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

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

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. 1 2 "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. 1 2 3 4 5 "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. 1 2 3 "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. 1 2 3 "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. 1 2 3 "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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