Partner Mary Casal
Queer Places:
Margaret Louisa Home, 14–16 E 16th St, New York, NY 10003, USA
16 Rue de la Grande Chaumière, 75006 Paris, France
Emma Elizabeth Altman (September 13, 1866 - 1947), also known as "Juno," was born on September 13, 1866, to parents Morris Altman and Catherine Bowles.
Following the death of her father from cholera in 1876, Emma and her siblings—Morris Philip, Cecelia Minas, and Phillip Frederic—went to live with their
millionaire uncle, Benjamin Altman. Her brother Philip later named his daughter, the future Broadway actress Ruth Elizabeth Altman, in honor of her and her
lifelong partner.
Emma rose to prominence in the professional and philanthropic world, notably working as a private secretary and top-tier executive managing charitable funds for heiress Helen Miller Gould. By 1905, contemporary newspapers noted her as one of the best-paid women in America, handling substantial annual charitable disbursements alongside her partner. Her primary professional and personal life intertwined deeply with Ruth Fuller Field (often known as Ruth Fuller or "Ruth"), whom she met in July 1894 while working as a clerk at the Margaret Louisa Home, a Y.W.C.A. hotel in New York City. Ruth immediately nicknamed her "Juno," and the two embarked on a foundational relationship that lasted for at least fifteen years.
Their lives together spanned prominent artistic and social circles across New York, rural Connecticut, and Europe. They lived in Harlem alongside Ruth's mother, collaborated closely in managing Helen Gould’s philanthropic ventures—including Woody Crest and various YMCA departments—and traveled extensively, visiting artistic communities such as the Cornish Art Colony in New Hampshire.
In 1906, Emma and Ruth left Gould's employ to relocate to rural Connecticut, where Emma briefly became engaged to a French teacher named "Jack." This sparked a period of extensive European travel. Emma lived in Europe off and on for roughly eight years, maintaining a business address and apartment at 16 Rue de la Grande Chaumière in the Montparnasse district of Paris (75006 Paris, France). During her time abroad and through subsequent years, their romantic relationship evolved and eventually ended, though they maintained a steadfast friendship and correspondence.
Emma's later life included significant inheritances, including a $50,000 bequest from her millionaire uncle who passed away in October 1913, and extensive travels back and forth across the Atlantic surrounding World War I. On June 21, 1919, Emma married Dr. Joseph R. Ross in Elkton, Maryland. She spent her later years with him, appearing together on a patent application for a medical device, until her death in 1947.
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