Love & its Lasting Impact

Written & Photographed by Kelly Blancett

My dear Sweetheart, my dear Clara,

...a common opening for Chester Congdon to his wife in his letters home.

A zoomed-in photograph of a letter from Chester Congdon to his wife, Clara. The focal point is the cursive salutation which reads "My dear Clara"

Before marriage...

October 19th, 1876

A zoomed-in photograph of a letter from Chester Congdon to his wife, Clara. The focal point is the cursive salutation which reads "My dear Sweetheart"

during marriage...

December 24th, 1901

and even after children.

April 13th, 1912

A little background:

Chester and Clara Congdon met while they were both studying at Syracuse University in New York. The letter on the left is from before they were married on September 29th, 1881—Chester and Clara had a years-long courtship, owed to Chester wanting to establish himself in his career before marriage.

The grounds for Glensheen were bought by Chester in 1901, with the house itself having been finished in 1907. This mansion—with its gilded age opulence—serves as the backdrop for the Congdon’s art collection and their family life. After all, Chester built Glensheen as a sort of retirement home for him and his wife to raise their seven children in.

Chester and Clara lived as a happily married couple until Chester's death in 1916 at the young age of 63. They had seven children amongst them, and even raised their nephew, too. Clara would live in Glensheen for the rest of her life, eventually passing it onto her daughter Elisabeth.

Throughout their lives, Clara and Chester exchanged numerous letters. With every one, a story is revealed about how their art collection reflects their own love and affection for one another.

An in depth look at these letters...

A letter from Chester to Clara Congdon, written on Hiscock, Gifford & Doheny Law Office Stationery. Its salutation is "My dear Clara - " and it details Chester's tiredness from working on a farm

Before Marriage...

Written on October 19th, 1876, this letter from Chester to Clara starts off with Chester saying how utterly tired he is:

"I am really too tired this evening to write to you, but I will because I want to; you see I am never too tired to talk with you."

He then laments the fact that this was written a day later than intended. There was (horror of horrors) no paper in his hotel room! He improvised by staying late at work and writing it on the Law Office stationery. See the header at the top of the page?

The reason why he was so tired is because he's working on a farm... and what does he want to do when he's so utterly tired and longing for rest?

"I know just what I would like to do, I would like to lie down with my head in your lap and rest. But I always like to do that, you know."

This letter really reveals how Chester relied upon Clara for comfort when he was tired... so tired, in fact, that he's (almost) too tired to write her a letter... a letter which ends up being six pages long. He may have been the breadwinner of the family and filled the traditional role demanded of him well, but the Congdons were truly a team, with Clara providing a strong source of physical and emotional support.

Clara as a patron

Buying art requires money to buy that art, first and foremost. Finances were a man's world during the late 19th and early 20th centuries... So how could Clara be said to have any control over the art collection? If she has no financial control, then Clara is reliant upon Chester’s good will to buy his wife art pieces she might like as gifts, isn’t she? Is that how she had influence over the art collection? But in that sense, Chester would be the sole curator of the Congdon’s art collection…

But the thing is, there’s a very clear distinction of personal taste in Glensheen—Chester’s spaces, such as the smoking room and library, have a Japanese and Pacific panorama aesthetic. In contrast, rooms that are female dominated, such as the living room and women's bedrooms, are very much classical in their design and art pieces. Some spaces have a very intriguing mix of both, even! This dichotomy is explored below.

A close up photograph of a lamp which is an imitation candelabra. It has two "candle" holders, its body made of polished brass. At the point it affixes to the wall, a cameo of a classical woman playing a lyre is inlaid into the brass.

Lamp from girls' (2nd) floor, featuring Greco-Roman cameo of a lyre player

One of many Greco-Roman inspired lamps throughout the mansion. Can you spot them all? If you look closely, Dante and Virgil flank the library's fireplace.

Smoking room (detail of ceiling)

This is a close up of the Japanese woodburning technique called Jin Di Sugi that John Bradstreet adapted for Chester's smoking room. The wallpaper is also Japanese inspired (but the print of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci is not!).

A photograph of the carved volutes made of Jin Di Sugi inspired treated wood in Chester Congdon's study. Also included is the print of Leonardo Da Vinci's last supper, which is supported by the mantlepiece of the fireplace below.

Photograph of the red Italian marble fireplace in the Glensheen mansion's family/music room. On its mantle is a small painting in a gold frame, and in front of the fireplace itself are a collection of ornate fire pokers and two fire blocks.

The family room fireplace, pictured to the left, made of red Italian marble...

With Nagara Yozo's Waterfall of Mino, a Japanese silk wall hanging just beside it.

Nagara Yozo, Waterfall of Mino, Silk Embroidery, Japanese

Two very different aesthetics that their interior design blends well together... or separates into the separates rooms Chester and Clara would primarily occupy. The family room being a mixture of the two of them is very much exemplary of their art collecting reflecting their harmonious marriage.

During Marriage

Speaking of a harmonious marriage, this letter details exactly what Chester thought of his wife, and how he viewed her having that financial control. On Christmas Eve—December 24th, 1901, Chester wrote to Clara:

My dear Sweetheart,

I find that having a thousand dollars a year to play with has become fixed upon you.

It occurs to me that the time might come when I could not easily provide it; so I think the best way is to do it permanently now. So I give you twenty one thousand dollar bonds of the U.S. Steel corporation, which will pay you $1000 a year for 49 years, as interest, and will then pay you $20000 principal.

Your
Chester

This is a payment on all of the fortunes I acquired in marriage.

A letter from Chester to Clara Congdon, detailing a transfer of bonds to Clara, with an interest of $1000 a year for 49 years, and then a principal payout of $20000.

Fortunes indeed. What a Christmas gift! Alright, we have the respect and love... we have the money.

All Clara had to do? Was spend it.

And what a currency to spend it was.

So... how could a woman be a patron of the arts in a society that didn't easily allow her to be one? The answer is honestly simple:

Chester Congdon loved his wife, and wanted not only her input in the art they were collecting together, but to provide Clara with the monetary means with which she could express her own artistic tastes. He assured that she could do so for nearly fifty years... long after his death.

Clara, in fact, ended up having more curatorial control over the Congdon art collection, as she'd outlive her husband by decades. Eventually, Clara would pass away in the family home Chester built for her and their family, surrounded by the art that she and her husband picked out.

Together.

As it turns out, love is the currency needed to break down social barriers, and art is a fantastic medium to do so with. Clara Congdon was rich, of course, and that's reflected in her expansive art collection and magnificent home. But what she had that was truly valuable at the time, and is still valuable today, was a husband who believed in their equality. Their partnership, as spouses. The Congdons' art collection is a blend of Clara and Chester both... which wouldn't have been possible without Chester's adoration.

Bibliography

Congdon, Chester. Collection. Glensheen Archives, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN.

“FamilySearch.org.” 2015. Familysearch.org. 2015. Accessed December 11, 2025. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LZ87-7GT/chester-adgate-congdon-1853-1916.

Glensheen Art Guide.

Glensheen. 2025. “Virtual Glensheen.” Accessed December 11, 2025. https://glensheen.org/tour/virtual-tour/.

Glensheen. “Historical.” Glensheen. Accessed December 11, 2025. https://glensheen.org/gallery/historical/.

Webb, Jennifer D. 2009. ”Golden Age collecting in America's Middle West.” Journal of the History of Collections 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1093/jhc/fhp034

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