Prescott-Arizona Pioneer Home Cemetery-Grave of Kate T Cory

Kate Cory (February 8, 1861 – June 12, 1958) was an American photographer and artist. She studied art in New York, and then worked as commercial artist. She traveled to the southwestern United States in 1905 and lived among the

Hopi The Hopi are Native Americans who primarily live in northeastern Arizona. The majority are enrolled in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona; however, some Hopi people are enrolled in the Colorado ...

for several years, recording their lives in about 600 photographs.

Early life

Kate Thompson Cory was born in

Waukegan, Illinois Waukegan ( ) is a city in Lake County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located north of Chicago, Waukegan is a satellite city within the greater Chicago metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, its population was 89,321, makin ...

, on February 8, 1861.Search: Kate Cory
Death and Dispositions. Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, Arizona. Retrieved March 31, 2014. Her parents were James Young Cory (1828–1901), born in Canada, and Eliza P. Kellogg Cory (1829–1903), born in Maine.Tricia Loscher
"Kate Thomson Cory: Artist in Hopiland."
''The Journal of Arizona History.'' 2002 . 43:1. p. 1.Kate Cory, Waukegan, Illinois 1880 census. Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. They also had a son, named James Stewart Cory. An abolitionist, her father was involved in the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

. Their home was fitted with a secret room in the basement of the house. From there, his free black servants brought runaway slaves to awaiting boats on Waukegan Harbour, giving the impression that they were doing business for James Cory. During the Civil War the successful newspaper editor often single-handedly ran the ''Waukegan Gazette'' after his employees had left for the war and urged him to remain in Waukegan. The Corys moved to

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

, in 1880 and her father, James Cory, managed his Wall Street interests in New York City.''Kate Cory''.
Waukegan Historical Society. Retrieved March 31, 2014. Kate Cory was related to

Fanny Cory Fanny Young Cory (October 17, 1877 – July 28, 1972) was a cartoonist and book illustrator best known for her comic strips ''Sonnysayings'' and ''Little Miss Muffet''. Cory was one of America's first female syndicated cartoonists. She went by ...

, a book illustrator and cartoonist with works such as the ''Little Miss Muffet'' comic book.

Career

New York

Cory studied oil painting and photography at

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union, is a private college on Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-s ...

and

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

She was an instructor at Cooper Union. Cory was an American photographer, painter, muralist, and sculptor.Petteys, Chris, ''Dictionary of Women Artists'', G K Hill & Co. publishers, 1985 She made her living as a commercial artist, contributing drawings to ''Recreation'' magazine and was involved with New York's

Pen and Brush Club Pen and Brush Club (also known as Pen + Brush) is an international organization of professional women, writers and artists. Organized in 1897, the women formed themselves into a club of which the object was to be recreation and the promotion of ...

. Beginning in 1895, Cory partnered with potter Charles Volkmar to create hand-painted plaques, cups and plates of historic people, like

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...

and

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the first U.S. secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795 dur ...

. Buildings figured in the designs, such as

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

. The works were painted in blue, primarily by Cory. Their shop, Volkmar and Cory Pottery, was located in

Corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus or disease responsible for the COVID-19 ...

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, New York. In 1903 Volkmar opened a pottery business in

Metuchen, New Jersey Metuchen ( ) is a suburban Borough (New Jersey), borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The borough is a commuter town of New York City, located in the heart of the Raritan River, Raritan Valle ...

, called Charles Volkmar & Son.

Hopi villages 1905–1912

At the Pen and Brush Club, Cory met artist Louis Akin, who had just returned from the Southwest. He had made paintings of the Hopi Indians to promote tourism along the

Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at variou ...

route. Her interest in the western United States had been sparked by

Ernest Seton Ernest Thompson Seton (born Ernest Evan Thompson; August 14, 1860 – October 23, 1946) was a Canadian and American author, wildlife artist, founder of the Woodcraft Indians in 1902 (renamed Woodcraft League of America), and one of the foun ...

and when Akin told her of his plans to begin an artists' colony in Northern Arizona in 1905, Cory booked passage on a train to

Canyon Diablo, Arizona Canyon Diablo is a ghost town in Coconino County, Arizona, United States, on the edge of the arroyo Canyon Diablo. The community was settled in 1880 and died out in the early 20th century. The town, which is about northwest of Meteor Crate ...

