{"id":251,"date":"2020-01-14T22:25:04","date_gmt":"2020-01-14T22:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.williamaharper.com\/?page_id=251"},"modified":"2020-05-22T01:45:16","modified_gmt":"2020-05-22T01:45:16","slug":"education","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.williamaharper.com\/about\/education\/","title":{"rendered":"Education"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Education<\/strong> – Last updated May 13, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early Years<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1885, at the age of 11, Harper moved from\nCayuga to Petersburg, Illinois, attending school there[1]<\/a>.  All indications are that he joined his father\non a farm at that time.[2]<\/a>  From boyhood Harper is reported to have shown\na talent for art.[3]<\/a>  According to Florence Lewis Bentley, who\nappears to have met Harper in 1905 and wrote a lengthy article about him, \u201cIt\nis to these early days in the country that the artist owes his deep\nunderstanding of Nature\u2019s moods, and it is there where he formed the\ndetermination to follow the elusive Mistress Art; leaving all others to cleave\nonly unto her.\u201d [4]<\/a>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 1894, Harper was attending school in\nJacksonville, Illinois, about 40 miles from Petersburg.  Some secondary sources have reported that he\nattended college in Jacksonville, but in fact he attended a secondary, or\ncollege preparatory, school there.  In the\nCatalogue of Illinois College and Whipple Academy of Jacksonville, Illinois for\nthe school calendar year 1894 to 1895, William Harper of Petersburg is listed\non page 100 as a junior in the Whipple Academy. \nThe Whipple Academy was essentially a college preparatory school\ndescribed in the Catalogue as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhipple Academy, the Preparatory\nDepartment of Illinois College, is a secondary school of high grade.  In addition to fitting its graduates for admission\nto Illinois College or to any college or university in the country, it affords\nspecial advantages for the pursuit of English and business courses of study and\nfor young teachers who wish to qualify themselves for higher grades of work.\u201d[5]<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnder the direction and management of\nthe trustees of the Illinois College, but was maintained as a separate and\ndistinct institution, Whipple Academy offers superior advantages in preparation\nfor college\u2026\u201d[6]<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The instruction was given\nby the regular college professors, and the Academy students had the benefit of\nthe college library, laboratories and apparatus.  Tuition charges were as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fall Term                    $18.00<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winter\nTerm                $15.00<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spring\nTerm                $12.00<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the distance from Petersburg to Jacksonville, Harper must have boarded in Jacksonville, but whether at the college or in town is unknown.  According to the regulations in the Catalogue, Academy students were required to attend morning prayers, and \u201cto yield a cheerful obedience to the regulations of the institution\u201d.[7]<\/a>  Students who were not residents of Jacksonville, which would have included Harper, were not allowed to leave the city at any time without the prior permission of the Principal.  According to the Program of Study for juniors, Harper would have studied, among other things, rhetoric, Latin, algebra, literature, and botany.[8]<\/a>  Notably, there were no classes in art.  Harper must have been there only one year since he does not appear in the prior year catalogue (1893-1894) or the subsequent year catalogue (1895-96).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, U.S. Census records for\n1890 no longer exist for most of Illinois, having been destroyed in 1921 by a\nfire in the Commerce Department Building in Washington, D.C.  Accordingly, other than the above referenced\nIllinois College catalogue, magazine and newspaper articles written later in Harper\u2019s\nlife are our only source of information as to his whereabouts between 1881 and\n1895 when he enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago (\u201cAIC\u201d). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not known whether Harper and his brother John Harper immigrated at the same time, but an article from Decatur, Illinois Daily Republican indicates that by January of 1889, John was living in Decatur.