Courtlandt Palmer (1843–1888)

Courtlandt Palmer made a debating institution out of his interest in public ideas. In 1880 he founded the Nineteenth-Century Club in New York, bringing speakers in art, literature, and social science into discussions in which a contemporary biographical account emphasizes the freedom of courteous speech. He wrote and spoke in support of freethought and took an interest in technical education.

He studied at Columbia and Williams and graduated from Columbia’s law school in 1869. A family fortune gave him scope for intellectual and public activity beyond professional legal work. That material circumstance belongs beside the record of his liberal commitments. [1,2]

He married Catherine Amory Bennett and was Eva Palmer’s father. Through Eva, his household connects to Natalie Barney’s later artistic and intimate world. The connection does not establish that he knew Natalie, and his death in 1888 makes later encounters impossible.

Two other Courtlandt Palmers must remain distinct: his father, the merchant born in 1800, and his son, the pianist. The inherited name is not evidence of an interchangeable life.