Sarah James Eddy (May 3, 1851 – March 29, 1945)[1][2] was an American artist and photographer who specialized in the platinotype process, also known as platinum prints.[3] She was active in abolition, reform, and suffragist movements,[4] and was a philanthropist as well as instrumental in the founding of the Rhode Island Humane Society.[5] She was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2017.[6]
Eddy was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to James Eddy, who worked as a painter and engraver,[2] and Elisa Eddy (née Jackson).[7][8]: 331 Her maternal grandfather was the abolitionist, Francis Jackson, and her maternal great uncle was Massachusetts politician, William Jackson, who was also against slavery.[2] On her paternal side, Eddy comes from a large New England family that originally came from Cranbrook, Kent.
Eddy's photography appeared in American and foreign exhibitions until about 1910. She preferred photographing women, children, and artists,[1] and her photographs were included in camera club exhibitions in Providence and Hartford, and were frequently shown at the Boston Camera Club.[1] Juries for photography salons accepted her work in Philadelphia (1898), Pittsburgh (1899, 1900), and Washington, D.C. (1896). In 1903, her pictures were included in salons in Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis, and Toronto.[3]
In 1894, Eddy wrote and illustrated a short article "A Good Use for the Camera" for The American Annual of Photography. In the article, Eddy concludes that the personal interactions she had with her photographic subjects were as rewarding as the finished images. She writes, "We enter into sympathetic relations with the people who furnish us with pictures. We are grateful to them and they are very grateful to us. We meet on common ground." The American Annual of Photography subsequently ran illustrations by her in 1895 and 1902.[9]
In 1883, Eddy painted a portrait of African-American social reformer, Frederick Douglass. In the portrait, Douglass holds a baton that symbolizes his authority during his tenure as marshal of the District of Columbia. Douglass sat for the portrait twice during the summer of 1883.[4] Eddy also painted a portrait of Susan B. Anthony,[10] a copy of which was donated to Bryn Mawr College in 1920.[11][12]
Eddy's mother and other family members were active in the anti-slavery and suffrage movements.[8]: 522 Eddy herself was a member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association.[2]
Eddy, who never married, died in her Bristol Ferry, Portsmouth, Rhode Island, home,[15] on March 29, 1945, at age ninety-three.[7][9] She was buried in the North Burial Ground in Providence, Rhode Island.[16]
Eddy, Sarah J. (March 1900). "The Robin's Nest". New England Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly. New Series, Vol. 22. Boston, Mass.: Warren F. Kellogg: 161–171. OCLC41900566. Illustrated from photographs by the author
^ abcdefPeterson, Christian A. (2012). Pictorial Photography at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts: History of Exhibitions, Publications, and Acquisitions with Biographies of All 243 Pictorialists in the Collection. Minneapolis, Minn.: Privately Published. p. 71. OCLC824617933.
^ abMoore, Clarence Bloomfield (March 1893). "Women Experts in Photography". The Cosmopolitan; A Monthly Illustrated Magazine (1886–1907). 14 (5). New York: Schlicht & Field [etc.]; International Magazine Co.: 580–590. ProQuest124704736.
^ abEddy, Ruth Story Devereux, ed. (1930). The Eddy Family in America: A Genealogy. Compiled by Ruth Story Devereux Eddy, A.B., A.M. and Published Under the Direction of the Eddy Family Association, in Commemoration of the Three Hundredth Anniversary of the Landing of John and Samuel Eddy at Plymouth, October 29, 1630. Boston, Massachusetts: T. O. Metcalf Company. hdl:2027/wu.89062883178. OCLC608715552.
