5 Keepsakes Bertha saved and stored.
Milestones and memories never to be forgotten.
It is thanks to Bertha Mather McPherson that we have such a full picture of Homestead history. Beyond that, we are fortunate to have additional items that enhance our appreciation of her personal story and legacy. From the attic to the archives, here are a few of those items…
The Birth Announcements of her three children:
A Lock of Her Own Hair: Bertha was just shy of her fifth birthday when a bit of her hair was clipped and placed in an envelope marked “Bertha’s hair July 1, 1911.” Recently the envelope was found in a large accordion folder that had been placed in the safe in the Homestead basement.
An Invitation to a White House Reception: In that same accordion folder was an invitation to addressed to “Miss Bertha Mather” from President and Mrs. Coolidge in-viting her to a White House Reception “Thursday evening January the thirteenth nineteen hundred and twenty-seven at nine o’clock.”
A Letter from Her Father on her 21st Birthday
From San Francisco, Stephen Mather mailed a letter to his daughter to be opened on August 10th. Accompanying the letter was his business card as Director of the NPS upon which he had written “Lots of love on your 21st From Father.” A few lines from that letter:
“…It only seems the other day when we used to see you leaning over the tulips with your cute sunbonnet at the age of three or less…
“…Of course it is true too of the old Homestead at Darien and I can see we are all going to get more enjoyment out of the place since we have made it over…”
“Lots and lots of love and much too to your mother whose watchful care all these years has helped you so much to develop [into] the level headed girl who is just stepping over the threshold of 21. Your affectionate father.”
A Photo Album of Tuolumne Meadows by Herbert Gleason
Herbert Gleason was an acclaimed nature photographer (See blog “The Getty…the Whitney…The Mather Attic”). He prepared an album of 42 photographs taken at Tuolumne Meadows bound in soft leather and embossed “Bertha F. Mather.” Below is that cover and two photographs from the album.