, and then traveled north 65 miles through the desert to the high mesa of the Hopi reservation.Patricia Trenton; Sandra D'Emilio; Autry Museum of Western Heritage.
Independent Spirits: Women Painters of the American West, 1890–1945
'. University of California Press; 1995. . p. 133. She intended to visit the Hopi mesas where Akin intended to establish an artist colony for a couple of months of a tour of the western United States. When she got off the train she realized that she was the lone art colonist. Except for periods in Canada and California (1909), from 1905 to 1912 Cory lived among the

Oraibi Oraibi, also referred to as Old Oraibi, is a Hopi village in Navajo County, Arizona, United States, in the northeastern part of the state. Known as Orayvi by the native inhabitants, it is on Third Mesa on the Hopi Reservation near Kykotsmov ...

and

Walpi Walpi is a Hopi village established around AD 900.Experience Hopi: ...

.Opitz, Glenn B., ''Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers'', Apollo Books, Poughkeepsie, NY, 1988 In Oraibi she lived at the top of a Hopi pueblo, her space rented to her by a Hopi friend, that she accessed via stone steps and ladders. She was the only white woman brought into the secret life and practices of the Hopis. Cory learned the Hopi language, wrote about Hopi grammar, and mediated a disturbance."Many and Varieties of Activities of Women: Working among the Indians." ''Atlanta Constitution Magazine Section''. December 15, 1915. While there, she painted the landscape and the Hopi people. She also took about 600 photographs, recording virtually all aspects of Hopi life, social as well as sacred. She took posed portraits, photographs of ceremonies and images of individuals, "which suggest a warm and spontaneous relationship". Her pictures depicted a traditional Hopi way of life on the precipice of having to assimilate or adapt to modern white America. Cory left the Hopi villages in 1912 and her viewpoints on life changed as a result of her relationships with the Hopi people, including eschewing modern consumerism.Susan Bernardin.
Trading Gazes: Euro-American Women Photographers and Native North Americans, 1880–1940
'. Rutgers University Press; 2003. . Chapter Two: I Became the Colony – Kate Cory's Hopi photographs. pp. 73–74. She was not the first to photograph the Hopi; however, due to her intimacy with the culture, she was able to capture a more personal view than earlier photographers. She didn't sell her photographs, but would use them as illustrations for her essays, like ''Life and Its Living in Hopiland – The Hopi Women'', which was published in a magazine in 1909. The same year she received an Honorable Mention for a painting exhibited at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exhibition in Seattle. In 1915 the Smithsonian Institution bought 25 of the paintings Cory made during the time that she lived with the Hopis.

Prescott

She moved to

Prescott, Arizona Prescott ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. As of 2020 United States census, 2020 Census, the city's population was 45,827. In 1864, Prescott was designated as the capital of the Arizona Territory, r ...

, in 1913 and lived in a stone house built and furnished by Hopi workers. Cory exhibited a painting, ''Arizona Desert'', at the

Armory Show The 1913 Armory Show, also known as the International Exhibition of Modern Art, was organized by thAssociation of American Painters and Sculptors It was the first large exhibition of modern art in America, as well as one of the many exhibition ...

of 1913 which sold for $150, and received an honorable mention at the show. Because of declining attendance at the Prescott Rodeo, Cory helped a group of local men calling themselves "Smoki" (pronounced Smoke-eye) with information about Hopi ceremonies that they performed. When the Smoki grew large enough to need a permanent facility and a museum, Cory assisted with the design and decoration of the buildings. She also painted her largest paintings for display in the

Smoki Museum The Museum of Indigenous People, formerly known as the ''Smoki Museum of American Indian Art and Culture'', is located in Prescott, Yavapai County, Arizona and holds collections of Native American artifacts. History The museum was started, in ...

