a thinly veiled autobiography, and it's one 416 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:28,240 Speaker 1: of a number of thinly veiled autobiographies that Natalie Clifford 417 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:32,679 Speaker 1: Barney would either feature in or write herself during her lifetime. 418 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:36,440 Speaker 1: Leand de Pougie was a famous courtisan and this book 419 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:39,520 Speaker 1: was scandalous, so of course it was also a bestseller. 420 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:43,360 Speaker 1: People in Paris knew that the rich American woman depicted 421 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:46,720 Speaker 1: in the book was Natalie Clifford Barney. She started to 422 00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:51,560 Speaker 1: develop a reputation as a notorious pursuer of women. Her 423 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:55,520 Speaker 1: relationship with Pauline Tarn also known as poet Rene Vivier, 424 00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:59,879 Speaker 1: started in nineteen hundred when it came to things like 425 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:02,680 Speaker 1: that their love of poetry, they were really well matched. 426 00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:08,479 Speaker 1: Although it is generally agreed, including by me, Rene Vivier 427 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:11,080 Speaker 1: was a much better poet than Natalie Clifford Barney was. 428 00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:16,320 Speaker 1: Beyond that, though, their differences caused some challenges in their relationship. 429 00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:19,719 Speaker 1: Natalie was such a socialite and she loved to go 430 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:23,720 Speaker 1: to parties and play host and make friends, but Pauline 431 00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:26,880 Speaker 1: was almost reclusive. At one point, they took a trip 432 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:31,600 Speaker 1: to Maine together and Pauline apparently intentionally did not bring 433 00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:34,960 Speaker 1: any gowns with her, which were required to go to 434 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:38,359 Speaker 1: the formal dinners in the evenings on the ship. That way, 435 00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:41,560 Speaker 1: shouldn't have to go to those dinners. She also skipped 436 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:43,840 Speaker 1: a lot of the social events in bar Harbor, which 437 00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:46,919 Speaker 1: were things that Natalie was genuinely excited about going to. 438 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:52,440 Speaker 1: Natalie also disliked drugs and alcohol after her experiences growing 439 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:55,240 Speaker 1: up with her father, and she avoided them, but that 440 00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,440 Speaker 1: was not the case for Pauline. On the nights when 441 00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:00,960 Speaker 1: she didn't go to those formal dinner she spent dinner 442 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:04,200 Speaker 1: time alone in her stateroom taking sedatives. 443 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:07,119 Speaker 2: Pauline was one of the people who didn't wind up 444 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:11,399 Speaker 2: liking Natalie having other partners, and then Natalie also felt 445 00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:15,560 Speaker 2: threatened by a relationship that Pauline started with baroness Ellen 446 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:19,720 Speaker 2: von Zuilin de Nuivel sometime in nineteen oh one. They 447 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:23,880 Speaker 2: went through a series of jealousies and breakups and reconnections, 448 00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:26,720 Speaker 2: getting back together in nineteen oh four and taking a 449 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:30,240 Speaker 2: trip to Midelini on the island of Lesbos to explore 450 00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:34,840 Speaker 2: the possibility of starting a women's colony there, inspired by 451 00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 2: Sappho's school. Eventually they broke up for good, but they 452 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:40,520 Speaker 2: remained friends afterward. 453 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:45,320 Speaker 1: Sometimes Natalie Clifford Barney is framed as having been immensely 454 00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:49,000 Speaker 1: cruel toward Pauline tarn driving her to try to take 455 00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:53,080 Speaker 1: her own life. Their relationship was definitely tumultuous, but Tarn 456 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:56,600 Speaker 1: also had a rich creative life, publishing multiple volumes of 457 00:27:56,640 --> 00:28:00,000 Speaker 1: poetry and prose between nineteen oh one. When her romance 458 00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:03,440 Speaker 1: relationship sort of ended with Barney in nineteen oh eight, 459 00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:05,520 Speaker 1: they got back together briefly in nineteen oh four. 460 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:07,160 Speaker 2: Her long term. 461 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:10,720 Speaker 1: Relationship with Helen ended in nineteen oh seven when Helene 462 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:14,239 Speaker 1: left her for another woman. Turn tried to take her 463 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:16,680 Speaker 1: own life in nineteen oh eight, and then she died 464 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:18,840 Speaker 1: in nineteen oh nine at the age of thirty two 465 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:22,440 Speaker 1: after a serious illness that was influenced by both heavy 466 00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:25,160 Speaker 1: drug use and anarexia. 