Posted on by Katie Kazmierski

What was the Edgar Allan Poe Memorial Association?

At a certain point in my transcribing, I started to notice that the minutes often mentioned the Edgar Allan Poe Memorial Association–a club which, the minutes explain, boasts nearly the same Board of Management as the Woman’s Literary Club of Baltimore. From the 1908 minutes, I got the feeling that the Club was becoming more invested in the Edgar Allan Poe Memorial Association than the original woman’s club– meetings were few in the beginning of the year and at one point an ‘informal meeting’ was held simply to cancel another Club meeting in favor of an event for the EAPMA. I started to wonder what the deal was with this other club.

I found that in 1907, the Woman’s Literary Club of Baltimore decided to create the Edgar Allan Poe Memorial Association. Their original goal was to erect a monument for Poe to be completed by 1909 for the centennial of his birth. I was surprised that I read nothing of this sort in the Club minutes, though I guess this would be discussed in the minutes of the EAPMA, if there are any. Its omission also might be due to the fact, though, that the statue didn’t end up making its way to Baltimore until 1921– some time after its 1909 goal. The monument had, well, what can be politely described as a series of mishaps.

The artist, Moses Jacob Ezekial, finished the first sculpture in 1913 but it was destroyed in a fire. The second model was also destroyed, this time in an earthquake. The third was done by 1916 but World War I delayed its shipment across the Atlantic by 5 years. Despite the bizarre delays, the tribute got to Baltimore eventually, and today it sits in Gordon Plaza at the University of Baltimore, thanks to our ladies from the Woman’s Literary Club of Baltimore. 

Another interesting thing I found was a book entitled “Edgar Allan Poe: A Centenary Tribute” which was published in 1910, on account of, again, the Woman’s Literary Club of Baltimore and the Edgar Allan Poe Memorial Association.

A page from the beginning of the text. The Board members were almost identical at this time.

The book is a published account of the Centenary Celebration–the lectures/speeches given by the speakers at the January 1909 tribute were recorded and bound together in the text, along with an introduction explaining the Edgar Allan Poe Memorial Association, written by, I’m assuming, Mrs. Wrenshall.

From the introduction I found out that the WLCB had originally talked about forming the Association in 1904, and in 1907 they officially formed it with the goal of, “erecting in Baltimore a monument to the poet worthy of his genius”. The introduction also boasts that the birth of this association and its goal was received enthusiastically among other women’s clubs in the state, and also in the press. Apparently the Association received support across state lines, all of this being completely voluntary with respect to the importance of honoring the poet. Even through all this support, though, it’s mentioned that in June of 1907 the efforts had to be halted due to the “financial stringency”. That explains why the first statue wasn’t completed until 1913, then.

As I read the introduction praising the Association and also the speakers who “graciously permitted” to record their tributes in the text, Miss. Reese was in the back of my mind–the source of the drama regarding her poem’s inclusion in the celebration. I was surprised, and delighted to see that the very first tribute in the book, right after the introduction, was Lizette Woodworth Reese’s poem. I can’t help but wonder if her poem was included first for a reason, maybe as a way to make up for its apparent omission at the celebration itself.

From my understanding, the Edgar Allan Poe Memorial Association served not only as a tribute to the infamous poet, but also as a way for the women involved to engage in a community bigger than themselves. Through it, they worked with prominent, if entitled, men from Johns Hopkins and other Poe fans across state lines to come together to form a monument for a comment interest. Where the Woman’s Literary Club seems to have been a means for sharing art and literature with each other while straying from state or national woman’s clubs, through the Edgar Allan Poe Memorial Association those same women seemed to extend themselves outward, while creating a monument that stands to this day.

