May 1882: The dismissal of Miss Lizzie Gowdy, art instructor

Monmouth College History: Archival Discoveries by J. Richard Sayre, Library Director

May 1882: The dismissal of Miss Lizzie Gowdy, Art Instructor

Last fall while reading through some of the Faculty Minutes from the 1880s for a trustee, I ran across a series of faculty meetings from May 1882 in which the faculty passed a resolution calling for the immediate resignation of Miss Lizzie Gowdy, Art Instructor. Miss Gowdy was apparently observed by the faculty as sporting a Kappa Kappa Gamma pin on her blouse or jacket which was in violation of the college’s “well-defined” policy concerning “secret fraternities” on campus. The first two women’s “fraternities” in the nation were formed on the Monmouth College campus in 1869 (Pi Beta Phi) & 1870 (Kappa Kappa Gamma). Yet by 1874, both men and women’s fraternities were banned from the campus due to concerns from the Presbyterian Church. Nevertheless, through the early 1880s, there were still “secret” fraternity activities and the ban on fraternity pins worn by students towards the end of the 1870s had not been strictly enforced - according to Dr. William Urban’s History of Monmouth College through Its Fifth Quarter-Century (c1979). However, young Lizzie Gowdy, former student, now art instructor, proudly wore her Kappa pin on a regular basis in defiance of college policies, and refused to resign when pressured by the MC faculty. Because of Gowdy’s refusal to resign voluntarily, the matter was referred by the faculty to the board of trustees, where, according to Urban’s History of Monmouth College (p.82), Miss Gowdy was eventually dismissed.

Shortly after reading these entries in the faculty minutes, I shared this bit of interesting information with Hollie Casteel, Hewes Library Acquisitions Manager. Intrigued about what might have become of Miss Gowdy, Ms. Casteel found a reference to an Elizabeth Gowdy Baker via Google, born in 1860, Xenia, Ohio, graduated Monmouth College, with further schooling at Cooper Union and other art schools. This discovery started both of us on a search for more information on the Monmouth College alumna and instructor who left Monmouth under difficult circumstances and went on to make a name for herself in the art world.

Elizabeth Gowdy Baker became a rather well known watercolorist in late 19th, early 20th century America, the first portrait artist to successfully use watercolor as her medium. She was initially well known for her work with children’s portraits, but soon became a sought-after portrait artist of the wealthy and prominent citizens of New York City, Boston, Philadelphia and Cincinnati. Photographs of a number of her portraits appear in American Art News from 1897-1920. And there’s a library connection - she painted a rather impressive portrait of Melvil Dewey, father of the Dewey Decimal Classification and founder of the first school for training librarians at Columbia University. The portrait is found in the Lake Placid Club, New York, and was reproduced in a 1968 article in The Journal of Library History. She also served as president of the Society of Aquarellists and the Daughters of Ohio. There are many articles in the JSTOR database mentioning Elizabeth Gowdy Baker and several websites that include some of her paintings up for auction.

So did the Monmouth College faculty’s call for Miss Gowdy’s resignation do this young art instructor a favor in the end? She could have been no more than 22 years old at the time, probably hired to teach following her graduation from Monmouth College. It would appear that she landed on her feet, studied in prominent art schools, married, and eventually became a very successful portrait artist for the rich and famous of society in some of America’s largest cities. Yet I still wonder if Elizabeth Gowdy Baker was able to forgive the Monmouth College faculty and trustees for their actions which may have helped to launch her successful career as an artist.