Marguerite Harrison
Encyclopedia
Marguerite Elton Harrison (1879–1967) was a reporter, spy, film maker, and translator who was one of the four founding members of the Society of Woman Geographers
.
. This brought in an additional twenty later thirty dollars a week. Coming from a society background and having a great facility with languages learned from European jaunts with her family, she was oddly qualified for this job and advanced quickly within the newspaper. By 1917 she was writing features about women's wartime labor and exposing the true fact that women work as well or better than their male counterparts.
The November 11th Armistice was declared before her official hiring, but Harrison was still sent to Europe though with a new assignment: "Report political and economic matters of possible interest to the United States delegation at the forthcoming peace conference." Only her immediate family and her managing editor at the Sun knew why the War Department was sending her to Germany in December 1918. Unlike wartime spies, she would not be reporting strategic or military intelligence but political, economic and social reporting, and this would not be without risks.
Harrison spied for the United States
in Russia
and Japan
, arriving in Russia in 1920 as an Associated Press
correspondent. She assessed Bolshevik
economic strengths and weakness and assisted American political prisoners in Russia. She was held captive in Lubyanka
, the infamous Russian prison, for ten months. While there she contracted tuberculosis
, and due to pressure from her influential contacts, including Senator Joseph I. France
, she was eventually set free in exchange for food and other aid to Russia. She was arrested again in 1923 in China and was taken to Moscow, but was released before her trial after recognition by an American aid worker.
These experiences, and those of her fellow prisoners, are related in two of her books: Marooned in Moscow: the Story of an American Woman Imprisoned in Russia (1921) and Unfinished Tales from a Russian Prison (1923). She expressed her views of Russia and China as world forces in her book Red Bear or Yellow Dragon (1924). These, with her volume Asia Reborn (1928) comprise her major publications on Asia.
Providing much needed funding, Harrison was an important member of the production team of Merian C. Cooper
's classic ethnographic film Grass
(1925
). Harrison had met Cooper at a ball in Warsaw during the early days of the Russo-Polish conflict; she had provided him with food, books and blankets, when he was taken prisoner by the Russians in 1920 and sent to work in a prison camp. Grass depicts the annual migration of the Bakhtiari, an Iranian tribe who herded their livestock through snow-bound mountain passes, under conditions of great hardship, to reach high altitude summer grasslands and then return to lower elevations for the winter. In this movie, Harrison appears as herself – a reporter. Ironically, Cooper's co-producer, Ernest B. Schoedsack
, would opine, years later in a tape-recorded news interview (and totally unaware of her true activities) that she had not done "a damn thing" during the expedition!
At the time women were excluded from membership in most professional organizations such as the Explorers Club; this and Harrison's disillusionment with equality for women led directly to her participation in the founding of Society of Woman Geographers
in 1925. Harrison also founded the Children's Hospital of Baltimore.
Society of Woman Geographers
The Society of Woman Geographers was established in 1925 at a time when women were excluded from membership in most professional organizations, such as the Explorers Club, who would not admit women until 1981....
.
Biography
Born Marguerite Elton Baker, one of two daughters of wealthy Maryland businessman, Bernard B. Baker and his wife Elizabeth Elton Livezey. Being born into inherited wealth, she and her sisters were raised as society princesses amidst opulence. She adored her father banker Bernard Baker who built and would later lose his lucrative Atlantic Transport Line, but her relationship with her overprotective and all-controlling mother would be distant and cold. In 1907, her sister Elizabeth Baker married Albert C. Ritchie who would later become the 49th Governor of Maryland. When Harrison's first and only semester at Radcliffe College was punctuated by an affair with someone of a lower class, her mother abruptly shipped her to Italy to forget the landlady's son. In June 1901, despite her mother's vehement protestations she did succeed in marrying a non-wealthy young man, Thomas B. Harrison. Their son Thomas B Harrison II, was born March 1902.Baltimore Sun
In 1914 her husband died of a brain tumor, leaving Harrison and her thirteen year old son not only penniless but deeply in debt from medical bills. In an effort to repay this debt, she turned her large home into a boarding house, which did not quite make ends meet in the middle. In 1915, despite having only one semester of college and no appropriate training, she used her brother-in-law's influence to get hired as an assistant society editor for The Baltimore SunThe Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries....
. This brought in an additional twenty later thirty dollars a week. Coming from a society background and having a great facility with languages learned from European jaunts with her family, she was oddly qualified for this job and advanced quickly within the newspaper. By 1917 she was writing features about women's wartime labor and exposing the true fact that women work as well or better than their male counterparts.