Posted on by Jean Lee Cole

A reader writes

Dr. Mangiavellano just wrote to me & asked me to send you this:
I’ve enjoyed reading your posts on the Women’s Literary Club of Baltimore and following along with your questions and discoveries. I ran into Dr. Cole yesterday on campus before your walking tour and we fell into conversation about the pleasures (and frustrations) you’ve experienced in your research and transcriptions. We talked a little about the difficult of finding birth and death dates of club members–and how some of you have turned to obituaries of their husbands for information about the wives. Dr. Cole explained to me the frustrating reality that obituaries of prominent Baltimore husbands may mention wives in passing without any substantive reflection or information on them. Tremendously frustrating.
Might it be worthwhile to visit Greenspring cemetery (or wherever they’re buried) and seek out the graves themselves, I wonder? I’m sure you could contact the sexton, get a map of the grounds, and do some sleuthing. I doubt there would be GPS locations for them, but you never know. It would be an entirely different kind of research I’m sure most of you have done and I’d love to hear about it if you pursued it. Not only would and afternoon of traipsing around a cemetery help you find the birth and death dates you’re looking for, you can write up a great post about it. Win-win!
So yes, it looks like another field trip is in order– Hunter, maybe you could organize this one. The Green Mount Cemetery website has a lot of great info, and there are various maps available online. Plus, a bunch of the graves are indexed in the appropriately named FindaGrave.com (e.g., Miss Lydia Crane).
Posted on by Ellen Roussel

Shortchanging the Janitress

Last week, Katie and Clara both discussed the philanthropy efforts, or lack thereof, of the Woman’s Literary Club of Baltimore. Since I have currently been transcribing the formation and early establishment of the Club, it was interesting and insightful for me to read their thoughts on the generosity of the Club in later years and as evident (or not) through the programs.

It wasn’t until I made my way into the second season of the Club’s existence that I began seeing any mention of philanthropy in the minutes. Around the November 1891 entries, the President puts in the motion to raise money for the janitress of the Academy of Sciences building who recently lost most of her belongings in a fire. The women second and third the motion, and agree to inquire whether or not she can be helped.

Several meetings later, the President again announces that a purse will be collected for the janitress to which the ladies can contribute if they so desire. Almost within the same breath it seems, the President moves on to more pressing announcements of upcoming classes. Eventually, we make our way to December 1891, where it is reported that $16.00 was raised for the janitress, which falls short of the $25.00 goal. Then, the women speculate on whether they should buy the janitress a sewing machine to replace the one she lost in the fire, which would require them to supplement the addition funds from their own budget, or, if they should just give her the $16.

The women then debate whether they should just give her the money because it probably would not be “judiciously spent” or if they should buy the “very-useful” sewing machine, and possibly risk losing $9 from their ample funds. After all, as the women say, they are not a philanthropy club and “must be just before [they] are generous.”

It was eventually decided that a decision of this gravity (whether or not to help a woman in need) was too much of a mature consideration for that meeting, so they postponed the decision until a later time.

I have not yet reached the meeting where the decision is resolved, but let me tell you, I am truly waiting with baited breath to see what kind of convoluted decision they make in regards to someone a little less fortunate than them.

Posted on by Katie Kazmierski

It’s 1909 and I smell drama

In my last post I mentioned how that week I found a lot in the Board of Manager’s minutes that stuck out to me. The main story I wanted to tell happens to be one that Dr. Cole has asked me to share, too, about a bit of drama that’s recorded in May of 1909.

The entry is from May 8th, 1909, but it refers to events that happened in late December 1908/early January 1909. What struck me initially was that the minutes were supposedly taken by the President, not Miss Lydia Crane, the Recording Secretary. It’s weird though because it all appears to be written in the same handwriting but then there are notes supposedly differentiating between who was writing what; Crane or Wrenshall. Why Wrenshall would be writing as opposed to the Secretary at all, I don’t know and I probably never will know–but I almost get the feeling that she wanted to make sure the story was relayed the way she wanted it to be told.

The matter actually concerns the Edgar Allen Poe Association, the Executive Board of which was, at the time, nearly identical to that of the WLBC. I’ll go into that in a later post–what’s important now is just to know that the Board members of the two groups are almost exactly the same, and so they took up affairs of the EAPA in the WLBC meeting.

The Edgar Allen Poe Association took part in the Centenary of Edgar Allen Poe, a celebration commemorating the 100th anniversary of Poe, held at Johns Hopkins University. The ladies worked closely with a few very important men at the time to organize the event, including the president of the university, Dr. Remson, and a man referred to as Professor Bright, who Wrenshall says Remson appointed as his “representative”. Wrenshall, in a lengthy statement to the Club, tells of three visits she had with Bright, the first two in December planning the program for the celebration. The speakers included the university’s pick, Dr. W. P. Trent, who was designated 40 minutes to speak, and two selections by the EAPA ladies, Dr. Huckel and Mr. Poe, who were to have 20-30 minutes each.

Wrenshall then explains how on their Janaury 6th meeting, Bright insisted that she cut Dr. Huckel’s time speaking to eight to ten minutes, and to reduce Mr. Poe’s to only four to five minutes. So to reiterate: the two speakers chosen by the EAPA were given less time to speak than the Hopkins choice to begin with, but then Bright had the nerve to try to compel Wrenshall to shorten her speakers’ time to nearly nothing.

The minutes read, “To do this Mrs. Wrenshall positively declined,–with difficulty maintaining the position of the speakers as asked by the Association.”

Already, this sounds like an uncomfortable position for Wrenshall to be in, especially for a woman at this point in time. Saying no to a prominent man was considered taboo, so I was impressed with Wrenshall in this moment for standing her ground. But then it gets more complicated.

Apparently, this whole time, Wrenshall was supposed to ask about incorporating a poem, written by Miss Reese, in the celebration. Because the meeting didn’t exactly go swimmingly, she didn’t end up bringing it up. This is ultimately why Wrenshall makes the whole statement on May 8th to begin with: to put it bluntly, Miss Reese is pissed off.

At this point, minutes from the meeting of January 11th are read to the group, recalling that Miss Reese was unhappy with the way matters stood so she insisted on going to Dr. Bright herself to ask permission to read her poem. After some back and forth over whether Wrenshall thought that was “suitable”, it was decided that the President would write a letter to Bright on the Board’s behalf, politely asking for the poem’s inclusion. She did so that night, she insists. After some more trivial commentary in the statement, it’s clear that Wrenshall means business:

In concluding Mrs. Wrenshall said she wished to emphasize the facts: First, that Miss Reese’s poem was not written when the poem was decided on, in Dr. Bright’s two visits of December 15th and 20th. Second, that after hearing from Miss Reese that she had a poem, (this in the last week of the year,) she was willing to forego her own judgment, and ask Dr. Bright for Miss Reese to be placed on the programme, according to the letter asking him to call before the programme was finally arranged.

Thirdly, that when he came on the evening of that day, the situation was so uncomfortable and strained that she could not consistently with the dignity of the Association ask for any further addition to the programme from the Association.”

That third ‘fact’ is what got me. From Wrenshall’s initial description of the encounter with Dr. Bright, I knew it was unpleasant, but that last sentence says it all. It sounds to me like Wrenshall felt helpless. I get the feeling that she did want to support her fellow Club member by including her poem, but the position she was put in with this awful man made it, she felt, impossible to push for it. It would be ‘inappropriate’. It also strikes me how she speaks of how doing so would sacrifice the ‘dignity of the Association’.

At the end of her statement, Wrenshall is met with a chorus of loving expressions of gratitude from her colleagues. They “agreed that [their] President had done all that she could have done under trying circumstances; and more than could have been asked or expected.” The strength of their affectionate response is interesting– in one way, it shows the Club’s dedication and appreciation for their President. But it also might show an underlying understanding–maybe these women reacted as strongly as they did to this particular story because they’d all been there, in one way or another. They’d all had their ideas and passions stifled by a man. Some of them, so much so, that their names have vanished from history in favor of “Mrs.” slapped onto their husband’s full names.

Posted on by Jean Lee Cole

Walking the walk

Tomorrow is a big day in the Aperio project! We’ll meet at 9 at the Bun Shop, then put in a day of work at MDHS (I’ll be there to work with Sydney on some stuff for the first 30 min. or so), and then at the end of the day, we have our walking tour in Bolton Hill.

I’ve lined up Rev. Grey Maggiano, rector of Memorial Episcopal Church, to take us on a tour of the neighborhood, highlighting some of the prominent residents during the period we’re studying. I’ve also asked a neighbor up the street from me at 1220 Bolton, John Hurd, who will give us a tour of his house, which is done up in “period style.” And of course I’ll let you run through my house & meet my dog, Lucy. Possibly we’ll be joined by my husband Matt at some point.

