Born in Kentucky in 1850, Palmer followed the traditional aristocratic rituals of the 19th century American elite. Her father, Henry Hamilton Honoré, who did business in Chicago, made a canny social move by “debuting” his daughter as an eligible bachelorette in the Windy City, instead of in Louisville. Her 1871 marriage to the wealthy Chicago businessman and hotelier Potter Palmer offered her more opportunities than a life in the sleepy South.

Early in her marriage, Palmer displayed a commitment to the arts. She became a founding member of the Chicago Society of Decorative Art (later known as the Antiquarian Society of the Art Institute) in 1877, which helped impoverished women gain skills as artisans. The group sponsored education, teacher training, and, eventually, the development of the decorative arts collection at the Art Institute of Chicago . The group is still extant today, bringing the foremost scholars in the field to the city.

In the early 1880s, the Palmers started construction on a new home on Lake Shore Drive that approximated the extravagant style of a European castle. Mrs. Palmer made it a destination for the Chicago aristocracy, throwing an annual New Year’s bash that was a must-attend on the city’s social calendar. An 1889 introduction to Paul Durand-Ruel, the most important dealer of Impressionist art at the time, laid the groundwork for her art education and purchases. Later that year, she bought her first Impressionist work for $500—Edgar Degas’s pastel On the Stage (1876–77), which features sprightly ballerinas in costumes represented by baby blue and delicate pink blurs. The Palmers eventually built an addition onto their home that served as a gallery for their art collection.



