Adele Gutman Nathan

Adele Gutman Nathan (September 15, 1889 – July 24, 1986) was an American writer and theatrical director. She created historical pageants and events, including at two World's Fairs and at the centennials of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, International Harvester (1929), and the Battle of Gettysburg (1963). She also wrote several American history books for young readers.

Early life and education Gutman was born in Baltimore to a Jewish family, the daughter of Louis K. Gutman and Ida Newburger Gutman. Her father was a department store executive. Her mother founded the Baltimore Music Club and was active in the National Federation of Music Clubs. Her sister Elizabeth Gutman Kaye was a noted soprano and painter. She graduated from Goucher College in 1910, and earned a master's degree at Johns Hopkins University. Career

Theatre Gutman was a suffragist after college, and directed and acted in plays in Provincetown, Baltimore and New York City beginning in the 1910s. She was a founding member of the Vagabonds, and worked with children's theatre specialist Alice Minnie Herts. During World War I, she directed shows for the War Camp Community Service, providing entertainment to troops stationed in the Baltimore area. She was in charge of the Federal Theatre Project in New Jersey during the 1930s, and a script writer at the United States Department of Education in 1941.

Pageants Nathan became known as a director of large-scale pageants for commemorating historical events. In 1927, she directed the centennial pageant of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. She directed The Dark Mirror in 1928, and The Subway in New York in 1929, a play that Burns Mantle described as "a series of drab experiences." In 1933 she directed a train-themed pageant at the World's Fair in Chicago, In 1934 she directed The Pathways of Progress for the centennial of the city of Rochester, New York, and from 1943 to 1944 she was features editor for St. Nicholas Magazine. In 1981 she had a cameo role in the film Reds.

Publications The Farmer Sows His Wheat (1932) Let's Play Garden (1937, with Nadine L. Rand and Elinor G. Loeb) The Building of the First Transcontinental Railroad (1950) "Pageant Parade; Ancient Form of the Drama is Finding Widespread Popularity with Public" (1950, The New York Times) Famous Railroad Stations of the World (1953) Wheat Won't Wait (1954) When Lincoln Went to Gettysburg (1955) The First Transatlantic Cable (1959) Churchill's England (1963) Major John André, Gentleman Spy (1969) How to Plan and Conduct a Bicentennial Celebration (1971)

Personal life Gutman was married to James Nathan from 1912 until they divorced around 1920. She died in 1986, at the age of 96, in New York City. The Adele Gutman Nathan Theatrical Fund at Yale supports the acquisition and conservation of theatre history materials. Some of her manuscripts and notes are in the B&O Railroad Museum in Maryland.