The Altamont Hotel, formerly on the SE corner of Eutaw Pl. and Lanvale (I think).

I’d also like to walk you by a couple of places before we meet up with John & Grey, so could we start our tour at 3:30 at my house (1203 Bolton St.)? That will give us time to see my house, the site where Lydia Crane’s house once stood, the site of the Altamont Hotel, and Sidney Lanier’s house, before we meet up with John at 4pm. The idea with this walking tour is to not just get information about people & places, but to be bodily present for history, so that you can get a better sense of what these women’s lives were like.

On a practical level, wear cool clothing for the tour and good walking shoes, and bring layers to mitigate the chill of the MDHS reading room.

But before all that, I look forward to having coffee with you tomorrow morning, showing you my Very Large Map, and hearing about your research and your thoughts about McGerr’s A Fierce Discontent and Parker’s essay on women in the 1890s. See you at 9 tomorrow morning!

Posted on by Clara Love

Publication

I ran into Dr. Cole on campus this week, and we had a brief chat regarding my upcoming assignment, which is to track how Lizette Woodworth Reese’s poetic career grew and was shaped over the course of her experience with the Club. One thing we touched upon was how determined many members of the Club were to get their works published, or at least to share their own original works with their peers. In thinking about the work I’ve done so far with the Club programs, I’m pleasantly surprised at how frequently these women brought their own literary and artistic talents to the table right alongside readings and discussions of established works of (men’s) literature. Whether they read or presented their own works or had a fellow club member do so for them, I have come across hundreds of instances of original writing and art being given a platform at club meetings.

Reading Sydney’s post about searching for information about Club members when we often have only a husband’s name to work with made me similarly frustrated. Especially in the context of producing original content, it’s a little disheartening to reflect on how little I know or would be able to know about a married woman who wrote something still under her husband’s name. This issue is further complicated in my corner by the fact that very often, the actual titles of the women’s original work is not listed on programs. Instead, title of the reading or presentation was often just something like “A Story,” “Two Poems,” or “A Sketch,” with no further clues as to what it might be about. Sometimes however, this was not so, and I am fortunate to have some actual titles on record. In fact, some readings of original works have titles that include the title of an actual upcoming published volume, particularly Miss Lizette Woodworth Reese, who alongside Miss Virginia Woodward Cloud and a few others, I have noticed reading most frequently.

I’m still curious as to how much of a collaborative process these public readings of original work were, particularly the ones that come from or led to publication. Are the works just labeled “Story,” or “Poem,” works in progress? Did these women provide feedback for each other like a writing workshop, or were they simply enjoying one another’s pieces? I hope to find out more this week as I delve into this topic through the lens of Lizette.

Posted on by Sydney Johnson

Looking Further into who these Women Were

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I have been spending a lot of time working on who was in the Club and where these women lived. Going through all of the names can be overwhelming but also extremely interesting.

Just looking at where women who are non-residents and honorary members is interesting in itself. There are women from California and even England and Paris who are a part of this club.

Something that I have found very helpful if I cannot figure out the spelling of a name is to Google search what I think the name is and then this also sometimes leads to help me learn more about who the women are. The biggest difficulty that I am coming up with is that there are many women who went by their husband’s name, as was customary of the time. I have been able to find some interesting information about some of the men and also some women too.

One woman, Miss Octavia Bates, is originally from Detroit and graduated from Ann Arbor University which is quite a feet for a woman from this time. She was mentioned speaking at many different events in different magazine articles. From addressing the fact that Universities are not academically rigorous enough for women, to being a founding member of a Suffrage Club in Michigan. Bates seems like the type of woman that could potentially make up the minority of the Club, but there is much more to find out.

The past week we were also able to get ahold of some maps that Dr. Cole found at the Maryland Historical Society. These maps were made for insurance pricing purposes and therefore are very detailed and have the numbers of on the street for certain blocks of a neighborhood. Being able to look at a physical map instead of just online and in the time period that we are working with is really cool to try to figure out who is living where.