, where they still hang. In her earnest intention to avoid living a wasteful life, she became known in Prescott for being eccentric. Fellow church members offered to replace her torn and tattered clothes. She was frugal, but gave away two cabins she owned to renters. She removed debris from rain water and used it to develop photographs. Rather than sell her paintings, she bartered them. She was described as having had "a plain, weather-beaten face, pulled-back hair, a determined black-clothed walk with a cane, as if every trip downtown were aimed at confronting the mayor." Her paintings are in the collections of the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; 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 one of the world's lar ...

, Sharlot Hall Museum, and the

of American Indian Art and Culture in Prescott.''Kate T. Cory.''
Smoki Museum. Retrieved March 31, 2014. Her work is also owned by the First Congregationalist Church, where Cory was a member.

Death

She died in Prescott on June 12, 1958, at the Arizona Pioneers' Home and was buried at the Pioneers' Home Cemetery''Kate Cory Collection: 1905–1912, Finding Aid''
Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, Arizona. Retrieved March 31, 2014. near her friend

Sharlot Hall Sharlot Mabridth Hall (October 27, 1870 – April 9, 1943) was an American journalist, poet and historian. She was the first woman to hold an office in the Arizona Territorial government and her personal collection of photographs and artifacts s ...

. The inscription at her gravesite names her "Artist of Arizona" below which is: "Hers Was The Joy of Giving".

Legacy

The negatives for the photographs that Cory took between 1905 and 1912 were found in the 1980s in a cardboard box along with other materials donated to the Smoki Museum. Not knowing how to preserve the negatives, the museum gave them to the

Museum of Northern Arizona The Museum of Northern Arizona is a museum in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States, established as a repository for Indigenous material and natural history specimens from the Colorado Plateau. The museum was founded in 1928 by zoologist Dr. Harol ...

, who was better equipped to maintain and preserve the images. Marc Gaede, director of photography at the museum, Marnie Gaede and Barton Wright created the book ''The Hopi Photographs: Kate Cory: 1905–1912'' based on some of the found images, some of which are ceremonial scenes. Due to concern from the Hopis about the rights to their cultural property, many images will not be published by the museum and are available in a restricted file for viewing by researchers.Susan Bernardin.
Trading Gazes: Euro-American Women Photographers and Native North Americans, 18801940
'. Rutgers University Press; 2003. . Chapter Two: I Became the Colony – Kate Cory's Hopi photographs. p. 76. The Smoki Museum in Prescott, Arizona, has the largest collection of Cory artwork on display. Her papers are held by the Sharlot Hall Museum.

Works

Books

* Kate Cory; ''A Legend of Thumb Butte.'' * Kate Cory; Marc Gaede, Marnie Gaede, Barton Wright. ''The Hopi photographs: Kate Cory, 1905–1912''. University of New Mexico Press; 1986. .

Paintings

* ''A Study of Kachinas for Children,'' watercolor, Smoki Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Blonde Woman'', oil, ,

Sharlot Hall Museum The Sharlot Hall Museum is an open-air museum and heritage site located in Prescott, Arizona. Opened in 1928 by Sharlot M. Hall as the Gubernatorial Mansion Museum, the museum that now bears her name is dedicated to preserving the history and ...

, Prescott, Arizona * ''Bouquet of Two Red Poppies'', watercolor, , Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Brown Haired Woman'', oil, 1935, Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Butterfly Maiden'', oil, Smoki Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Buffalo Dancer'', oil, 1919, Smoki Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Colorado River'', oil, 1929, Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Desert Valley Landscape'', oil, , Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Eliza P. Cory'' (artists' mother), watercolor, Smoki Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Feather Ceremony at Sunrise'', oil, , Prescott Public Library, Arizona * ''Five Indian Women with Baskets and Cooking Fire'', oil, , Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Hopi Butterfly'', oil, Smoki Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Hopi Butterfly (2)'', oil, Smoki Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Hopi Girl'', oil, , Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Hopi Indian Maiden'', oil, private collection * ''Indian Maiden'', oil, before 1916,

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...

