This collection is located onsite.
Collection includes the portrait of Lawrence that the actress used on her own notecards, artwork, letters, programs, clippings, and a photograph.
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection is located onsite.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Vida Carney Collection; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Supplemental Vida Carney papers relevant to her personal background and relationship with Ruth Bedford and W. T. Grant are in the Rockefeller Archive Center. W. T. Grant Papers is a new collection being cataloged at the RAC as of 3/2023.
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
The Vida Carney Collection was found in Ruth's home office. It has been organized by Nina Del Collo and Mary Graves (Nutley NJ) for transfer to Columbia University Libraries.
Vida Carney was an artist whom Gertrude Lawrence (GL) commissioned artworks from in the 1948-1951 period. She was the daughter of Lilly Raymond Carney who was born in Presque Isle, Maine, lived in Salem, and died in Brookline, Massachusetts (1885-12/29/1959). Vida was the middle child and had two sisters, Marie, the oldest, and Louise, the youngest. Her father, Edward J. Carney (1878-1927) also from Salem, was an attorney. Lilly who was a clerk at the time of marriage was 23 and Edward was 30. They married in September of 1908.
Vida is listed in the 1920,1930, and 1940 census. In the 1940 census she is listed as age 25, single, home/ Boston Suffolk Massachusetts, Commercial artist, HS graduate. In the 1944 Directory of Brookline, Mass, she is listed under "artist" with the names of other artists in the city.
Vida Carney is buried at St. Mary's Cemetery in Salem, Mass. She was 77/78. She is buried with her parents.
W. T. Grant, founder of the W.T. Grant stores in the early 1900s and founder of the W. T Grant Foundation, was a family friend who supported Vida throughout her life. Ruth Bedford was W.T. Grant's personal secretary, a good friend to Vida, and was the executor of her estate.
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
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