"Can I describe Harry Widener for your readers in one sentence? Absolutely not. He was a very complex perso. He spent a fortuen on rare books, but he was in no sense a traditional bibliophile. He had many interests and excelled at all of them. I suppose my own most vivid impression of Harry is that a new acquaintance could spend half a day with him and never guess that Harry stood to inherit Philadelphia's largest fortune. He was totally unassuming, unpretentious, and never put on airs of any sort."-Harry's friend to a Philadelphia reporter (From: A Treasury of Titanic Tales by Webb Garrison)
Harry Elkins Widener was the son of George B and Eleanor Widener. He was born on January 3, 1885, the oldest of the Widener children and heir to the fortune. The Wideners were a prominent Philadelphia family who invested in trolleys.
Harry lived in Elkins Park and attended Hill School. In 1903 he attended Harvard where he founded his love of books. He graduated in 1907.
The Wideners boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg. Harry had just boughten a rare copy of Francis Bacon's Essays. He said to Bernard Quaritch, the collector, that "I think I'll take that little Bacon with me in my pocket. If I am shipwrecked on the Titanic it will go down with me."
On Sunday the Wideners held a party in the a la carte restaurant in the Captain's honor. Harry, being only 28, had spent most of his time on board with his parents or in the smoking lounge.
After the dinner party Harry was seen in the smoking lounge with Archibald Butt, Clarence Moore, and William Carter at a card table. When the Titanic struck Harry was in the smoking lounge. About three hours later he helped his mother into lifeboat number 4.
"George D. Widener and Harry Elkins Widener were among those who jumped at the last minute. So did Robert Williams Daniel. The three of them went down together. Daniel struck out, lashing the water with his arms until he had made a point far distant from the sinking monster of the sea. Later he was picked up by one of the passing life-boats. The Wideners were not seen again."-2nd Officer Charles Lightoller.
Eleanor,his mother, later donated Harry's books to the Widener library of Harvard. She stipulated that not one brick should be touched on it while it stood.
One popular belief is that Eleanor introduced the rule that all graduates of Harvard had to pass a swimming test before they could graduate, thinking that Harry would have lived if he could have swam. But this isn't true. This rule was put into place because Navy men attended Harvard and it had nothing to do with Harry.
The Widener library is one of the best around and still stands today.
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