467 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:28,639 Speaker 2: Along with her mother and sister Natalie Clifford, Barney is 468 00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:33,840 Speaker 2: sometimes also blamed for contributing to her father's death. Albert 469 00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:37,640 Speaker 2: had been noticeably unwell as early as eighteen ninety nine, 470 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:40,640 Speaker 2: and he had a heart attack in nineteen oh two. 471 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:43,160 Speaker 2: This is actually his second heart attack, and it was 472 00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:46,760 Speaker 2: not long after getting into a dispute with Alice and 473 00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:51,000 Speaker 2: Laura over their involvement with the Bahai Faith. He went 474 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:53,880 Speaker 2: to Europe to try to recuperate from this heart attack 475 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:56,200 Speaker 2: in some of its health spots. Honestly, this seems like 476 00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,840 Speaker 2: a bad idea to me, because that put him a 477 00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:01,640 Speaker 2: lot closer to the dress of all the gossip about 478 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:06,080 Speaker 2: Natalie and her life in Paris. He eventually developed pleurisy 479 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:08,200 Speaker 2: there and got too sick to be able to make 480 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:11,680 Speaker 2: the voyage home, and he died in Monte Carlo after 481 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:14,760 Speaker 2: another heart attack. Later on that year. 482 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:18,240 Speaker 1: Albert Barney left an estate with a value of about 483 00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:21,160 Speaker 1: nine million dollars to be held in trust, with the 484 00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:24,600 Speaker 1: income from it to be divided evenly among his wife 485 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:27,840 Speaker 1: and two daughters. That made all three of these women 486 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:33,000 Speaker 1: independently wealthy, which of course changed all of their lives considerably. 487 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:36,920 Speaker 2: And we will be talking about that more in our 488 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:42,960 Speaker 2: next episode. And before, listener, mail, I have a correction 489 00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:46,240 Speaker 2: because the pup couple of people have pointed out that 490 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:50,280 Speaker 2: in our episode on Emily Warren Roebling, I say she 491 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:55,720 Speaker 2: died in eighteen ninety three, and then I also we 492 00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:59,360 Speaker 2: also say she died in nineteen oh three. Nineteen oh 493 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:03,120 Speaker 2: three is the cre I tried to go figure out, 494 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:05,080 Speaker 2: how did I make that mistake, because that's not even 495 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:11,600 Speaker 2: like a typo, that's a fully different century. I don't 496 00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:14,840 Speaker 2: know how I made that error. Yes, Emily Warren Robeling 497 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:17,880 Speaker 2: died in nineteen oh three, not eighteen ninety three, and 498 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:20,400 Speaker 2: I got it in there two different times because at 499 00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:23,120 Speaker 2: like I put eighteen ninety three there for some reason, 500 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:25,520 Speaker 2: I don't know why, and then I picked up that 501 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:31,200 Speaker 2: same wrong year later on in the episode. So sorry 502 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:37,360 Speaker 2: about that. Listener mail we have is from Eva, and 503 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:41,040 Speaker 2: Eva wrote to say, I just listened to The Mourning 504 00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:44,040 Speaker 2: Dove behind the scenes that I somehow missed when it aired, 505 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:47,600 Speaker 2: and I heard highly speculate about other vendors called book 506 00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:50,320 Speaker 2: barn in the Northeast. So you probably got lots of 507 00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:53,480 Speaker 2: mail about all the book barns in the Northeast. I 508 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:56,240 Speaker 2: figured there are worse things to get lots of mail about, 509 00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:59,080 Speaker 2: so I wanted to mention book Barn of the finger 510 00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:01,760 Speaker 2: Lakes and dry in New York, which is an old 511 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:07,120 Speaker 2: actual barn that was converted into a labyrinthine bookstore that 512 00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:09,520 Speaker 2: has been around for many decades, and it brags it 513 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:12,520 Speaker 2: has three hundred categories of books. If you're ever passing 514 00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:17,880 Speaker 2: through Dryden, it's a trip. And then Eva sent a 515 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:23,400 Speaker 2: link to a video on YouTube about the book Barn 516 00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:25,880 Speaker 2: of the finger Lakes and Dryed in New York. We 517 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:28,200 Speaker 2: did get a couple of emails about various book barns. 518 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:33,240 Speaker 2: I liked this one in particular because like the crowded, 519 00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:39,920 Speaker 2: very tall shelves reminded me of a couple of used 520 00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:43,640 Speaker 2: bookstores that I have been in in my life. I 521 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:47,640 Speaker 2: have a fondness for them, and this one in particular, 522 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:50,400 Speaker 2: I was like, Oh, I can sort of imagine myself 523 00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:52,720 Speaker 2: in there, even though I have never been to that 524 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:55,720 Speaker 2: particular bookstore before. So thank you so much for that 525 00:31:55,880 --> 00:31:57,480 Speaker 2: email and the link to the video. I did not 526 00:31:57,480 --> 00:31:59,239 Speaker 2: watch all of it, but I did watch part of it. 527 00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:02,720 Speaker 2: If you would like to send us a note about 528 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:05,320 Speaker 2: this or any other podcast, or at history podcast at 529 00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:09,800 Speaker 2: iHeartRadio dot com, and we are on social media at 530 00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:12,360 Speaker 2: miss in History, and you can subscribe to our show 531 00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:15,040 Speaker 2: on the iHeartRadio app and wherever else you'd like to 532 00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:22,760 Speaker 2: get your podcasts. Stuff you missed in History Class is 533 00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:27,160 Speaker 2: a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit 534 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:30,640 Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 535 00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:33,600 Speaker 2: your favorite shows.