Spying
Harrison was 39 in 1918, and with the U.S. still involved in the war and Europe virtually one large battlefield, she became overwhelmed with the desire to report on the conditions in Germany. As women were not recognized as war correspondents she decided to become a spy. With an introduction to chief of Military Intelligence Division of the U.S. Army General Marlborough Churchill, she offered her services. On her application, she described herself as five feet six inches tall, weighing 125 pounds; using no stimulants, tobacco or drugs; and without physical defects. Answering the question "With what foreign countries and localities are you familiar?" she replied:"The British Isles, France, Holland, Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Northern Italy, Rome, Naples, Tyrol. I have an absolute command of French and German, am very fluent and have a good accent in Italian and speak a little Spanish. Without any trouble I could pass as a French woman and after a little practice, as German-Swiss . . . I have been to Europe fourteen times . . . I have been much on steamers and am familiar in a general way with ships of the merchant marine."
The November 11th Armistice was declared before her official hiring, but Harrison was still sent to Europe though with a new assignment: "Report political and economic matters of possible interest to the United States delegation at the forthcoming peace conference." Only her immediate family and her managing editor at the Sun knew why the War Department was sending her to Germany in December 1918. Unlike wartime spies, she would not be reporting strategic or military intelligence but political, economic and social reporting, and this would not be without risks.
Harrison spied for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, arriving in Russia in 1920 as an Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
correspondent. She assessed Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
economic strengths and weakness and assisted American political prisoners in Russia. She was held captive in Lubyanka
Lubyanka (KGB)
The Lubyanka is the popular name for the headquarters of the KGB and affiliated prison on Lubyanka Square in Moscow. It is a large building with a facade of yellow brick, designed by Alexander V...
, the infamous Russian prison, for ten months. While there she contracted tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, and due to pressure from her influential contacts, including Senator Joseph I. France
Joseph I. France
Joseph Irwin France was a Republican member of the United States Senate, representing the State of Maryland from 1917–1923.-Early life:...
, she was eventually set free in exchange for food and other aid to Russia. She was arrested again in 1923 in China and was taken to Moscow, but was released before her trial after recognition by an American aid worker.
These experiences, and those of her fellow prisoners, are related in two of her books: Marooned in Moscow: the Story of an American Woman Imprisoned in Russia (1921) and Unfinished Tales from a Russian Prison (1923). She expressed her views of Russia and China as world forces in her book Red Bear or Yellow Dragon (1924). These, with her volume Asia Reborn (1928) comprise her major publications on Asia.
Providing much needed funding, Harrison was an important member of the production team of Merian C. Cooper
Merian C. Cooper
Merian Caldwell Cooper was an American aviator, United States Air Force and Polish Air Force officer, adventurer, screenwriter, and film director and producer. His most famous film was the 1933 movie King Kong.-Early life:...
's classic ethnographic film Grass
Grass (1925 film)
Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life is a silent documentary film which follows a branch of the Bakhtiari tribe of Persia as they and their herds make their seasonal journey to better pastures. It is considered one of the earliest ethnographic documentary films. It was written by Richard Carver and...
(1925
1925 in film
-Events:*November 5: The Big Parade holds its Grand Premier*December 30: premier of Ben-Hur the most expensive silent film ever made costing 4-6 million dollars -Top grossing films :...
). Harrison had met Cooper at a ball in Warsaw during the early days of the Russo-Polish conflict; she had provided him with food, books and blankets, when he was taken prisoner by the Russians in 1920 and sent to work in a prison camp. Grass depicts the annual migration of the Bakhtiari, an Iranian tribe who herded their livestock through snow-bound mountain passes, under conditions of great hardship, to reach high altitude summer grasslands and then return to lower elevations for the winter. In this movie, Harrison appears as herself – a reporter. Ironically, Cooper's co-producer, Ernest B. Schoedsack
Ernest B. Schoedsack
Ernest Beaumont Schoedsack was an American motion picture cinematographer, director, and producer.Born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Schoedsack is probably best remembered for being the co-director of the 1933 film, King Kong....
, would opine, years later in a tape-recorded news interview (and totally unaware of her true activities) that she had not done "a damn thing" during the expedition!
At the time women were excluded from membership in most professional organizations such as the Explorers Club; this and Harrison's disillusionment with equality for women led directly to her participation in the founding of Society of Woman Geographers
Society of Woman Geographers
The Society of Woman Geographers was established in 1925 at a time when women were excluded from membership in most professional organizations, such as the Explorers Club, who would not admit women until 1981....
in 1925. Harrison also founded the Children's Hospital of Baltimore.
Works
- Marooned in Moscow: the Story of an American Woman Imprisoned in Russia (1921)
- Unfinished Tales from a Russian Prison (1923). (short stories)
- Red Bear or Yellow Dragon (1924).
- Asia Reborn (1928)
- There’s Always Tomorrow: the Story of a Checkered Life (1935)