Rebecca Gratz: ​Philanthropist, Educator… Romantic Heroine?

(Lucy) Rebecca Gratz helped to shape the vibrant cultural life of Philadelphia after the Revolutionary War. A second-generation immigrant, she supported artists and public institutions, and pioneered co-ed religious and cultural education for American Jewish children. She lived a remarkable life, and lived long enough to be photographed. She is also sometimes credited with being the real-life prototype for one of the nineteenth century’s most popular heroines, Sir Walter Scott’s Rebecca.