The Cleveland Commission for Wells is named in honor of Frances Clara Cleveland, née Folsom, born in Buffalo in 1864. There are multiple reasons to choose her as our namesake: Frank, as she was called by those closest to her, was a graduate of Wells College (Class of 1885), a long-time trustee, and, as the wife of Grover Cleveland, twice a First Lady (1886 – 1889, followed by a second term from 1893 – 1897).

As the young and beautiful bride of the much older president, Frank was the subject of intense public interest. Beginning with her 1886 White House wedding – thus far the only presidential wedding to be held there – and continuing with press attention that avidly followed her hair styles and selection of dresses, the American public’s appetite for the First Lady led to the use – generally unauthorized – of her image for the marketing of all manner of commercial goods.

The birth of the Cleveland children (Esther, their second daughter, remains the only presidential child to be born in the White House) led to even more intense interest, including an incident in which tourists, spotting a nurse pushing the presidential daughters in a baby carriage, lifted the children out and passed them from hand to hand. Clearly the cult of celebrity was alive and well much earlier than we might have suspected.

Frances Cleveland largely steered clear of public participation in politics, which was considered a dirty business that was not appropriate terrain for respectable ladies. That is not to say that she was not influential. She initiated and hosted Saturday morning receptions at the White House, so that ordinary women who worked during the week would be able to attend and have a chance to meet the First Lady. Her popularity was such that letters to her flooded the White House. Replies were sent with the help of a secretary hired by Frank for this purpose – her friend Minnie Alexander, also Wells College Class of 1885.

She was active in organizations that worked for the welfare and education of women and children, without regard to the color of their skin, and served her alma mater as a trustee – along with Helen Fairchild Smith, becoming the first women to serve on the board. Cleveland Hall, built in 1911 as the college’s first library, was named in her honor. While she was very supportive of higher education for women, she did not feel the same about women’s suffrage, a perhaps surprising stance, given her education and first-hand experience with political power, though after the passage of the 19th amendment, she did both vote and express her support for candidates for political office.

To learn more about the life of Frances Folsom Cleveland, please follow these links:

From Wells College:  wellsipedia.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/frances-folsom-cleveland/

From the Frances Folsom Cleveland Collection: nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/search/collection/nyheritage!p15085coll2/searchterm/Cleveland,%20Frances%20Folsom,%201864-1947/field/subjec/mode/all/conn/and

From the National First Ladies Library:  archive.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=23

From Annette B. Dunlap, author of the biography Frank:  The Story of Frances Folsom Cleveland, America's Youngest First Lady:  annettesobservations.blogspot.com/2010/06/reunion-at-wells-college.html

Above photos

Frances Folsom (second from left) and classmates

Portrait of Frances Folsom Cleveland
by Charles Bell, 1886