Fanny Peabody Mason

Fanny Peabody Mason
Fanny Peabody Mason
Born(1864-11-18)November 18, 1864
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedAugust 29, 1948(1948-08-29) (aged 83)
Beverly, Massachusetts, U.S.
Burial placeMount Auburn Cemetery
Other namesFannie P. Mason
OccupationsHeiress, philanthropist

Fanny Peabody Mason (November 18, 1864 – August 29, 1948) was an American heiress and philanthropist, who lived in Boston, Beverly, and Walpole, Massachusetts.[1] She established a series of free public concerts in 1891 that became known as the Peabody Mason Concerts.

Early life and family

Fanny Peabody Mason was born on November 18, 1864, Boston, Massachusetts.[2] Her parents were Fanny (née Peabody; 1840–1895)[3] and William Powell Mason Jr. (1835–1901), a lawyer and importer.[2][4][5] Her only sibling, a brother, drowned while fishing in 1881 at Bakers Island in Massachusetts Bay.[6]

Her paternal grandparents were Hannah (née Rogers) and William Powell Mason of Boston,[2] and her maternal grandfather was George Peabody of Salem, Massachusetts.[2][7] On her paternal side, she was a direct descendant of Jonathan Mason, a Massachusetts state senator, and John Rogers, an English Puritan minister and the 5th president of Harvard College.[8]

Mason lived at her family home, the Mason House (1883) at 211 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, designed by architectural firm Rotch & Tilden.[9][10][11] The family also had a summer home from 1901 until 1913 (now known as the Stephen Rowe Bradley House), and owned the 1,000-acre (400 ha) Boggy Meadows Farm in Walpole, New Hampshire.[2][8]

Mason is associated with French painter Alice Thévin (1862–1937), who lived with her seasonally at her Boston home from 1909 until her death in 1937.[11][12]

Late life, death, and philanthropy

Mason studied music in Boston and in Europe.[13] She established a series of free public concerts in 1891 that became known as the Peabody Mason Concerts.[14] The Fanny Peabody Mason Music Building (1914) was built at Harvard University, and now houses the John Knowles Paine Concert Hall on the second floor.[15][16]

After Thévin's death in 1937, the Fanny P. Mason Fund in memory of Alice Thevin was started at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.[17]

In her late life, Mason had an additional home in Beverly, Massachusetts.[13] Mason died on August 29, 1948, in her home in Beverly,[13] and was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

After her death in 1948, French pianist Paul Doguereau was left a trust to establish the Peabody–Mason Music Foundation.[18][19] In 1981, the Peabody Mason International Piano Competition was founded by Doguereau.

She is the namesake of the Fanny Mason Forest in Walpole, New Hampshire.[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Fanny Mason and Peabody Mason Music Foundation". Boston Women's Heritage Trail.
  2. ^ a b c d e The Report of the Secretary. Vol. 4. Harvard College, Harvard College class of 1856. February 2, 1899. pp. 55–56 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ "Deaths". Boston Evening Transcript. Boston, Massachusetts. May 11, 1895. p. 14.
  4. ^ The Harvard Graduates' Magazine. Harvard Graduates' Magazine Association. 1902. p. 108.
  5. ^ "William Powell Mason". Boston Evening Transcript. Boston, Massachusetts. June 10, 1901. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "A Boston Boy Drowned". Boston Evening Transcript. Boston, Massachusetts. October 24, 1881. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Memorial of the Harvard College Class of 1856: Prepared for the Fiftieth Anniversary of Graduation. G.H. Ellis Company, printers; Harvard University Class of 1856. June 27, 1906.
  8. ^ a b "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Stephen Rowe Bradley House". National Park Service. Retrieved March 18, 2026. With accompanying pictures
  9. ^ Galante, Meredith (April 30, 2012). "House of the Day: A Historic Boston Mansion Can Be Yours For $17.9 Million". Business Insider. Retrieved March 18, 2026.
  10. ^ "$14.9M 'museum quality' mansion for sale in Back Bay". WCVB-TV (slideshow). October 1, 2013. Retrieved March 18, 2026.
  11. ^ a b "211 Commonwealth". Back Bay Houses. July 19, 2013 – via WordPress.
  12. ^ "Obituary for Alice Thevin". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. February 9, 1937. p. 7.
  13. ^ a b c "Fannie P. Mason". The New York Times. August 31, 1948. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 18, 2026.
  14. ^ Wright, Lesley A. (April 22, 2016). "Perspectives on the Performance of French Piano Music". Routledge. p. 77 – via Google Books.
  15. ^ "John Knowles Paine Concert Hall and Holden Chapel". Department of Music. Harvard University.
  16. ^ "Fanny Peabody Mason Music Building". CultureNow.
  17. ^ Broude, Norma (2002). Gustave Caillebotte and the Fashioning of Identity in Impressionist Paris. Rutgers University Press. p. 221. ISBN 978-0-8135-3017-8.
  18. ^ "Miss Mason's Millions". San Antonio Light. San Antonio, Texas. November 14, 1948. p. 80 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "French Pianist Becomes Millionaire Overnight". Pasadena Star-News. Pasadena, California. September 5, 1948. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Fanny Mason Forest". Walpole Outdoors. Retrieved March 18, 2026.
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