[9]<\/a>  The paper reported that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLast night there was a pleasant holiday\nsocial surprise party at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Mauzee on South\nFranklin street, at which there was music, dancing and a fin supper at 12\no\u2019clock.  The company included\u2026Eliza\nKinney\u2026John Harper\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The relationship between Eliza and John\nblossomed, and on March 15, 1893, the Decatur Herald announced that \u201cThe cards\nare out announcing the approaching nuptials of John W. Harper and Miss Eliza\nKenney, well known young people in colored society.\u201d[10]<\/a>  The paper subsequently reported that <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the home of Mrs. Hannah Kinney on\nWest Marietta street, at 8 o\u2019clock on Tuesday evening, March 21, her daughter,\nEliza, was married to John W. Harper\u2026The bride wore a prettily made costume of white\nchina silk, her ornaments being natural flowers.  A large number of guests were present, and\nafter the ceremony a splendid supper was served.  The young couple received a number of\nhandsome presents, and will commence housekeeping on West Decatur street.  The groom is an employe[sic] of the\nShellaburger Mill and Elevator company, and is a worthy young man.\u201d[11]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wedding appears to have taken place\nin Macon, Illinois.[12]<\/a>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

John was active in the \u201cPride Tabernacle\nNo. 36, a benevolent colored organization\u201d[13]<\/a>, the \u201cDecatur Lodge, No.\n17, colored Masons\u201d [14]<\/a>, and the Antioch Baptist\nChurch, often as a soloist.[15]<\/a>  Various Decatur newspaper articles indicate\nthat John Harper, Sr. (Harper\u2019s father) was also present in Decatur at least by\n1902, and was also active in the Antioch Baptist Church.[16]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No further record after the 1881\nCanadian census, either in Canada or the U.S., has been found as to the\nwhereabouts of Harper\u2019s older sister Frances and his youngest brother George.  They have simply vanished.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Art Institute of Chicago<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometime after his year in Jacksonville at the Whipple Adademy, Harper moved to Chicago.  He enrolled at the AIC in [1895].  According to a later article from the Chicago News, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHarper came to Chicago some years ago\nwithout money.  He dreamed of art and\nsoon found a friend in George B. Carper[17]<\/a>secretary of the AIC.  He was made janitor of the building and\nbetween his duties in that capacity studied art, drawing and painting.\u201d[18]<\/a>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the words of another\nnewspaper article, \u201cWhen he was not scrubbing floors and washing windows he was\nstudying pictures and drawing.\u201d[19]<\/a>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Circular of\nInstruction of the School of Drawing, Painting, Modelling, Decorative Designing\nand Architecture for the AIC<\/a> (\u201cCircular\u201d) of that time states that the\nschool year was made up of three terms of twelve weeks each, beginning in\nOctober and ending in June.  The tuition\nfor one term was $25.00, making tuition for the full year $75.00.  Pupils could enter the school without\nexamination.  They were not assigned to\nspecial classes until the first monthly examination after their entrance, when\ntheir work was considered by the board of teachers.  They were then classified \u201cin accordance with\ntheir attainments\u201d.  The school of\ndrawing and painting was divided into four classes through which the student\nwas expected to pass in succession.  The\nclasses were:  1.  Elementary, 2.  Intermediate, 3. Antique, and 4. Life.  Promotion from class to class was made\nthrough examinations held every four weeks. \nThe Diploma of the school was conferred upon students who held the rank\nof Life Students for two years and who passed certain final examinations.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Records as to Harper\u2019s classes in his\nfirst year of 1895-96 are not available. \nHe must have progressed through the Elementary, Intermediate, and\nAntique classes fairly rapidly, however, because by 1996 he had already been\npromoted to the Life Class.  