Mary Harrod Northend was an American writer specializing in

American colonial architecture American colonial architecture includes several building design styles associated with the colonial period of the United States, including First Period English (late-medieval), French Colonial, Spanish Colonial, Dutch Colonial, and Georgian. T ...

and home furnishings. She is best known for th
thousands of photographs
she either took or commissioned to illustrate her books and articles.

Early life

She was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on May 10, 1850, t
William Dummer Northend
and Susan Stedman Harrod Northend. Her father, a descendant of colonial governor

William Dummer William Dummer (bapt. September 29, 1677 (O.S.) October 10, 1677 (N.S.)/small> – October 10, 1761) was a politician in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. He served as its lieutenant governor for fourteen years (1716–1730), including an e ...

, was a criminal lawyer and a state senator, as well as the author of a history of Massachusetts titled ''The Bay Colony''. Her younger brother was architect William Wheelwright Northend. She suffered from poor health most of her life and missed a great deal of school as a child due to illness. When she took up writing, she was in her fifties.

Career

Northend began publishing "short historical sketches" in newspapers in the early 1900s, taking photographs with her

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

camera to illustrate them. Dissatisfied with her own photographs, she eventually hired a professional photographer to come along with her on outings. According to the ''Anaconda Standard'' she had over 14,000 photographs to her credit by 1910; due to her "extreme nervousness," she could not physically take the pictures herself, but closely supervised their creation. She published countless photographs in books and periodicals under her own name, and ran a successful business selling images to editors, architects, decorators, and historians. By 1915 she had published in 37 periodicals, including the ''

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Pulit ...

'', the ''

Ladies' Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In 18 ...

'', and ''

The Century Magazine ''The Century Magazine'' was an illustrated monthly magazine first published in the United States in 1881 by The Century Company of New York City, which had been bought in that year by Roswell Smith and renamed by him after the Century Associatio ...

'', '' The Mentor'', and published two books. At first she focused on colonial cookery, furniture, and decorating, later branching out into architecture and landscape. She traveled all over New England, writing about homes and gardens and supervising the photography, often spending hours arranging a single room before a photo shoot.

Death and legacy

She died at Salem Hospital on December 17, 1926, from surgery made necessary by an auto accident.

Historic New England Historic New England, previously known as the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA), is a charitable, non-profit, historic preservation organization headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is focused on New England a ...

has collected over 6,000

glass plate Photographic plates preceded photographic film as a capture medium in photography, and were still used in some communities up until the late 20th century. The light-sensitive emulsion of silver salts was coated on a glass plate, typically thin ...

negatives and several thousand prints of Northend's photographs. In 2014, her work was included with that of Alice Austin,

Edith Guerrier Edith Guerrier (1870–1958) was a pioneer in the field of library science. Guerrier is best known for developing progressive library programs in the 1890s, including a reading program and a pottery studio for girls of Boston's North End, an ur ...

Ethel Reed Ethel Reed (March 13, 1874 – 1912) was an American graphic artist.Peterson, William S. ''The Beautiful Poster Lady: A Life of Ethel Reed''. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2013. In the 1890s, her works received critical acclaim in America and E ...

, Sara Galner, and Edith Brown in an exhibit at the Boston University Art Gallery titled ''Craft & Modernity: Professional Women Artists in Boston (1890-1920).''

Works

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links