The Extravagant Life

Passionate Pursuits: William Keeney Bixby by Sally Bixby Defty

Post-economic success WKB had “the good life” by means of the early twentieth century. He had the power to treat himself and his family to lavish expenditures. This brief essay will address the question: What is most interesting about these expenditures, which is what were they?

In Sally Bixby Defty’s book, Passionate Pursuits: William Keeney Bixby, most of Bixby’s money post-businessworld went to collecting notable works of art and manuscripts and traveling. These activities were largely motivated by the culture and society Bixby was living in, as they were often seen being done by higher class individuals. Not only were these activities pursued by the wealthy, but also by many of Bixby’s mentors, including McMillan and Freer both of whom I discussed in a previous blog post.

Bixby began collecting art even prior to his retirement, in 1901 his well-kept “Inventory of Household Goods” already included 176 oil paintings, watercolors, etchings, and drawings. At the height of his art collection Bixby even had possession of a Rembrandt. More than just admiring the art world and the work of famous and more modest artists, Bixby’s ownership of these paintings were yet another emblem of his wealth. In addition to collecting artwork, Bixby also was an avid collector of manuscripts and books. Ralph Bixby, one of William’s sons, was recorded saying that each night WKB would leave the dinner table to go to his library and read his daily book, literally reading a book a day. As for manuscripts, WKB had collections of letters by Ulysses S. Grant, Charles Dickens, George Washington, Napoleon, Charles Lamb, Lord Byron, John Ruskin, Daniel Boone, John Paul Jones, Dante Gabriel Rosetti, and Rudyard Kipling. He also had the world’s largest collection of Robert Burns’ manuscripts and rare editions and the largest group of Thomas Jefferson’s letters in the United States. Although the collection of manuscripts was also another clear depiction of Bixby’s affluence, it also was able to raise his social status. William Howard Taft, at the time Secretary of War under President Roosevelt, was a frequent recipient of WKB’s private printings, which may have been a factor in William Keeney Bixby and his wife’s invitation to The White House for dinner and dancing in 1911. Teddy Roosevelt also was a benefactor from Bixby’s collection and even went to Bixby’s mansion in St. Louis to view some of his original manuscripts.

Bixby’s travels were very diverse and extravagant. His first lengthy trip was to China, Japan, and Korea with his wife, Lillian, and son, Ralph. The trip was half a year and marked by WKB’s infatuation with the paintings, jades, sculpture and porcelains he found in China and Japan. He fell in love with the cities of Peking and Kyoto. His next trip was a year-long to India and Africa. Much of his time in Africa was taken up with hunting big game, including lions, gazelles, gnus, and other native African animals. Traveling to such unconventional places shows Bixby’s curiosity and drive to become more educated about the world. This drive is also marked by entries in Bixby’s journals which show he was free of racism, which was so pervasive during that time. In one entry he praised Honolulu’s beauty but “most of all, the curious mixture of natives and japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos, and many other races, and the whites, all getting along together.” Once again this shows that while Bixby was interested in confirming his wealth to the public he also had interest in acquiring new knowledge and becoming more worldly.

FUTURE RESEARCH QUESTION:

How did Bixby’s wealth, financial but also collections of artwork and manuscripts, affect future generations?