On The Trail Of Miss Letta Crapo Smith, 789 E. Jefferson

I don't remember where I first ran across this picture of her..it was probably while researching the Scarab Club. The inscription on the back of the photo reads, "Letta Crapo-Smith daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H.H.H. Crapo-Smith. The first person from Detroit to have a picture in the Paris Salon. Helen E. Keep". 

Photo from the American Archives of Art, Smithsonian Institution

I was fascinated. Who was she? Why had I never heard of her before? What kind of life did this Victorian cameo out of "Little Women" lead?

Several others had stumbled across this photo and shared what meager information they could find, but they didn't have the advantage of being in Detroit. The clues on the web were sparse. She was granddaughter of a Michigan governor, Henry Howland Crapo. I found few photos of her works. Tantalizingly, I found an article about an exhibition going on in Holland that includes her.

References to shows with the Detroit Society of Women Painters gave me my best leads. After some false starts and dead ends, I went to the mecca of those searching for Detroit's past, the Burton Historical Collection at the Detroit Public Library.

To tell her story, I must first introduce you to the cast of characters that was her family. Her grandfather, Henry Howland Crapo, had come from Bristol, Massachusetts to make his fortune in lumber and railroads. He had a huge farm near Swartz Creek that even had its own railroad and train station. He became mayor of Flint, then a State Senator when she was born, and would be governor of Michigan from 1865 to 1868. He died in 1869 seven months after retiring from office.

He had ten children...Mary Ann Crapo, William Wallace Crapo (stayed in New Bedford, became the head of Wamsutta Mills, and one of his sons, Stanford Tappan Crapo, was a prominent Detroit businessman who looked after the family's Michigan railroad and forestry interests), Rebecca Folger Crapo (whose son William Durant b. 1861, a cousin and contemporary to our heroine, would go on to found General Motors), Sarah Bush Crapo, Lucy Anna Crapo (our heroine's mother), Rhoda Macomber Crapo, Henrietta Pell Crapo (who died at 26 in 1866, less than a year after marrying), Lydia Sherman Crapo, Emma Eliza Crapo, and Wilhelmina Helena Crapo.

Lucy Anna Crapo married someone she must have known from her childhood in New Bedford (for he was named after her father), Humphrey Henry Howland Crapo Smith, in 1858. They had two children. Henrietta Crapo Smith (the star of our story) was born on July 4th, 1862. Crapo Cornell Smith, her younger brother, who became a lawyer and an eccentric, was born on May 22, 1868 and left $1,000,000 to the University of Michigan for scholarships when he died in 1948.

Photo of the Detroit Museum of Art, E. Jefferson Avenue, from the Burton Historical Collection.

I can only guess at her childhood, for Letta, as she was always known, makes her first appearance in public documents in the photo above. She was around eighteen years old in the photo. Her father managed lumberyards near the waterfront for her grandfather. In Detroit, her extended family of Crapos lived in mansions in the best neighborhoods... in Flint, it was the same. There were large family gatherings at the fourteen hundred acre Crapo Farm. Descendants of Letta's cousins tell stories of summers on the farm, the swimming hole, maple-sugaring, hay wagons, and the largest herd of Hereford cattle in North America. There must have been visits back east to family and friends... perhaps there were visits to her brother and cousins who went to Harvard, like her Uncle William. 

I imagine her being interested in drawing and painting at an early age, and perhaps taking lessons from the best art teacher in town, Julius Melchers, whose son Gari, only two years older than Letta, would go on to play an important role in her development as an artist. Her mother Lucy Anna was an early supporter of the Detroit Museum of Art. The name Mrs. H.H.H. Crapo Smith appears regularly in reports on fundraising and operations for the new museum, including an 1894 annual report.

Her twenties and thirties are somewhat shrouded in mystery. When she was twenty-one, her mother was chair of the committee for acquiring foreign artworks to be loaned to the Detroit Art Loan Exhibition of 1883. It seems clear that she traveled to England, France, Italy, and Holland, studying art and painting during this period, although a record of dates is elusive. Sometime in the 1890's, she studied in Paris at the Academie Julian. She had a picture in the World's Fair of 1893, and in an Art Institute of Chicago show in 1898. Her pictures were shown in the Paris Salon in 1901 and 1902, according to Clarence Burton, and possibly earlier, according to the World's Fair book author and Helen Keep (Helen, as an amateur historian and a meticulous record-keeper, would not have been mistaken about this). In Detroit, Letta studied with Julius Rolshoven and Gari Melchers, in New York, with William Merritt Chase, in Paris, with William Adolphe Bouguereau, in Holland with George Hitchcock. Rolshoven did a pastel portrait of her, catalogued in the family papers at U of M Flint, and mentioned in the card catalog of the Burton Collection.

