Dora Erway
A white woman with wavy light hair, wearing black
Dora Wetherbee (later Erway), from the 1926 yearbook of Cornell University
Born
Dora Ella Wetherbee

November 19, 1889
Fitchburg, Massachusetts
DiedDecember 5, 1976
Ithaca, New York
Occupation(s)Home economist, college professor, artist
SpouseEdgar W. Erway

Dora Wetherbee Erway (November 19, 1889 – December 5, 1976) was an artist and home economist on the faculty of Cornell University from 1921 to 1958. She is best remembered today for the Dora Erway Doll Collection, a set of 37 dolls in elaborate historical costumes, made by her students in the 1920s.

Early life and education

Dora Ella Wetherbee was born and raised in Fitchburg, Massachusetts,[1] the daughter of Vernon Wetherbee and Iola E. Wetherbee (later Nutting). Her father was a contractor.[2] Her parents divorced in 1894.[3]

She graduated from Massachusetts Normal Art School in 1912,[4] and attended summer programs at the Commonwealth Art Colony in Boothbay Harbor, Maine for several years. She traveled widely[5] and made further studies as possible, ranging freely across disciplines and institutions.[6] Her art teachers included Cyrus Edwin Dallin and Albert Henry Munsell.[7]

Career

Erway taught art at the high school and college level as a young woman. She was a professor of color and design in the College of Home Economics at Cornell from 1921 to 1958.[6][8] She was acting head of the Household Art Department in 1944 and 1945. She served on the advisory board of the Journal of Home Economics, and chaired a national committee of the American Home Economics Association.[7] She lectured on textile history and other subjects to community groups.[9]

She spent much of a sabbatical year in 1955 in South America, studying "Inca civilization and culture."[10] She also made wood carvings,[11] and painted in watercolors and oils,[12][13] and exhibited her paintings and carvings in several gallery shows,[14] including a one-woman show in New York City.[6]

Personal life

Dora Wetherbee married insurance agent Edgar William Erway[15] in the mid-1920s. Her husband was born in 1906, 16 years her junior.[16] She died in 1976, at the age of 87, in Ithaca, New York.[17] The Dora Erway Doll Collection at Cornell includes 37 dolls made in the 1920s by students in Erway's sewing classes,[18] dressed in historical costumes using fabric scraps and, sometimes, their own hair.[19][20][21]

References

  1. ↑ "High School Notes". Fitchburg Sentinel. 1913-04-02. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ "Vernon Wetherbee". Fitchburg Sentinel. 1938-07-05. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Mismated Couples". The Boston Globe. 1894-06-14. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ Lang, Susan S. (February 21, 2008). "An 80-year-old student project revealed in the guise of dolls". Cornell Chronicle. Retrieved 2023-06-28.
  5. ↑ "Mrs. Erway Leaves to Tour the World". The Ithaca Journal. 1930-01-28. p. 7. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. 1 2 3 White, M. Vivian, and Ruth B. Comstock, "Dora W. Erway, November 19, 1889 – December 5, 1976)" In memoriam files, Office of the Dean of the University Faculty, Cornell University.
  7. 1 2 "Mrs. Erway, 87, Cornell Professor Emeritus, Dies". Ithaca Journal. December 6, 1976. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Good Aids Taste in Wise Spending Says Dora Erway". The Ithaca Journal. 1929-02-12. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Textile History Traced in Talk". The Ithaca Journal. 1937-01-08. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Professor Erway to Make Trip". The Ithaca Journal. 1955-06-17. p. 7. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ Thomas, Dorothy Welty (1957-02-13). "Ithaca Artists; White Art Museum". The Ithaca Journal. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Works of 22 Ithaca Artists in Exhibit at Hill Gallery Sponsored by Garden Club". The Ithaca Journal. 1933-10-18. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "Ithaca Artists". The Ithaca Journal. 1957-02-09. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-06-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "Museum to Show Water Colors". The Ithaca Journal. 1957-05-31. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ Erway, Edgar William (1927). A Study of the Lumber Industry and Its Merchandising Problems. Cornell University.
  16. ↑ "Obituary for Edgar W. Erway". The Ithaca Journal. 1977-10-17. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ "Mrs. Erway Dies; CU Prof Emeritus". The Post-Standard. 1976-12-07. p. 26. Retrieved 2023-06-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ Schoch, Deborah (1979-04-24). "These dolls are clothed in history". The Ithaca Journal. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ "Guide to the Dora Erway doll collection, 1924–1928". Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library. Retrieved 2023-06-28.
  20. ↑ Iacchei, J. M. (March 17, 2020). "Rehousing the Dora Erway Doll Collection: A custom-fitting". Cornell University Library Conservation. Retrieved 2023-06-28.
  21. ↑ "Library displays historically costumed dolls". The Ithaca Journal. 2008-12-20. p. 11. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
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