Harriet I. Carroll   1872 – 1961

Born November 1, 1872, she was one of six children born to George and Lavina Clinkunbroomer Carroll.  In her youth, Harriet was among the first generation of students under the direction of local artist and teacher Lovisa Card Catlin.  She graduated from Erie Academy and Rye seminary in Rye, New York, a private school for girls.  There she studied art while also taking courses in landscape painting at summer schools at Woodstock art colony and Provincetown, Cape Cod.  Later in her career she furthered her formal training at the National Academy of Design in New York City and at the School of Industrial Arts in Philadelphia. 

She was active on the local art scene in Erie, Pennsylvania and a frequent exhibitor at the local Art Club shows.  There she periodically entered portraits, floral still lives and landscapes, ceasing to exhibit after 1936.   She had served on the Art Club’s first board of directors and was a charter member of that organization.  She was given much credit for her fundraising efforts of the Club’s behalf.

She taught at the Academy High School in Erie from 1922 to 1926.  Thereafter she retired to her private studio where she gave lessons in painting, sculpture, weaving, clay work and pottery.

Harriet I Carroll died November 28, 1961 at the age of 89.

Biography excerpted from the unpublished manuscript by Dr. Kirk W. Steehler, Erie Artists – a History of Heroes.  Courtesy of Erie Art Museum.

Written and submitted by Edward P. Bentley, researcher from Lansing, Michigan