BOOK REVIEW: The Severances: An American Odyssey by Diana Tittle

The Severances: An American Odyssey
Diana Tittle

Have you ever visited and possibly drooled over the spectacular Court of Armor and Tapestry at the Cleveland Museum of Art? Or how about the magnificence of Severance Hall? If you have, then you owe a thank you to the Severance family, who believed strongly in sharing their immense wealth with the communities in which they lived. (Compare that with the greedy, now-imprisoned inhabitants of New York’s Wall Street and their multi-millions!)

Diana Tittle is a writer of impeccable taste and sensitivity. This is perhaps the easiest-reading book I’ve enjoyed in many years. The pages – all 400 of them – just flew by! (Slightly more than 50 of them are devoted to the index, bibliography, acknowledgments, photos, etc.) Even the foot-notes are enticing and witty in their explications. Her research was so meticulous that on page 43 you’ll read, “The congregants overlooked his lisp.” This, about Joseph Severance from the late 1700s! Little tidbits of other such unusual information abound in this remarkable chunk of history. The author’s attention to detail makes these Severances fairly jump from the pages, commanding your attention.

The book is divided into six sections: Foothold: 1635-1830; Cleaveland (the original spelling): 1800-1837; The New Pilgrim’s Progress: 1838-1874; Boom Times: 1875-1890; Large Affairs: 1891-1913; and Pioneers of the Ideal: 1914-1970, and further into 26 chapters, plus a prologue and epilogue.

If you’re a Clevelander, names such as Allen, Holden, Milliken, Prentiss, Dudley, DeWitt, Mather, Blossom, Hadden and Long might seem commonplace to you. They’re all connected in some way to the Severance clan. On the other hand, you might not have known about the Severance family’s sojourns in Hawaii, California and China. Or the monuments to the name they left behind in those exotic places, as well as more familiar ones.

But maybe you’ve heard of the Severance Hall at Wellesley College? Or the Severance Green on that same campus? Or the Colleges of Wooster and Oberlin (Allen Memorial Hospital, which is still there but under slightly different organization than when it was founded). A bit farther afield is Yonsei University in Seoul, the oldest private university in Korea, and the Severance Union Medical College and Hospital in that country. All of these organizations began with a monetary contribution from the Severance family. In Cleveland, they also supported St. Luke’s Hospital in the earlier part of the twentieth century, along with Western Reserve University and Mather College, now part of Case Western Reserve.

The first Severances (although they may have spelled their surnames somewhat differently through the years) arrived in this country from their native England in 1635 or ’36. Through the intervening years, in spite of financial and familial hardships, war and other setbacks, they forged ahead, spreading out through the entire United States but always adhering to the family tendency of doing good with their wealth.

In addition to the above-mentioned city treasures, there is also the Allen Memorial Museum in Oberlin, and the Allen Medical Library in Cleveland (on the south side of Euclid Avenue, across the street from Severance Hall). Several family foundations still disburse millions of dollars each year for health, education and the arts. The Western Reserve Historical Society’s vaunted Costume Collection was considerably enhanced by the gift of women’s clothing from several generations of Severance women.

The Severances is both a scholarly book and a fun read! That is not an easy trick to pull off, believe me. It’s a wonderful hefty book which will provide happy reading for hours, or for just thumbing through on occasion when a name will pop off the page and catch your attention. You may also study the many older photos, wishing those folks could talk to you. Thanks to Diana Tittle and the Western Reserve Historical Society, they can—and do. Enjoy!

The 400-page book, which lists for $37.50, is available locally at select local book and arts organizations’ gift shops. For complete information, visit the website: http://TheSeverances.com.


From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz, who writes: My most recently published book is Ardenwycke Unveiled (e-book and trade paper). Cerridwen has another contemporary romance from me, But Not For Love, currently available only as an e-book, but perhaps will be in print later this year. I hope to soon get around to completing some of the 30+ incomplete books in my computer!

Actually, I’ve just re-issued my very first published book (from Berkley in NY 1993) Secret Shores which is available now in regular print, plus large print and as a Kindle.

By the way, Cerridwen has also accepted two of my short stories in their Scintillating Samples (complimentary reads) area: Song of the Swan and Unexpected Comfort. I love photography as well, as you can see here. Occasionally I teach writing workshops and sometimes do editing or ghostwriting on a free-lance basis. But over and above everything else, there’s always been the writing. I can’t imagine my life without it.

And now, after more than a few requests, I’ve started a blog about writing. You can find it here.

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