Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney diary

Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney was born into wealth and privilege. As a teenager, she began keeping diaries, a habit she maintained well into her 60s. In 1890 she traveled to Paris, where she visited numerous museums and the newly opened Eiffel Tower and tried her first “gin lime” (also known as a gimlet). On May 30, Whitney confessed that she had not wanted to visit the famous Louvre: I DID NOT MUCH LIKE THE IDEA OF GOING TO THE LOUVRE, I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE STUPID FOR ME, BUT INDEED IT WAS NOT; NO FAR FROM THAT; I ENJOYED IT VERY MUCH. In 1928, Whitney founded the Whitney Studio Club, an art gallery that eventually became the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1931. This diary is featured in the Archives of American Art's exhibition, "A Day in the Life: Artists' Diaries from the Archives of American Art." http://www.aaa.si.edu/exhibitions/day-in-the-life-diaries