Object Record
Images
Additional Images [3]
Metadata
Object Name |
Album, Autograph |
Date |
1877-1881 |
Description |
Autograph album that belonged to Grace Hustace Simonson of Staten Island. The album has a textured brown cover with a gold printed inscription on the front: "Autographs." The album contains signatures, verses, and drawings. Some of the pages have decorations or cards glued to them, or inserted loose between pages; loose items include two small pieces of paper with circular designs, and pressed plants. Signatures and dates include: Leo Simonson, Clifton, 1877 E. Alice Austen, Clifton, 1877 A.E.L. Kennedy, Cooper Institute C.B. Woodruff, Stapleton, 1881 Lulu Britton, 1881 E. Amos, 1878 Louise E. Turner, 1881 Mary Stryker Butler, 1877 Catherine L. Gibson, Fort Wadsworth, March 1881 Annie Hustace, 1877 Mary Amos, 1879 Marian Britton, 1881 Effie Starin, 1878 Bella McKean, Clifton, 1881 Martha L. Hustace, 1877 Marion C. McAndrew, 1881 Susette Ripley, Linden Hill, 1881 Augusta Hustace, 1877, New York City Alice M. Butler, 1877, with inscription "Remember our school days at Miss Erringtons" Amy B. Wadsworth, Clifton Julie T. Marsh, Clifton, 1877 (Keywords: New York) |
Acquisition |
Gift of Dr. Lawrence Simonson |
Ownership and History |
Grace Hustace Simonson (1865-1939) was a childhood friend of Alice Austen, and they remained friends after the Simonson family moved to Harlem in 1881. As an adult, Grace worked as a designer of silks and wallpapers. Her work was described in the article "Women As Designers" in the publication "Public Opinion" in 1905: "At first glimpse, the workshop of Grace Hustace Simonson is deliciously suggestive of rose gardens, fragrant woods, and ponds of drooping lilies. On easel and drawing-table are flower-strewn patterns for soft draperies and tapestries, and scattered here and there are yards and yards of woven blossoms -- reproductions in silk of Miss Simonson's fascinating work...Miss Simonson is special designer for Cheney Brothers, of New York, one of the largest firms of silk manufacturers in America. Much of her work is done in her studio at Pelham Heights, and in her uptown studio in New York City...There is a grace and delicacy in her work which bespeaks the artist, and that she is a worker for so prominent a firm of manufacturers establishes her success as a finished designer." |
Earliest Date |
1877 |
Latest Date |
1881 |
Subjects |
Children Schools Autographs Drawings Friendship |
Lexicon Sub-category |
Documentary Artifact |
Associated People |
Simonson, Grace Hustace Austen, E. Alice Alburger, Mary S. (Butler) Parmele, Alice (Butler) McAndrew, Marion Child Ripley, Susan S. Lord, Julia (Marsh) Bourne, Isabella (McKean) Jessup, Marian (Britton) Errington, Harriet Notcutt |
Catalog Number |
69.002.0005 |
Support Acknowledgment |
Online Collections Database record made possible by the Staten Island Historical Society, July 2019. |
Legal Status |
Items represented here are from the collections of the Staten Island Historical Society. Materials reproduced for personal non-commercial use must credit the Staten Island Historical Society. Commercial licensing is available. |