AIC records[20]<\/a> show that Harper\u2019s classes\nfor the balance of his time at the AIC were as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1896-97: \n        Life Class \u2013 Home:  Jacksonville, Ill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1897-98: \n        Life Class \u2013 Home:  Petersburg, Ill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1898-99: \n        Life Class \u2013 Home:  Jacksonville, Ill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                        Saturday\nNormal Class<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1899-1900       Advanced Life Class:  Petersburg,\nIll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1900-01           Saturday\nNormal Class<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Saturday Normal Class was a class\ndesigned for those students who intended to be \u201cteachers of drawing in public\nschools\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The students of the Art Institute held an\nAnnual Exhibition of Art Students\u2019 League of Chicago.  This was a juried exhibition.  For the December 19 \u2013 December 31,1899\nexhibition, four landscapes and one black and white by Harper were\naccepted.  The landscapes are listed in\nthe catalogue for that exhibition as numbers 40-43, being priced from $5.00 to\n$25.00.  The black and white is listed as\nnumber 218, and is entitled \u201cCharlie\u201d, priced at $2.50.  The Chicago Tribune reported that three items\nwere sold from the exhibition, including one landscape in oil by Harper.[21]<\/a>  For the January 31 \u2013 February 24, 1901 exhibition,\nthree landscapes by Harper were accepted. \nThey are listed in the exhibition catalogue as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            32.       Midday. \nOil<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            33.       August. \nOil<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            34.       The meadow.  Oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No prices were given in that catalogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Circular for the year 1900-01, which\nincluded a Catalogue of Students for 1899-1900, reproduced one of Harper\u2019s oil\npaintings on p. 87 which was a nude labeled \u201cOil from Life.  William Harper\u201d.  This same painting was also reproduced in\n1901 in The Brush and Pencil, Vol. 7, No. 6 (Mar., 1901) p. 369, an\ninternational art magazine published in Chicago, certainly an honor for a\nstudent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his time at the AIC Harper developed\nfriendships of a number of instructors, artists, and fellow students with whom\nhe would continue to associate over the years. \nCharles Francis Browne taught \u201cAntique and History of Art\u201d and Lorado\nTaft, the sculptor, taught modeling at the AIC. \nThe two instructors were founding members of the Eagle\u2019s Nest Art Colony\n(\u201cEagle\u2019s Nest\u201d), a retreat dedicated to the arts established in 1898 in\nOregon, Illinois,[22]<\/a> and took an interest in\nHarper inviting him to both work and paint in the summers at the Eagle\u2019s Nest.  A fellow artist William Wendt was also a\nmember of the Eagle\u2019s Nest.  Both Browne\nand Wendt are described as mentors of Harper during his AIC days and\nthereafter.[23]<\/a>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Albert Krehbiel, who was in Harper\u2019s\nAdvance Life Class in his final year, seems to have formed a close friendship\nwith Harper, and is the source of most of the information that is available\nregarding Harper\u2019s time in Paris in 1903-04. \nDulah Evans, who would become the finance of Albert Krehbiel, was in\nHarper\u2019s Saturday Normal Class and Advance Life Class.  Other AIC students with whom Harper would\nassociate with later in Paris include Worthington E. Hagerman, Willliam E.\nCook, Leon Lorado Merton Gruenhagen, and Henry Salem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One other fellow student should also be\nmentioned.  Blanche Williams was a\nstudent from Eureka Springs, Arkansas, who went on to teach in the public school\nsystem in Houston, Texas, preceding Harper there by one year.  AIC records show that in 1897-98 she was in\nthe Life Class with Harper.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only other information available\nabout Harper during this time frame comes from the 1900 United States Federal\nCensus, and may show where he spent at least one summer.  On June 1, 1900, William Harper (single, birthdate\nDecember 1873 in Canada) is listed as an artist living with Steaphen (sp?) (barber)\nand Margrett Egbert (music teacher) in Armada Village, Armada Township,\nMichigan.  His relationship to the head\nof family is \u201cbro-in-law\u201d, which is curious since records to not show that he\nhad a sister named Margrett, and Margrett cannot be Francis by another name\nsince her birthdate is four years earlier than that of Francis.  Like Harper, however, Margrett is listed as\nhaving been born in Canada.  Her date of citizenship\nin the U.S. is noted as 1873, while Harper\u2019s is listed as 1881.  This U.S. census record is inconsistent with\nHarper\u2019s Obituary which states that he came to the U.S. in 1885 at the age of\n11.  Moreover, the Canadian census\nrecords show him in Canada in 1881.