page_title: Caroline Schermerhorn Astor
section_title: The Gatekeeper
hierarchical_section_title: Caroline Schermerhorn Astor / Socialite / The Gatekeeper
caption_attribution_description: English: Mrs. William Astor (Caroline Webster Schermerhorn, 1831–1908)
context_page_description: Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn was a prominent American socialite of the second half of the 19th century who led the Four Hundred. Famous for being referred to later in life as "the Mrs. Astor" or simply "Mrs. Astor", she was the wife of businessman, racehorse breeder/owner, and yachtsman William Backhouse Astor Jr.. She was the mother of five children, including Colonel John Jacob Astor IV, who perished on the RMS Titanic. Through her marriage, she was a prominent member of the Astor family and matriarch of the male line of American Astors.
context_section_description: In the decades following the Civil War the population of New York City grew almost exponentially, and immigrants and wealthy  arrivistes from the Midwest began challenging the dominance of the old New York Establishment.  Aided by the social arbiter Ward McAllister, Lina attempted to codify proper behavior and etiquette, as well as determine who was acceptable among the arrivistes for an increasingly heterogeneous city.  They were the champions of old money and tradition.
  McAllister once stated that, amongst the vastly rich families of Gilded Age New York, there were only 400 people who could be counted as members of Fashionable Society. He did not, as is commonly written, arrive at this number based on the limitations of Mrs. Astor's New York City ballroom. (McAllister, an Astor cousin by marriage, referred to her as the "Mystic Rose".) Her husband's lack of interest in the social whirl did not stop but instead fueled her burgeoning social activities, which increased in intensity as her children grew older.
  Lina was the foremost authority on the "Aristocracy" of New York in the late nineteenth century.  She held ornate and elaborate parties for herself and other members of the elite New York socialite crowd. None was permitted to attend these gatherings without an official calling card from her. Lina's social groups were dominated by strong-willed "aristocratic" females. These social gatherings were dependent on overly conspicuous luxury and publicity. More so than the gatherings themselves, importance was highly placed upon the group as the upper-crust of New York's elite. She and her ladies therefore represented the "Aristocratic", or the Old Money, whereas the newly wealthy Vanderbilt family would establish a new wave of New Money.
caption: Portrait of Astor by Carolus-Duran, 1890, painted in Paris and now held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[14]  This painting was placed prominently in Mrs. Astor's house; she would stand in front of it when receiving guests for receptions.[citation needed]
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