Alzira Handforth Peirce Albaugh (née Boehm; January 31, 1908 – June 19, 2010) was an American artist.

Early life

She and her siblings moved to

Circle, Montana Circle is a town in and the county seat of McCone County, Montana, United States. The population was 591 at the 2020 census. The community was so named because a rancher there branded his cattle with the image of a circle. Geography Circle is lo ...

, to live as homesteaders after their father, August Abraham Boehm, died. Their mother, Hazel Hunter Handforth (born September 12, 1883,

Huntsville, Missouri Huntsville is a city in Randolph County, Missouri, United States. The population was 1,376 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Randolph County. History Randolph County was organized February 2, 1829, and Huntsville was established as th ...

- died circa 1957,

Central Islip, New York Central Islip is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) within the Town of Islip, New York, Islip in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 34,450 at the 2010 c ...

) was a suffragette, a homesteader, and later, a restaurateur in New York's

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

in the 1920s. Her father, August Abraham Boehm (born 1880, Vienna, Austria-Hungary – died 1916), was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n-born''American Jewish Year Book'', Vol. 15 (1913-14), p. 269
accessed May 3, 2012.

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

real estate developer of Jewish descent. August Boehm had graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1901 but was affected by the

panic of 1907 The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic or Knickerbocker Crisis, was a financial crisis that took place in the United States over a three-week period starting in mid-October, when the New York Stock Exchange fell almost 50% from ...

in which his own father, Abraham Boehm (1841, Germany - 1912, New York), a German-born Jewish

real estate developer, lost most of his fortune. Boehm & Coon (est. 1882) had commissioned one of New York's first

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

s, the 11-story Diamond Exchange Building (1893–94), as well as The Langham, a prestigious

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

apartment building. The elder Boehm partnered with Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim in introducing gas engines to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Growing up in

McCone County, Montana McCone County is a county located in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,729. Its county seat is Circle. The county was created in 1919. It was named for State Senator George McCone, who had been one of the ...

, Alzira played the harmonica, drew, and rode horses. When she was 13 she returned to New York and sought employment through one of her paternal uncles, an architect. In New York she studied at the Art Students League and later traveled to Paris to study. She painted, sculpted, and drew many works of art. Her poetry was published in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

''.

Career

She taught art to sailors on leave at the

International Seamen's Union The International Seamen's Union (ISU) was an American maritime trade union which operated from 1892 until 1937. In its last few years, the union effectively split into the National Maritime Union and Seafarer's International Union. The early yea ...

. One of her students was the cartoonist Gahan Wilson. Her art exhibitions were cited in "Who was Who in American Art" page 477 Biographies of American Artists Active from 1898-1947, by Sound View Press 1985. She worked for the Red Cross during World War II for nearly two years. She was captain of the

American Red Cross Motor Corps American Red Cross Motor Corps (also known as American Red Cross motor service) was founded in 1917 by the American Red Cross (ARC). The service was composed of women and it was developed to render supplementary aid to the U.S. Army and Navy in tr ...

and was the chief of motor corps training of the Rockland County Civilian Protection Group. She worked organizing units of the driving Corps, training them, and supervising their operations. She rose from officer to captain and conducted the training unit for O.C.D. Drivers training. She was assigned to a district of the park system which included a section of the Palisades Interstate Park Police, Fourth Precinct, Second District

Rockland Lake, New York Rockland Lake State Park is a state park located in the hamlets of Congers, New York, Congers and Valley Cottage, New York, Valley Cottage in the eastern part of the Clarkstown, New York, Town of Clarkstown in Rockland County, New York, Rockland ...

, June 7, 1942. Alzira Peirce was also cited by the municipality of Haverstraw, Rockland County, New York on September 26, 1942 for her work with the motor corps. After leaving the Army, Waldo and Alzira Peirce divorced. Waldo was 24 years her senior; she had become Peirce's third wife in 1930; the couple had three children, Mellen Chamberlain "Bill" Peirce, Michael Peirce, and Anna Peirce. Anna predeceased her mother. Mellen Chamberlain Peirce is an active poet and playwright who lives in London. His wife is Gareth Peirce, the human rights activist attorney for the Birmingham Six and Gerry Conlon and the Guildford Four.

Emma Thompson Dame Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is a British actress. Regarded as one of the best actresses of her generation, she has received numerous accolades throughout her four-decade-long career, including two Academy Awards, two British A ...

was nominated for an Oscar playing Gareth in the 1993 movie ''In The Name of the Father'', with Daniel Day-Lewis also nominated for his role as Conlon. Alzira married again to Chuck Albaugh having her fourth child, Kathleen Swoboda. She was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Art, a

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

agency, to paint two murals. In 1938 she completed ''Ellsworth, Lumber Port'' in Ellsworth, Maine and in 1939 ''Shipwreck at Night'' in South Portland, Maine. An avid artist, she created many sculptures, paintings, and drawings. She moved to New Mexico and worked as an organizer for the

United Mine Workers The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the Unit ...

union.

Death

Alzira Peirce Albaugh died in 2010, aged 102, from

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

Brighton, Massachusetts Brighton is a Municipal annexation in the United States, former town and current Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, located in the northwestern corner of the city. It is named after the English city of ...

. She was survived by her two sons, her younger daughter; Kathleen, and nine grandchildren.Obituary
legacy.com; accessed October 29, 2014.

Affiliations

National Society of Mural Painters

Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peirce, Alzira 1908 births 2010 deaths Artists from Montana Painters from New York City American centenarians American women painters American women trade unionists American people of German-Jewish descent Deaths from sepsis People from McCone County, Montana 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women artists Women centenarians Trade unionists from Montana Trade unionists from New York (state) 21st-century American women