Clara Edmunds Hemingway

Clara Edmunds Hemingway (October 4, 1878 – December 31, 1958) was an American poet, editor, composer, and contralto singer, based in the Chicago area.

Clara Edmunds Hemingway
A middle-aged white woman, dark hair dressed up from her neck and shoulders, wearing a dark lace-trimmed dress with a v-neckline
Clara Edmunds Hemingway, from a 1920 publication
BornOctober 4, 1878
Tuscola, Michigan
DiedDecember 31, 1958(1958-12-31) (aged 80)
Benton Harbor, Michigan
Occupation(s)Singer, poet, composer, editor

Early life

Clara A. Edmunds was born in Tuscola, Michigan, the daughter of Dennis Bowen Edmunds and Florence Davis Edmunds.[1] Her father was a farmer when she was born, but later owned a veneer mill.[2][3] She graduated from Benton Harbor High School.[4][5]

Career

Edmunds Hemingway was a noted contralto singer, whistler, and dramatic reader.[3][6] She gave recitals, mainly in the American midwest.[4][7][8] During World War I, she gave free recitals to raise funds for the Red Cross.[9] One of her programs, "Stories in Stone" or "Rock Pictures", involved Lake Michigan rocks that she had painted to resemble Biblical figures, and her stories about them.[10][11] Her original songs were popular with other touring singers in the early twentieth century United States.[12][13]

Edmunds Hemingway published a book of sonnets, Oak Roots (1931).[14][15] Her poems were published in a variety of collections and periodicals,[3][4] and read over the radio.[16] Some of her poems were written in Scots dialect,[17] for example "She Slippit Awa'", which begins, "She slippit awa' sae peacefu' lak".[18] She also collected old songs and tunes.[17]

Edmunds Hemingway was a member of the National League of American Pen Women,[10] the Illinois Woman's Press Association[3] and the Gary Women's Press Club.[19] She served on the Indiana and Illinois state boards of the Federation of Music Clubs.[10][20] She had a poetry column in Viewpoints, a Chicago women's magazine.[17] She was book review editor of Driftwind, a poetry magazine.[21] She contributed a poem to the Bahá'í publication World Order,[22] and wrote reviews for American Poetry Magazine.[23] "Wherever there is a radio, a periodical, a newspaper one is sure to find the name of Clara Edmunds Hemingway," declared a 1929 profile.[3]

Personal life

Clara Edmunds married banker and real estate broker Ray Rolfe Hemingway in 1900.[24] They had a daughter, Florence. Clara Edmunds Hemingway died in 1958, at a nursing home in Benton Harbor, Michigan, aged 80 years.[1][25] Her papers are held in the Chicago History Museum.[26]

References
  1. "Multi-Talented City Resident Dies at Age 80". The News-Palladium. 1959-01-02. p. 12. Retrieved 2021-09-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. "D.B. Edmunds Passes Away Late Sunday" The News Palladium (February 22, 1926): 8. via Newspapers.com
  3. "Many Talents Bring Fame to Former Benton Harbor Girl, Poet-Singer". The News-Palladium. 1929-06-18. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-09-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Clara Edmunds-Hemingway Gives Recital Here Monday". The News-Palladium. 1931-05-16. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-09-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Local Scene Inspires New Poem by Famous Writer". The News-Palladium. 1931-04-13. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-09-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. The Musical Blue Book of America. Musical Blue Book Corporation. 1919. p. 91.
  7. "Clara Edmunds-Hemingway, Composer-Contralto". The Music News. 12: 36. March 19, 1920.
  8. "Former Local Girl Wins Praise". The News-Palladium. 1915-06-05. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-09-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Clara Edmunds-Hemingway". The Music News. 9: 14. August 31, 1917.
  10. "Story of Ambitions Realized, and First Wedding, Interesting". The News-Palladium. 1941-12-31. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-09-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Clara Edmunds Hemingway to be Guest Entertainer". The Herald-Press. 1945-06-09. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-09-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Mme. Edmunds Hemingway" Music News 13(February 18, 1921): 21.
  13. "A List of New Songs Made by Clara Edmunds Hemingway". Music News. 12: 10. January 2, 1920.
  14. Hemingway, Clara Edmunds (1931). Oak Roots.
  15. "Clara Edmunds Hemingway Publishes Book of Sonnets". The News-Palladium. 1932-01-15. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-09-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. "Poems to be Read Via Air". The News-Palladium. 1929-09-21. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-09-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. "Sonnet by Former Local Woman is Prize Winner". The News-Palladium. 1930-11-21. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-09-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. Preston, Keith (1924). Column Poets. P. Covici. p. 113.
  19. Indiana Writers' Program; Federal Writers' Project (1939). The Calumet region historical guide. p. 50.
  20. "Indiana Federation of Music Clubs". The Musical Monitor. 6: 240. January 1917.
  21. "New Honors Accorded to Former Sister City Girl". The Herald-Press. 1937-01-27. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-09-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. Edmunds Hemingway, Clara (November 1944). "Faith Must Stand". World Order. 10: 244 – via Internet Archive.
  23. Edmunds Hemingway, Clara (April 1934). "Book Chat". American Poetry Magazine. 14: 21.
  24. "New Home for Ray Hemingway". The News-Palladium. 1961-06-22. p. 29. Retrieved 2021-09-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. "Mrs. Clara Hemingway Dies at Age of Eighty". The Herald-Press. 1959-01-02. p. 12. Retrieved 2021-09-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. Finding aid for the Clara Edmunds-Hemingway Papers at Chicago History Museum.
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