Caroline Dutcher Sterling Choate

Caroline Dutcher Sterling Choate (June 16, 1837 – November 12, 1929, generally styled Mrs. Joseph H. Choate) was an artist, educational reformer, suffragist, philanthropist and socialite. She was the wife of lawyer and U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom Joseph Hodges Choate.

As an advocate for women's education, Caroline Sterling Choate was one of the founders of the Association for Promoting the Higher Education of Women in New York in 1882. They petitioned Columbia University to admit women in 1883, but were refused on the grounds that women were not sufficiently prepared. In response, Caroline worked to establish a preparatory school for women, Brearley School, and then Barnard College for women. She was also involved in organizations for women artists, and she and her husband were instrumental in founding the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The family's estate, Naumkeag, is now a public museum and garden.

Early life Caroline Dutcher Sterling, sometimes known as "Carrie",

The Sterlings married on June 23, 1825, and had six children. Caroline and one of her brothers were named after their parents. The birth order of Caroline and her siblings is as follows: Edward Canfield Sterling (b. 1834) Caroline Dutcher Sterling (b. 1837, m. Joseph H. Choate) Alfred Elisha Sterling (b. 1843.)

Choate was a graduate of Harvard Law School, admitted to the bar of Massachusetts in 1855 and of New York in 1856, and in partnership with William M. Evarts and Charles F. Southmayd as of 1859. Joseph Choate had three brothers and two sisters, one of whom was also named Caroline: his sister is sometimes distinguished as Caroline Choate and his wife as Caroline Sterling Choate.

Marriage On October 16, 1861, Caroline Dutcher Sterling and Joseph Hodges Choate were married by the Reverend Samuel Osgood at the All Souls Unitarian Church on 249 Fourth Avenue near 20th Street, New York. Looking back, Joseph Choate considered it "the most fortunate day of my life".

New York City draft riots, 1863 A few months later, during the New York City draft riots of 1863, the Choates sheltered African Americans from attacks and lynching by white rioters. Choate wrote to his mother that "Carrie and the girls are very brave, and fear no danger."

Arts and culture Caroline Sterling Choate redirected her strong interest in art and cultural institutions into volunteer work. She was involved with the New York School of Design for Women, which opened in 1858, preceding and becoming part of the Cooper Union. She served on the school's advisory council for nearly fifty years.

Her husband acted in his capacity as a lawyer to advise or draw up articles of incorporation for institutions of interest to them both. These included the Metropolitan Museum of Art of which Joseph H. Choate was a founder, trustee, and vice-president from 1870–1917.

Caroline was involved in organizing the Society for Decorative Arts, founded in 1877 as a means of supporting unemployed women with artistic talent, many of them Civil War widows. Founder Candace Wheeler recruited to gain access to "all the great names in New York", including Caroline Choate.

She was the first Vice President of the Association of Women Painters and Sculptors in New York City in 1915, and one of the vice-presidents of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors in 1919.

Women and education Perhaps her greatest contributions were in advocating for women's education. Caroline Sterling Choate helped to found the Association for Promoting the Higher Education of Women in New York in 1882, unsuccessfully petitioned Columbia University to admit women in 1883, and helped to found Brearley School in 1884 and Barnard College in 1889.

Association for Promoting the Higher Education of Women in New York, 1882 On January 20, 1882, a group of eight society women wrote to President Barnard of Columbia University requesting the reprinting of his speeches on the admission of women to colleges, The higher education of women.

On March 5, 1883, the Columbia board rejected the petition, claiming that women lacked adequate preparation for the curriculum. The resulting public outcry moved Columbia University closer to the acceptance of women students. Although Columbia still refused to accept women as students, it was conceded that if they could pass the examinations given to men, Columbia would issue certificates recognizing their level of achievement. It was a small first step, much less than Caroline Choate and others had hoped for, but still something. President Barnard had been right when he warned Caroline Choate that changing tradition would take time. Caroline's daughters Mabel and Josephine, with two of her nieces, were the first students to attend Brearley. The college was founded in 1887.

Barnard College, 1889 Caroline Sterling Choate was also one of the founding trustees of Barnard College and served on its board from 1889 to 1930, a total of 41 years. Fellow female trustees included Frances Fisher Wood, Henrietta E. Francis Talcott, Laura Spelman Rockefeller, and Ella Weed, the first dean of the women's institution. Annie Nathan Meyer recounts that in approaching allies "The very first of these to be thought of was Mrs. Joseph H. Choate... Mrs. Choate not only consented at once to serve on the Board; she was willing to lend her name as its vice-chairman, a position which she most ably filled until physical disability caused her to withdraw from attendance."

In 1925, Annie Meyer unsuccessfully proposed naming the Students' Hall at Barnard College in honor of Mrs. Choate. On February 6, 1930, the trustees of Barnard College passed a resolution acknowledging her contributions: "Mrs. Choate was a very tower of strength to the young and struggling College. Her position in the community gave it prestige and created confidence in its usefulness and its stability. Her knowledge of the educational needs of New York, and her high standards of accomplishment and her energy in making friends for the College, as well as the personal generosity of herself and her husband, put Barnard College immeasurably in her debt."

Other voluntary work Caroline did volunteer work and served on the board of managers of the State Charities Aid Association. The association was formed in 1872 for the improvement of conditions in prisons, hospitals, and other institutions dealing with the poor.

She was counted among the patronesses of the Legal Aid Society. In 1906, the newspapers described her attending a benefit for it, a performance of Hänsel and Gretel given by the Metropolitan Opera. In her box, Caroline wore "a gown of black velvet, with a bertha of Venetian point lace, wearing a tiara of diamonds."

She and her husband supported the New York Association for the Blind, incorporated in 1906, and Booker T. Washington's work at the Tuskegee Institute.

Following the disaster of the RMS Titanic in 1912, Caroline Sterling Choate helped to raise funds for the Women's Titanic Memorial Association. This resulted in the creation of the Titanic Memorial by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney.

Ambassadress to the Court of St. James, 1899 In 1899, Joseph Hodges Choate was appointed Ambassador to the Court of St. James in London by President William McKinley. The appointment continued under President Theodore Roosevelt. As a result, Caroline Sterling Choate was Ambassadress from 1899 to 1905.

Although he was instrumental in securing a number of important diplomatic agreements, Queen Victoria considered Joseph Choate loud and lacking in manners. He attended her funeral as a special ambassador. Her successor King Edward and Queen Alexandra paid the Choates an unprecedented honor by dining with them at the American Embassy.

Children Joseph and Caroline were the parents of five children, two of whom predeceased their parents: Joseph Hodges Choate Jr. (February 2, 1876 – 1968), who married Cora Lyman Oliver, daughter of General Robert Shaw Oliver, in 1903.

Estate

The family bought a forty-nine-acre country estate, known as Naumkeag in the Berkshires. The 44-room "cottage" was designed by Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White. The grounds were originally laid out by Nathan Franklin Barrett. The Choate family first occupied it in 1885.

The gardens were further developed by Fletcher Steele in collaboration with Mabel Choate. The house is open to the public as a nonprofit museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. He was buried in the Stockbridge Cemetery in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Caroline Sterling Choate died November 12, 1929, at her home in New York City, 8 East Sixty-third Street. The cause was given as heart disease.