Below, photo of Letta Crapo Smith's studio, from the Burton Historical Collection

I believe the large painting was exhibited in Paris, and also at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

She lived with her parents and bachelor brother at 789 E. Jefferson. Her studio, shown above, was on the top floor. The home no longer stands, but others of the same era give us a glimpse of how it looked. It would have been located between today's University Club and Garden Court Condominiums (neither there in her time), near Chene. Jefferson Avenue was a tree-lined residential street, a mix of new mansions and some of the oldest homes of the city's earliest residents. Letta's friend Helen Elizabeth Keep, a painter and amateur historian, lived nearby at 799 E. Jefferson with her parents in 1885. She would have passed Senator James McMillan's home (where the University Club now stands) on her way downtown.

Photo below of James McMillan residence from the Burton Historical Collection

Here are some details from nearby homes of her day that still stand....

After 1900, her steps become easier to trace. The most clearly documented period of Letta's life is about to begin, revealed by her involvement with the Detroit Society of Women Painters.

She was a founding member in 1903, along with Mary Chase Perry and a bevy of other familiar Detroit names, four years before the Hopkin Club began (which would become the Scarab Club).

From the very first entry in the book of the secretary's minutes:

Photo of the secretary's book of minutes, the Detroit Society of Women Painters, from the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library

NEXT WEEK: Letta leads the Detroit Society of Women Painters, visits an art colony in Holland, goes to Japan, and a list of her known works.

Other resources for this post:
My thanks to the librarians at the Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library for their assistance, and to Maria Ketcham at the Detroit Institute of Art's research library. I also learned much from the following publications:
Dutch Utopia:  American Artists in Holland, 1880-1914
  Telfair Museum of Art, 2009, by Annette Stott and Holly Koons McCullough
Artists of Michigan From the Nineteenth Century
  Muskegon Museum of Art, 1987
  Chapter on Letta Crapo Smith, by Annette Stott
History of the Detroit Society of Women Painters
  1953, by Julia Gatlin Moore

On The (Cold) Trail Of A Woman Artist At The Scarab Club

If you are familiar with the Scarab Club, you will know why the trail was so cold. The Scarab Club did not admit women as members until 1962, and my mystery woman was gone long before then. Clueless suburbanite/intrepid explorer that I am, I have never been to the Scarab Club before today. The list of things I have never seen in my home city grows infinitesimally shorter.

From their website, "The Scarab Club was founded in 1907 by a group of artists and art lovers who enjoyed meeting regularly to discuss art and socialize." I had read that before, but I did not get as far as the fine print in the timeline about 1962 being when women could play, nor did I notice the absence of women in the vintage photos. The woman I am looking for was an early president of the Detroit Society of Women Painters and Sculptors. Somewhere in my head, I hear a voice. "That would be why she had her own club", it prods. Duh. Onward.

In 1928, the members built their own building, full of arts & crafts era...well...art and craftsmanship. I climb the stairs to enter the storied second floor room where artists like Diego Rivera have an eighty-three year tradition of autographing its wooden beams. The old wood glows with late autumn sun through the leaded glass windows. The furniture, some of it original, has been arranged based on old photos.

Above the fireplace is Paul Honore's 1928 mural, The Scarab Family Tree.

details...

 Next to the fireplace....I was so enthralled with the form of this that I paid no attention to what it is, I'm afraid...although she seems to have been scantily clad for 1928. Right, men only back in the day. Maybe she's a more modern addition.

 One of a pair of simple tile-topped tables...the skyline of an earlier Detroit.

Almost all the interior doors have small leaded glass insets that signify the room's intent. I will regretfully refrain from another men's club comment here. You will have to think up your own bad joke.

Back on the first floor, past the main gallery, beyond a sweep of leaded glass french doors, a courtyard garden awaits...

Women artists are, of course, currently welcome at the Scarab Club. They were well-represented in the two photography exhibitions on view till November 21st.  Entranced by the building and its ghosts, I had to shake myself back to the present to take in the new works. 

The Scarab Club has a great website here. It hosts a wide range of events - drawing classes, music recitals, lectures, writing workshops, photography exhibitions, and so forth. The galleries are open to the public Wednesday through Sunday from 12-5. On a quiet Saturday afternoon, I had that amazing second floor room to myself. It was easy to imagine that I had slipped through a window in time. It's also easy to imagine it full of life and light and crowds for upcoming events like Noel Night, Midtown's annual holiday celebration. 

You know that new Detroit Shoppe* at Somerset? Come here instead. Sure, we suburban Detroiters mostly go to the Venetian instead of Venice.... the Bellagio instead of Lake Como.... it's cheaper, closer, and we speak the language. But if you had the choice, wouldn't you rather have the real thing? Eight Mile is not an international border.

