Queer Places:
Campo Cestio, Rome, Città Metropolitana di Roma Capitale, Lazio, Italy
Margaret Graves Mather (October 11, 1878 - December 19, 1969) was an American heiress, patron of the arts, and descendant of the prominent New England
Mather family, which traced its lineage back to famous Puritan ministers Increase and Cotton Mather.
Born on October 11, 1878, in Morristown, New Jersey, she was the daughter of Frank Jewett Mather, Sr., a successful attorney from Connecticut, and Caroline Arms Graves Mather. Raised in a large family of eight children, her brother Frank Jewett Mather, Jr., eventually became a renowned art historian, professor at Princeton University, and director of Princeton's Museum of Historic Art.
In 1906, after Frank Jr. contracted typhoid fever, Margaret and her parents accompanied him to Italy so he could recuperate. Following his recovery and return to the United States in 1910 to join the Princeton faculty, Margaret and her parents chose to remain abroad. She cared for her mother until her passing in 1920, and subsequently looked after her father until his death at age 94 in 1929. Establishing her primary residence in Rome, Margaret spent most of her adult life living as an expatriate in Italy, while making periodic visits back to her family in New Jersey.
Living as a wealthy expatriate, Margaret became a key figure in artistic and literary circles across Italy, particularly on the island of Capri. Her social circle included physician and author Axel Munthe, painter Elihu Vedder, and artists Earl and Achsah Brewster. Margaret leveraged her inheritance to act as a benefactor for struggling creators, notably supporting Russian painter Gregorius Maltzeff when the 1917 Russian Revolution cut off his academic stipend.
During her years in Italy and Capri, Margaret engaged with a vibrant bohemian community that served as a major sanctuary for early 20th-century LGBTQ+ artists, writers, and intellectuals. Capri was famous for hosting prominent queer figures such as writer Compton Mackenzie, poet Robert Calverley Trevelyan, painter Romaine Brooks, and writer Norman Douglas, alongside various same-sex couples, queer expatriates, and artists living outside traditional social norms. While historical records focus primarily on her role as a patron rather than her personal romantic relationships, her social circles on Capri and in Rome placed her in direct company with many prominent LGBTQ+ figures who found intellectual and social refuge in these Mediterranean enclaves.
In May 1937, Margaret boarded the airship LZ 129 Hindenburg in Frankfurt to visit her brother in Princeton, choosing air travel to avoid severe seasickness. On May 6, 1937, as the airship attempted to land in Lakehurst, New Jersey, a fire ignited the hydrogen gas. Margaret was in the portside dining salon when the ship tilted sharply, throwing her across the room and pinning her under furniture and other passengers. Shielding her face with a heavy overcoat, she waited as the airship settled gently onto the airfield. Rescuers directed her out through the structural gangway stairs. Despite suffering burned hands, her heavy coat protected her from catastrophic injuries, and she arrived at her family's house in Princeton just hours later.
Following the disaster, Margaret detailed her experience in an article titled "I Was On the Hindenburg," published in the November 1937 issue of Harper's Magazine. Undeterred by the traumatic crash, she returned to Rome and continued traveling frequently by air. She lived in Rome for the remainder of her life until her death on December 19, 1969, at the age of 91. She was buried at Il Cimitero Acattolico di Roma (the Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome), the final resting place for many famous foreign writers, artists, and expatriates who lived in Italy.
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