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Summers:  Eagles Nest \u2013 Exactly when?  Also after school?  Need further research.]<\/em>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> Obituary, op. cit<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/a>\nThere is a reference in a 1910 article in the Decatur Herald to William\u2019s\n\u201cparents\u201d, which suggests that his father may have remarried sometime following\nthe death of William\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/a>\n\u201cColored Artist Dies in Mexico\u201d, Decatur Herald, March 30, 1910, p. 12<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4]<\/a> “William A.\nHarper” by Bentley, Florence L. (January 1906) in The Voice of the\nNegro; Obituary, Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, Vol. 4, No. 1 (July\n1910), p. 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5]<\/a> Catalogue\nof Illinois College and Whipple Academy of Jacksonville, Illinois for the\nschool calendar year 1894 to 1895, p. 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid.,\np. 69.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[7]<\/a> Ibid.,\np. 87.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[8]<\/a> Ibid.,\np. 90-91<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[9]<\/a>\nSee Decatur Daily Republican (Decatur, Illinois), January 3, 1889, p. 3;. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[10]<\/a>\nDecatur Herald, \u201cA Wedding Announced\u201d, March 15, 1893, p. 8<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[11]<\/a>\nDecatur Herald, \u201cWedding in Colored Society\u201d, March 23, 1893, p 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[12]<\/a>\nIllinois, Marriage Index, 1860-1920.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[13]<\/a>\n\u201cOfficers Elected\u201d, The Decatur Herald (Decatur, Illinois), April 9, 1890, p. 3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[14]<\/a>\u201cTwenty-Sixth\nAnniversary\u201d, The Daily Review (Decatur, Illinois), January 26, 1897. p. 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[15]<\/a> The\nDaily Review (Decatur, Illinois), May 3, 1899, p. 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[16]<\/a>\nThe Decatur Herald (Decatur, Illinois), December 28, 1902, p. 8<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[17]<\/a> This\nname is probably incorrect if intended to refer to the Secretary of the AIC.  The actual name of the Secretary at that time\nwas Newton H. Carpenter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[18]<\/a> Chicago News, \u201cColored Man Wins Position\u201d,\nFebruary 6, 1905. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[19]<\/a> Decatur\nDaily Review, \u201cNegro Janitor, A Prize Artist\u201d, February 3, 1905, p. 3.  See also, Jamestown N.Y. Journal, February 4,\n1905 –  From AIC Scrapbook. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[20]<\/a>\nCatalogue of Students and their classes published with the Art Institute\u2019s\nannual Circular..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[21]<\/a>\n\u201cThe Field of Art\u201d, Chicago Tribune, December 24, 1899, p 36.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[22]<\/a> \u201cThe\nEagle\u2019s Nest\u201d, Brush and Pencil, Vol. 2, No. 6 (Sep., 1898), pp. 269-275.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[23]<\/a>  \u201cPaintings of Note in Art Collection, Opening of Exhibit on Fourth\u201d, Ogle County Reporter, Vol. LXVII, No. 38, July 10, 1918, reproduced in The Art of Oregon, by Beth Baker Simeone, 2015. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Education – Last updated May 13, 2020 Early Years In 1885, at the age of 11, Harper moved from Cayuga to Petersburg, Illinois, attending school there[1].  All indications are that he joined his father on a farm at that time.[2]  From boyhood Harper is reported to have shown a talent for art.[3]  According to … Continue reading “Education”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":53,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.williamaharper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/251"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.williamaharper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.williamaharper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.williamaharper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.williamaharper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.williamaharper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":440,"href":"https:\/\/www.williamaharper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/251\/revisions\/440"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.williamaharper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.williamaharper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}