, Chicago, IllinoisSearch: Kate Cory
Smithsonian Institution, SIRIS Online Collections system. Retrieved March 31, 2014. * ''Indian with Hoe,'' oil, 1906,

* ''Inside the Kiva,'' oil, 1905–1912, Waukegan Historical Society, Illinois * ''Local Wild Flowers'', Granite Mountains in the background, oil, 1937, Federal Art Project, Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Local Wild Flowers'' with rocky hills in the distance, oil, 1937, Federal Art Project, Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Man, Full Length'', oil, Smithsonian American Art Museum * ''Mana with Ceremonial Robe (Portrait of Hopi Indian Woman),'' oil, 1909, Waukegan Historical Society, Illinois * ''Mata Dexter'' (portrait), oil, Smoki Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Mesa with Indian Village in Distance'', oil, Smithsonian American Art Museum * ''Migration of the Hopi Tribe in the Early 20th Century'', oil, 1939, First Congregational Church, Prescott, Arizona (on permanent loan to the Smoki Museum) * ''Moonlight Frolic'', oil, before 1914, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, Chicago, Illinois * ''Mother and Child'', oil, Smithsonian American Art Museum * ''Mountain Landscape'', oil, 1937, Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Native American Carding Wool'', oil, Prescott Public Library, Arizona * ''Navajo Brush Shelter'', oil, , Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Old Man'', oil, , Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Prescott, Arizona'', oil, private collection * ''Pueblo of Walpi'', oil, before 1916, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, Chicago, Illinois * ''Return of the Kachinas'', oil, Smoki Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Sun Ceremony'', oil, Smithsonian American Art Museum * ''Sunset or Sunrise over Mountain Valley'', oil on Masonite, , Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''TAWEA'', oil, , Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''The Baker,'' oil, Smoki Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''The Kachina,'' oil, Smithsonian American Art Museum * ''The Migration'', oil, Smoki Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''The Snake Myth'', oil, Smoki Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''The Weaver,'' oil, 1900–1905, Waukegan Historical Society, Illinois * ''Thumb Butte,'' oil (15.5x18), Private Collection, Prescott, Arizona * ''US Army Biplane Flying across the Hills'', oil, , Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Woman Nursing a Baby'', oil, , Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, Arizona * ''Wu Wu Ceremony'', oil, Smoki Museum, Prescott, Arizona

Photographs

A few of the photographs taken of the Hopi between 1905 and 1912:Susan Bernardin.
Trading Gazes: Euro-American Women Photographers and Native North Americans, 1880–1940
'. Rutgers University Press; 2003. . p. x. * ''Corn crop covers the roof'' * ''Hopi maiden'' * ''Hopi man'' * ''Hopi school girls in cauldron'' * ''Hopi spinner'' * ''Hopi water carrier'' * ''Hopi weaver'' * ''Hopi woman in traditional dress'' * ''Landlady putting bread in oven'' * ''Navajo Woman at

New Oraibi Kykotsmovi Village, also known as K-Town or New Oraibi () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. It is the seat of tribal government of the Hopi Reservation, a sovereign nation located in northeastern Arizon ...

'' * ''

Old Oraibi Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...

'' * '' Piki making'' * ''Pottery firing'' * ''Young Hopi woman having her hair dressed'' * ''Young married woman with corn pollen and braid''

References

External links

Kate Cory – Smithsonian

Kate Cory – The Smoki Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cory, Kate 1861 births 1958 deaths 19th-century American painters 19th-century American women painters 20th-century American painters 20th-century American sculptors 19th-century American sculptors 20th-century American women painters Cooper Union alumni 19th-century American women photographers 19th-century American photographers 20th-century American women photographers 20th-century American photographers 19th-century American women sculptors