Clara Harrison Stranahan
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Clara Harrison Stranahan (, Harrison;
pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...
, C. H. Stranahan; April 9, 1831 – January 22, 1905) was an American author and the founder of
Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...
. Long identified with the higher education of women in the United States, she was at one time called "the best educated woman in the United States." She taught in
Troy, Ohio Troy is a city in and the county seat of Miami County, Ohio, Miami County, Ohio, United States, located north of Dayton, Ohio, Dayton. The population was 26,305 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the largest city in Miami Cou ...
and in
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
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, and donated to
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
as a memorial of her father, Seth Harrison. Stranahan was a founder and a trustee of
Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...
. She was a frequent contributor to magazines and other periodicals, and was the author of a work upon French painting. Stranahan was vice-president of the
Emma Willard Emma Hart Willard (February 23, 1787 – April 15, 1870) was an American woman's education activist who dedicated her life to education. She worked in several schools and founded the first school for women's higher education, the Troy Female S ...
Association, composed of alumnae of the
Troy Female Seminary The Emma Willard School, originally called Troy Female Seminary and often referred to simply as Emma, is an independent university-preparatory day and boarding school for young women, located in Troy, New York, on Mount Ida, offering grades 9– ...
, and a member of the
Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote ...
.


Early life and education

Clara Cornelia Harrison was born in
Westfield, Massachusetts Westfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, Hampden County, in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts, United States. Westfield was first settled by Europeans in 1660. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield metrop ...
, April 9, 1831. Descended of an old
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
family, her parents were Seth and Letia (Viets) Stranahan. In her early childhood, her father took his family to northern
Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
for a period of five years, from 1836 to 1841, and there his children had the benefit of the excellent schools of that region. Stranahan afterwards received the advantages of the personal influence of both
Mary Lyon Mary Mason Lyon (; February 28, 1797 – March 5, 1849) was an American pioneer in women's education. She established the Wheaton Female Seminary in Norton, Massachusetts, (now Wheaton College) in 1834. She then established Mount Holyoke Femal ...
and
Emma Willard Emma Hart Willard (February 23, 1787 – April 15, 1870) was an American woman's education activist who dedicated her life to education. She worked in several schools and founded the first school for women's higher education, the Troy Female S ...
in her education, spending one year in
Mount Holyoke Seminary Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...
(1849), going thereafter to the
Troy Female Seminary The Emma Willard School, originally called Troy Female Seminary and often referred to simply as Emma, is an independent university-preparatory day and boarding school for young women, located in Troy, New York, on Mount Ida, offering grades 9– ...
, where she completed the higher course of study instituted by Mrs. Willard.


Career

Stranahan had shown some power as a writer, and as early as her graduation from the Troy Seminary, some of her productions were selected for publication. Thereafter, she published some fugitive articles, a poem or a monograph, as "The Influence of the Medici," in the ''National Quarterly Review'', December, 1863. Her best work was ''A History of French Fainting from its Earliest to its Latest Practice'' (
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 ...
, 1888). She wrote many articles of interest to newspapers, and her opinions carried weight and influence. Before her marriage, she was one of the leaders in educational circles in Brooklyn, and for a number of years, was principal of a private seminary for the higher education of young women, which had an enrollment of two hundred pupils, and fourteen teachers and professors in its various departments. She married Hon.
James S. T. Stranahan James Samuel Thomas Stranahan (April 25, 1808 – September 3, 1898) was a United States Representative from New York, and a municipal official of the City of Brooklyn. Early years Born in Peterboro, Madison County, New York, to Samuel Stran ...
("First Citizen of Brooklyn"), of Brooklyn, in July, 1870. She was again before the public as a member of the Woman's Board, appointed by the New York state commissioners to carry on the work of the
World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordi ...
(1893), and at once was assigned an active part in organizing the Board of Lady Managersfor the Empire state, and was chosen vice-president of the board. She took a firm stand in opposition to the opening of the fair on Sundays, and was the only member of the board who voted in favor of closing the exposition on the Sabbath. She also served as a member of the committee on art, and of the committee on the post office and ''Drum Beat'', the latter a paper issued daily during the continuance of the fair, and of which Dr. Storrs was editor. From the post office, many hundred letters of greatly varied character were distributed. A volume of autograph letters, chiefly from statesmen conspicuous at that time, were collected and bound through her agency, and brought several hundred dollars into the treasury. Stranahan was an active promoter of educational interests. She was a founder of
Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...
, and served as a trustee from its inception in 1889 until her death in 1905. She was also vice—president of the alumnae association of her alma mater. She was an ardent advocate of the higher education of women. She became widely known throughout the country as one of the most prominent members of the Daughters of the American Revolution and was elected one of its vice-presidents-general. Stranahan gave her influence in support of the charities of the city, and for a quarter of a century, was president of the Kings County Visiting Committee of the State Charities Aid Association. For 27 years, she was corresponding secretary of the Society for the Aid of Friendless Women and Children.


