Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, (October 26, 1874 – April 5, 1948), was a prominent socialite and philanthropist and the second-generation matriarch of the renowned Rockefeller family. Referred to as the "woman in the family", she was especially noteworthy for being the driving force behind the establishment of the Museum of Modern Art, on 53rd Street in New York, in November, 1929.

Early life and marriage
Abby Rockefeller began collecting paintings, watercolors, and drawings by a number of contemporary American artists in 1925, as well as a number of European modernists: Vincent van Gogh, Edgar Degas, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Paul Cezanne, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
In 1929, she employed a designer to create a suite of art deco rooms and furnishings for herself on the 7th floor of their nine-story house at 10 West Fifty-fourth Street. Called the Topside Gallery, it allowed her to display and organize changing exhibitions of her growing collection, integrating modern and folk art. Visitors took the elevator directly to the 7th floor, bypassing the private domain of the rest of her family. The news of her interests and activities spread quickly from this period, and many subsequent collectors began to follow her lead.[1]
She became a prominent patron of modern art and artists in America, using the example of their European predecessors, such as Picasso and Matisse. Most notable was her avid interest in becoming the driving force in the establishment and ongoing operations of the Museum of Modern Art, in New York, on November 7, 1929, nine days after the Wall Street Crash. In this project she could not rely on financing from her husband, who was repelled by much of modern abstract painting, nor did she have great wealth of her own to draw on as she received only an allowance from him. Financing for the museum and acquisition of paintings came from her solicitation of corporations and prominent New York individuals.

MoMA/philanthropy/womens issues
In the mid 1920s, Abby and John Rockefeller Junior were contacted by Reverend Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin, who was rector of Bruton Parish Church and an instructor at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. After seeing Dr. Goodwin's restored church, they explored further his concept of a massive restoration of the city to its glory days prior to the American Revolution, as the capital of the Virginia Colony. They became committed to funding the project, which commenced in 1927.
The result was Colonial Williamsburg, a living history museum which has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world. One of the museums within the complex, The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, is named in her honor. [3].

Colonial Williamsburg

Fosdick, Raymond B. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., A Portrait. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1956.
Harr, John Ensor, and Peter J. Johnson. The Rockefeller Century: Three Generations of America's Greatest Family. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988.
Kert, Bernice. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller: The Woman in the Family. New York: Random House, 1993.
Rockefeller, David. "Memoirs". New York: Random House, 2002.
Stasz, Clarice. The Rockefeller Women: Dynasty of Piety, Privacy, and Service. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995.