Society: Marta Aresvik Putnam and George Rockwell Putnam Materials in the 1910s, Washington DC style

One of the coolest (and yes, frustrating) parts of using search words on the "overrepresented" family in digitized newspapers is that some digitized newspapers have no ability to tell you where the family name appears. One of the most useful search sites for my beginning steps has been in the digitized version of the Washington Herald, available for free at the Library of Congress's Digital Newspaper Project, and the contemporaneous version of the Washington Post, available by subscription through ProQuest and in my case the DC Library . But useful and frustrating are often different in digital research. Still having to scroll through endless "society" columns trying to find mention of my family did start to teach me about what was (and was not) included in these columns. So I'll start with what is and I might have to note what was not at the end.

Both my paternal grandmother's and grandfather's family came to DC in the 1900s (one from Oregon, the other from Iowa, but via many overseas assignments) and both had a role in "Society" as judged by the Washington Post. So let me tell you quickly some of the highlights in chronological order and sticking to the DC area. My grandmother's father, George Rockwell Putnam, came to DC around 1910 as single man. He had been chosen to reorganize the Lighthouse Bureau, a section of the U.S. Coast Guard. Lighthouses are romantic to us now, but they were crucial to shipping at the time. Yet, the appointment of lighthouse keepers had more to do with who you knew than what you could do. G.R. Putnam changed this.
But he was also a semi-important figure in society. He was the guest of Dr. and Mrs. J. H. Gore at a dinner on February 4, 1910, alongside the Siamese Minister. By July, he and his cousin, Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress, are leading the Cosmos Club. {Younger readers might appreciate that this club was where the lawyer for Monica Lewinsky stayed during the impeachment hearings of President Clinton}. His appearance is less obvious until 1913 when he marries Martha Moller Wick, a teacher in Washington State, a migrant from Norway in 1904, and reared in Minnesota. The family story is that they met on as cross-country railroad trip. It is likely that George Rockwell was returning from inspecting lighthouses in Alaska and that Marta was going home on a visit. The Post reports on these "nuptials" and soon after the Putnam family is establishing themselves in good style in DC.
By April 24, 1914, they are being hosted at the Army-Navy Club by various people including the postmaster and his wife Mrs R. C. Burleson. Indeed the Burlesons are clearly close friends, which is interesting to me because Mrs. Burleson was a leader of the Suffrage Parade of 1913 which I discuss in my book on Marching on Washington (UC Press, 2003).

To me, this is cool because like many I had an understanding on my family based on stories, and the historical research is changing it. That story always ran that Marta Aresvik Putnam (as she became known) was not a radical and it was Lucy Lombardi Barber who was. But my searching in these online sources show that both women supported suffrage. Thus the Putnam's friendship with the Burleson was not just a requirement of "heads" of division of President Wilson's government, but also something that represented the real interests of the women in the gatherings.


I am growing tired. But I hope to add more postings of the nature of Washington society life from the Barber's perspective soon.