Mary Berri Chapman Hansbrough (1872 – 5 June 1951) was an American poet and painter.

Biography

She was born Mary Berri Chapman in Washington, D.C. to parents Charles Chapman of New Haven and Etta S. Chapman, a patent examiner. She was a member of the

Art Students League of Washington Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of what ...

. She wrote and illustrated her book ''Lyrics of Love and Nature'', published in 1895. In 1897 she married the U.S. senator

Henry C. Hansbrough Henry Clay Hansbrough (January 30, 1848November 16, 1933) was a United States politician who served as the first United States Representative from North Dakota, as well as a Senator from North Dakota. Biography Henry Clay Hansbrough was born ...

. The same year, she published the work of fiction ''A Fashionable Hero'' in

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...

. In 1906 she published a 153 page volume titled ''Poems by MBCH''. She spent the last 42 years of her life, from 1909 to 1951, as a resident of

St. Elizabeths Hospital St. Elizabeths Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Southeast, Washington, D.C. operated by the District of Columbia Department of Behavioral Health. It opened in 1855 under the name Government Hospital for the Insane, the first federally oper ...

, a mental health institution in Washington D.C. She was buried in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, DC.

Collections

Her work is included in the collections of the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

and the

Reading Public Museum The Reading Public Museum is a museum in West Reading, Pennsylvania. The museum's permanent collection mainly focuses on art, science, and civilization. It also has a planetarium and a arboretum. Collection The museum's art collection contai ...

, Reading, Pennsylvania.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansbrough, Mary Berri Chapman 1872 births 1951 deaths 19th-century American women painters 19th-century American painters 19th-century American poets 19th-century American women writers 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women painters 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers Poets from Washington, D.C. Painters from Washington, D.C. American women poets Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery