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Lillian McNeill Palmer (1871-1961) was an American
coppersmith A coppersmith, also known as a brazier, is a person who makes artifacts from copper and brass. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. The term "redsmith" is used for a tinsmith that uses tinsmithing tools and techniques to make copper items. Hi ...
and
metalsmith A metalsmith or simply smith is a craftsperson fashioning useful items (for example, tools, kitchenware, tableware, jewelry, armor and weapons) out of various metals. Smithing is one of the oldest list of metalworking occupations, metalworking o ...
whose work was part of the California
Arts and Crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...
movement. She worked in tandem with her longtime companion, architect
Emily Williams Emily Williams (born 8 October 1984) is a New Zealand-born Australian singer and songwriter. She rose to fame in 2005 on the third season of ''Australian Idol'' and became the runner-up of the competition. After ''Idol'', Williams signed with ...
and was the founder of the Women's Business and Professional Club in San Francisco.


Biography

Lillian Palmer was born in 1871, in
Stonington, Connecticut Stonington is a town located on Long Island Sound in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The municipal limits of the town include the borough of Stonington (borough), Connecticut, Stonington, the villages of Pawcatuck, Connecticut, Pa ...
, the daughter of Donald Palmer. Donald Palmer worked in the mining industry and traveled widely. Palmer moved to California with her family around 1890. By 1899 they were living in San Jose. Palmer was a second cousin of painter
James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral a ...
, through Whistler's mother, Anna Matilda McNeill (1804-1881). In 1898, at a social function in San Jose, Palmer met Emily Williams. When Williams' father died in 1899, she went to live with Palmer at her family home. In the 1900s, Palmer worked as a writer and editor for the Mercury Publishing Company and started being interested in
Arts and Crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...
-inspired metalwork. In 1901 Palmer and Williams moved to
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
so that Williams, with Palmer's support, could study drafting and science at the California School of Mechanical Arts. In 1903, Palmer and Williams bought a property in Pacific Grove, to develop as a model cottage to showcase Palmer and Williams' ability in design and construction. The board and batten cottage at 246 Chestnut Street is still standing today. After the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, Palmer was among the first recorded metal artists using
copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...
,
lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...
and
brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...
. In 1906, Williams designed the new Palmer family house on South Priest Street (now South 14th) in San Jose, which would later become the Arthur Monroe Free House, now on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Palmer and Williams lived with Palmer's family there and Palmer had a metal working studio in the basement from where she started her business of furnishing light fixtures. Her style had "an unmistakably feminine quality that distinguishes her work from her contemporaries". In April 1907, she was featured in the ''
San Francisco Call ''The San Francisco Call'' was a newspaper that served San Francisco, California. Because of a succession of mergers with other newspapers, the paper variously came to be called ''The San Francisco Call & Post'', the ''San Francisco Call-Bulleti ...
'' who called her an "Ingenious Girl Worker in Metals".
Elizabeth Eleanor D’Arcy Gaw Elizabeth Eleanor D'Arcy Gaw (May 4, 1868 – November 12, 1944) was a prominent Arts and Crafts movement, Arts and Crafts artist whose style influenced her former business partner Dirk van Erp and noted architect Lawrence Buck. She was the presi ...
(1868–1944) at first worked for her, before moving to work for Palmer's rival, Dirk van Erp (1862–1933), in San Francisco in 1909. In early 1908, Lucy Washburn sold a property at 218 and 220 Chestnut, Pacific Grove, to Emily Williams to build two houses, for Williams (220) and Palmer (218). Both houses still stand today, and while Williams' house has been expanded and remodeled, Palmer's house is still in its original state. In the middle of 1908, Palmer and Williams travelled to Europe and Asia to study art and architecture, specifically the
Arts and Crafts movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...
that influenced Palmer's hammered metalwork. She did not have a formal training even if she took courses in metal crafting and electrical design in Vienna and later, back in the United States, power-efficient lighting and lighting placement for reducing eye strain in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
. They were back in the United States in January 1909. Palmer and Williams moved to San Francisco where Williams' designed their own house on
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...
. In 1910, Palmer opened the "Palmer Copper Shop" on Sutter Street. She specialized "in designing fixtures that not only attain the desired lighting effects in a given room, but also conform to the style and contour of the room and the usage to which it is to be put. he Palmer Shop'ssubstantial and widespread success is indicated by the fact that its electric fixtures are sought for and shipped to New York, Alaska and Mexico". Today, her lamps are collectors' items. This time it was she that stole artists from van Erp, Harry St. John Dixon (1890–1967) and van Erp's nephew, August Tiesselinck (1890–1972), who worked for Palmer for a number of years. With the beginning of the
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, metal was scarce, and Palmer was forced to close the shop in 1917. In 1917, Palmer founded the Women's Business and Professional Club in San Francisco and was an active member and/or officer in many California State women's clubs. She was a public speaker, among her talks: "Electric Lighting of Dwellings from the standpoint of health, economic operation, science and ornament", "Starting in Business with Ninety Cents and No Experience", "Housewives Learning to Wield Saw and Hammer", and "Women as Builders of Business". Palmer went back to metal work in 1932 and sometime in the late 1930s, Williams and Palmer moved to
Los Gatos Los Gatos (; ; ) is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population is 33,529 according to the 2020 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area just southwest of San Jose in the foothills of t ...
, where Williams designed their house. Williams died in 1942. Lillian Palmer died in 1961 and they are now resting together at the
Los Gatos Memorial Park Los Gatos Memorial Park is the principle cemetery of Los Gatos, California, established in 1889. It occupies some thirty acres, with the main entrance at 2255 Los Gatos-Almaden Road, San Jose, California 95124.1871 births 1961 deaths People from Stonington, Connecticut American lighting designers Businesspeople from San Francisco American coppersmiths Arts and Crafts movement artists LGBTQ people from Connecticut American lesbian artists Decorative artists