Death

Clara Harrison Stranahan died February 12, 1905, at her home in Brooklyn, of
apoplexy Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...
, and was buried at
Green-Wood Cemetery Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope/ Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park, and lies several bl ...
.


Literary reception

''A History of French Painting'' received high praise in artistic and literary circles in the US and in Europe. In a review of the work by Mr. McKeleway of the ''Eagle'', he said:— "Of the things which she might have done and still have had her book pass current as a history, Mrs. Stranahan did neither. She might have contented herself with the dates and names and general allusions, or she might. have made a pleasant little trip along the path of French art development, picking up a few flowers here and there, tying them into chapters and calling them a history. There are few cases in all literature in which the application of the word history is not to a great extent a sort of beneficent libel, but that of Mrs. Stranahan's production is a most notable exception. It needs the eye of no artist, either amateur or professional,to see at a glance what she had to do. There is not a page of the book that does not tell its own eloquent story of toil, which would have shaken the purposes of any but the most resolute of women. The work would have been arduous enough if all the materials which she has utilized had been, by some impossible literary legerdemain, placed at her disposal with due reference to chronology and sequence. What she would still have had to do, even under those conditions, would have been exacting enough to justify the highest praise, for the manner in which she has done it. "Those who know how busy a woman she is, in other than a literary sense, are at a loss to comprehend how she found time to search out what she wanted, to wander among the shadows of the centuries that are gone, and to give them a substance as tangible as if they belonged to yesterday. Tributes to her energy and determination might be made as strong as words can make them,but they are entitled to no precedence over other acknowledgments, upon which her claim is just as clear: the intuitive perceptions of a woman have been reinforced by a grasp and virility usually incident to a 'masculine intelligence. As a matter of fact, many have fallen into the error of supposing that the name on the title page, C. H. Stranahan, belonged to one of the sterner sex. There is not the least sign of uncertainty about the touch anywhere between the covers of the book. It is affirmative, vigorous and decisive, without a suggestion of dogmatism. 1f the material that is to be lifted into place is right, it is handled with a delicacy that is not effeminate; if it is ponderous, there is always in reserve for it a surprising degree of strength. "In her sense of relative importance of things, the author is exceedingly fortunate. Liliputians are not exaggerated into Goliaths, and giants are not dwarfed into pigmies. It is impossible not to admire the discrimination which has been shown throughout. Evidently Mrs. Stranahan’s first care was to see that her own powers of assimilation were in excellent working order. While it is palpable that her appetite for relevant facts was perfectly omnivorous, it is equally manifest that nothing was hastily devoured. It is one thing to set a trap for the artistic honor of by-gone times in France; it is another thing to catch it. Then comes the exercise of the supreme faculty of portrayal, and it is here that Mrs. Stranahan gives a momentum to her work which sends it with a sweep into the front rank. There is much in what she herself says about the true art that is suggestive of her purpose and of the manner in which she fulfills them."


Selected works


By C. H. Stranahan

* ''A History of French Painting'', 1888


References


Attribution

* * * *


Bibliography

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stranahan, Clara Harrison 1831 births 1905 deaths 19th-century American writers 19th-century American women writers People from Westfield, Massachusetts Writers from Massachusetts Mount Holyoke College alumni Emma Willard School alumni Barnard College faculty Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century