Isabelle Sprague Smith, also Isabelle Dwight Sprague Smith (November 11, 1861 – December 28, 1950) was an American artist, teacher, and school principal until the mid-1920s. Her students donated the Isabelle D. Sprague Smith Studio to the
MacDowell Colony
MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States, founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDowel ...
, where she was a member, by 1918. She was director of the
People's Institute of New York. Sprague Smith was president of the
Bach Festival A Bach festival is a music festival held to celebrate the memory of the German composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). Various locations throughout the world hold festivals dedicated to Bach. A notable example is the Bachfest Leipzig, held ea ...
in New York, and the founder of the Bach Festival in Winter Park, Florida in 1935.
Personal life and education
Isabelle Dwight was born on November 11, 1861 in
Clinton, New York, the daughter of Benjamin W. Dwight and Wealthy J. Dewey Dwight.
Her uncle was
Theodore William Dwight
Theodore William Dwight (1822–1892) was an American jurist and educator, cousin of Theodore Dwight Woolsey and of Timothy Dwight V.
Biography
Theodore William Dwight was born in Catskill, New York on July 18, 1822. His father was Benjamin Wo ...
, the head of
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...
, and her great-grandfather was
Timothy Dwight IV
Timothy Dwight (May 14, 1752January 11, 1817) was an American academic and educator, a Congregationalist minister, theologian, and author. He was the eighth president of Yale College (1795–1817).
Early life
Timothy Dwight was born May 14, 17 ...
, was the president of
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
and before that was chaplain of General
Samuel Holden Parsons
Samuel Holden Parsons (May 14, 1737 – November 17, 1789) was an American lawyer, jurist, generalHeitman, ''Officers of the Continental Army'', 428. in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and a pioneer to the Ohio Countr ...
's brigade during the
Revolutionary War. She attended Dwight School in Clinton, in which her father was the founder and principal,
and then studied art at the
Art Students League of New York and in Paris.
She married
Charles Sprague Smith
Charles Sprague Smith (1853-1910) was a Columbia University professor, best known for being the founder and director of the People's Institute.
Early life and education
Sprague Smith was born on August 27, 1853 in Andover, Massachusetts to Caroli ...
, a
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 ...
professor and a social progressive, on November 11, 1884 in
Clinton, New York. They had a daughter, Hilda,
on September 18, 1885,
and lived at 29 W. 68th Street in
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 ...
beginning by 1903.
The Sprague Smiths were on the New York Social Register. Charles was seriously ill with pneumonia and died on March 29
or 30 in 1910.
Hilda attended Velton School for Girls.
She studied politics, history and economics and graduated from
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United ...
in 1909.
On November 1, 1915, she married Victor Starzenski, the son of Polish Count Maurice and Countess Anna Starzenski.
where he worked at General Electric as an engineer.
She was back to Hilda Sprague Smith in 1929.
In 1935, Sprague Smith had a Spanish-style house built for her in
Winter Park, Florida
Winter Park is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 30,183 according to the 2022 census population estimate. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Winter Park was f ...
that was designed by
James Gamble Rogers II. Hilda died in 1942.
Isabelle established the Hilda Sprague-Smith Fund for the purchase of books about history at the Bryn Mawr College Library in her memory. After a brief illness, Sprague Smith died on December 28, 1950.
Career
New York
Sprague Smith was an art teacher, and the principal of
Veltin School for Girls Veltin School for Girls was a private school founded by Louise Veltin in 1886 in Manhattan, New York. Veltin and Isabelle Dwight Sprague Smith were the school's principals.
The school was initially located at 175 West 73rd Street, but moved in 18 ...
from 1900.
to 1925.
She worked as an artist, and had a
Carnegie Hall studio by 1903.
Sprague Smith was a director of the
MacDowell Club The MacDowell Clubs in the United States were established at the turn of the twentieth century to honor internationally recognized American composer Edward MacDowell. They became part of a broader social movement to promote music and other art forms ...
and by 1903 was a member of the
Woman's Art Club of New York The Woman's Art Club of New York was founded in New York City in 1889 and provided a means for social interaction and marketing of women's works of art. The club accepted members from the United States and abroad. In 1913, the group changed its name ...
.
She was director of Arden Studios at 160 W. 74th Street (the same location as Veltin School) by 1915. She was a member of the MacDowell Colony
and by 1918, 31 of Sprague Smith's students funded the creation of the Isabelle D. Sprague Smith studio at the MacDowell Colony, an artist colony in
Peterborough, New Hampshire
Peterborough is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 6,418 at the 2020 census. The main village, with 3,090 people at the 2020 census, is defined as the Peterborough census-designated place (CDP) and ...
.
She helped found
and was director of the People's Institute,
which was founded by her husband. He was its director until his death in 1910.
Sprague Smith was a member of the
Cosmopolitan Club, a private social club for women, and the Barnard Club.
She was president of the New York Bach Festival.
Florida
She founded the
Bach Festival A Bach festival is a music festival held to celebrate the memory of the German composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). Various locations throughout the world hold festivals dedicated to Bach. A notable example is the Bachfest Leipzig, held ea ...
in
Winter Park, Florida
Winter Park is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 30,183 according to the 2022 census population estimate. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Winter Park was f ...
in 1935.
Through "sheer force of will,
hecreated the choir, soloists, musicians, audience and funds necessary for the project." The annual concert has been held the months of February and March at the
Knowles Memorial Chapel
Knowles Memorial Chapel, built between 1931 and 1932, is an historic Mediterranean Revival building located on the campus of Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, in the United States. On December 8, 1997, it was added to the National Register ...
at
Rollins College and beginning in the late 1940s was broadcast over a national broadcasting station.
She received an honorary degree from Rollins College in 1939.
She managed the festivals activities until 1950. It is Central Florida's oldest operating performing arts organization and the third-oldest continuously operating Bach Festival in the United States.
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sprague Smith, Isabelle
1861 births
Philanthropists from New York (state)
1950 deaths
19th-century American artists
19th-century American women artists
19th-century American educators
20th-century American artists
20th-century American women artists
20th-century American educators
Art Students League of New York alumni
Educators from New York City
19th-century American women educators
20th-century American women educators