*If you're at Somerset anyway, and you're not coming downtown, by all means support the Detroit Shoppe. The proceeds go to some very deserving non-profits and arts organizations.

All The Cool Neighborhoods Have Them

If you've been living under a rock for the past year, or you studiously avoid any mention of Detroit in your reading, you might not know that community gardens have been "sprouting" (forgive me, I can't resist it) almost as fast as hipsters around town. Companion planting in action?

According to the Garden Resource Program Collaborative, there are now more than 875 community gardens in the city.


They look a little different in each neighborhood, but they function as literal and figurative village greens for their surrounding blocks. People get to know each other over a shovel, gather for picnics and barbecues, and rebuild ties that used to be the norm in neighborhoods. In Woodbridge, with its abundance of artists and creative minds, the garden has an element of open-air gallery and sculpture garden.

...aftermath of Halloween festivities in the garden

There actually ARE a few good grocery stores in Detroit, in spite of what some lame-o media lemmings write. However, it is true that many Detroiters lack cars and therefore lack easy access to fresh, inexpensive food.

...late bloomers with grand old homes of Woodbridge in the background....

Wherever you live, imagine that you can only buy your food at the closest 7-11, or from the gas station mini-mart....and you have to walk, ride your bike, or take the bus there....with your two small children in tow. That's the option and pricing that many Detroiters live with.

If you want to read more about people trying to fix this, check out these sites:
The Garden Resource Program - an umbrella organization for many of the area's urban agriculture resources and gardens
Earthworks Urban Farm - founded by the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, this is one of the earliest (1997) and most established programs in Detroit's urban ag world
Georgia Street Community Collective Garden - with a tag line of "one house, one block, one neighborhood at a time", GSCC is a testament to one man's ability to change and grow his corner of Detroit. Mark Covington rocks.
Detroit Black Community Food Security Network -coordinating urban ag efforts in Detroit's black community, helping develop city food policy, and co-operative buying

A Little Nature Zoo With Big Ideas

Conservation, natural history, ecology. On one hand, it seems like a ferocious uphill battle to interest children of the internet in these concepts. On the other hand, what child wouldn't be fascinated by close-up views of giant spiders, snakes, turtles, frogs, birds, bees, and other exotic (to city kids) creatures? Especially for Halloween.

I visited the Belle Isle Nature Zoo at the end of a day it had hosted hundreds of kids for its annual "Boo at the Nature Zoo" event. The parking lot was still full. Smiling and laughing costumed children were followed by happy parents. You could tell it was a successful day by the general air of bonhomie.

Door greeter and a selection of the many creatures inside...

the indoor bird watching area.....bird watching can be a serious sport on Belle Isle. If you doubt me, read here.

Bees making honey...

The Nature Zoo started with a few strikes against it when it opened in 2005. Many Detroiters remember feeding free-roaming deer on the island as kids, and weren't especially excited about seeing the remains of the herd in their enclosed home. Also, the Nature Zoo was built as a pet project of Kwame Kilpatrick to funnel money to his friends, after he closed down the much larger and more elaborate Children's Zoo on the island.

On the way to where the deer live...

An outdoor classroom....

The main attraction....kids can feed them at 11, 1, and 3 o'clock.

However, nowadays the Nature Zoo is run by the Detroit Zoo. Its checkered history isn't their fault, and they seem to be doing a great job of running an interesting, fun, FREE attraction 362 days a year. 

The focus is on plants and animals native to Michigan, with a dose of environmentalism.

Kid-friendly model of how a watershed works...

The lobby has an inviting stone fireplace...(complete with kid playing on his portable video game... oh, snap. Maybe he is working on a class project.) This little nature zoo would be a cheery, cozy retreat when it is cold and snowy outside. Remember this in January..open 362 days a year 10-5.

The outdoor exhibits and nature trail were the highlights for me, especially in the golden glow of a late autumn afternoon. There are demonstration gardens in several flavors - rain, butterfly, native plantings, etc.

The Friends of Belle Isle offer regular Saturday morning outings most of the year to fight off the unwanted invaders, including this coming November 13th...

With or without kids in tow, this little nature zoo has many enchanting nooks and crannies to explore. I look forward to visiting again after the snow falls.

From A Different Lighthouse

I spend September in denial about the end of summer, refusing offers of socks and sleeves. Every possible moment of the shortening light is spent outside, to the exclusion of indoor things like... blog writing. My apologies for being away, but I sincerely hope you did not notice or miss me, in the midst of your own end-of-summer celebrations. Plenty of time for being cooped up with the laptop, reading and writing, in the grey months to come.

In case you stayed in the city or aren't from around these parts, here's what Up North was like....