Title	Russell Sage, Portrait 2
Creator	Unknown
Date Created	Unknown
Commentary	Newly widowed, lonely and disoriented, and suddenly enormously wealthy at the age of seventy-eight, Olivia Sage acted decisively. She began by giving away large sums of money to favorite institutions. Syracuse University, New York University, and the Emma Willard School in Troy, N.Y., all received huge gifts in 1907. She then made an investment in her reputation and in that of her late husband. She hired genealogist Henry Whittemore to go to England and France and document the connections of her family through the centuries to stout Puritans and noble Hugenot ancestors. A fine large volume bound in pale green tooled leather, edited by Whittemore and illustrated by Mary F. Tillinghast, History of the Sage and Slocum Families of America and England, was the result. Olivia ordered hundreds of these, wrote "A Gift of Mrs. Russell Sage" in each of them, and sent them around to her friends and acquaintances and to libraries. The portrait shown here of Russell Sage is dignified, as befits a captain of finance, but Russell Sage's origins were humble. He was self-educated and left home at age twelve to work as an errand boy in Troy. By twenty, he had amassed enough money to go into the grocery and commissions business, then railroads -- and politics. His ascent was rapid and included two terms in Congress as a Whig and, after the Civil War, notoriety as the financial partner of the powerful multimillionaire railroad entrepreneur Jay Gould. This portrait and the volume where it appears can be seen not only as the affectionate tribute of a grieving widow but also as a belated attempt to sanitize the reputation of a figure who was well known because of hostile portrayals in the press and thus deeply unpopular. [Commentary written by Dr. Ruth Crocker]
Item Description	This image is a photographic portrait of Russell Sage, husband of Margaret Olivia Sage. Mr. Sage is sitting in a n ornately carved and upholstered wooden chair. He is wearing a dark suit with a white shirt and a dark necktie. A watch chain is visible on his waistcoat and a white handkerchief is visible in his jacket pocket. His arms are resting on the arms of the chair. His legs are crossed at the knee. His signature is at the bottom of the photograph. [Item Description created by Auburn University Libraries]
File Name	212.tif
Found In	Whittemore, Henry. History of the Sage and Slocum Families of England and America. New York: Published by Mrs. Russell Sage, 1908.
Digital Publisher	Auburn University Libraries
Mini-Collections	Russell Sage Portraits Ideals, beliefs, self-representation