Ema Spencer

Ema Spencer (March 1, 1857 – September 30, 1941) was an American photographer, newspaper columnist, and teacher from Newark, Ohio. In 1898, alongsideClarence H. White, Spencer was one of the co-founders of the Newark Camera Club, an amateur photography club.

Ema Spencer
BornMarch 1, 1857
Gratiot, Ohio, U.S.
DiedSeptember 30, 1941 (aged 84)
Newark, Ohio, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Known forPhotography
StylePictorialism
MovementPhoto-Secession

Early life

Ema Spencer was born to Dr. Benjamin Franklin Spencer and his wife, Susan Porter Spencer, in the Licking County, Ohio village of Gratiot. She had a sister, Carolyn, and a brother, Charles Hildreth. She attended Newark High School where she graduated Valedictorian and she went on to study at the Young Ladies' Institute in nearby Granville.[1]

Photography career

In early 1898 Spencer and Clarence H. White co-founded the Newark Camera Club, a group of fifteen amateur photographers from the city.[2] That fall she served as the Secretary for the newly established Ohio State Association of Amateur Photographers.[3] Spencer's photography career continued until at least 1914 despite the Newark Camera Club's dissolution in 1906 when White left for New York.

Year Exhibition Location Notes
1898 Newark Camera Club[4] 161 North 4th St., Newark, Ohio, U.S. Held at Ema Spencer's home
1899 Newark Camera Club[5] YMCA, Newark, Ohio, U.S.
1899 Philadelphia Salon[6] Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
1900 Chicago Photographic Salon[7] The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
1900 Third Philadelphia Photographic Salon[8] Alfred Stieglitz, Gertrude Käsebier, Clarence H. White, Frank Eugene served as jury members
1900 Newark Camera Club YMCA, Newark, Ohio, U.S.
1901 New York Camera Club
1901 Ninth Annual Exhibition of the Photographic Salon Dudley Gallery at the Egyptian Hall, London, UK Organized by the Linked Ring
1902 The "Photo-Secession" at the Arts Club National Arts Club, New York City, U.S.
1902 International Exposition Turin, Italy Awarded the silver medal
1903 The First International Exhibition for Contemporary Picture-Photography Wiesbaden, Germany Awarded unknown medal
1903 An Exhibition of Salon Photographs The Photographic Society of Philadelphia
1906 Fourteenth Annual Exhibition of the Photographic Salon London, UK
1907 Annual Member's Exhibition, New York Photo Club New York City, U.S.
1910 International Exhibition of Pictorial Photography Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, U.S.
1911 International Exposition Hamburg, Germany Awarded unknown medal
1912 An Exhibition Illustrating the Progress of the Art of Photography Montross Art Galleries, New York City, U.S.
1914 Ema Spencer[9] Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, Brooklyn, New York City Solo exhibition
1914 The Fifty-Ninth Annual Exhibition of the Royal Photographic Society Gallery of the Royal Society of British Artists, London, UL
1988 In Pursuit of Art Amid Difficulties The Ohio State University, Newark Art Gallery, the Lancaster Library, and the Ohio Historical Society Posthumous. Organized by the Ohio State University, Newark and the Licking County Historical Society
2020 No Mere Button-Pressers: Clarence H. White, Ema Spencer, and The Newark Camera Club[10] Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio, U.S. and The Works, Newark, Ohio, U.S. Posthumous

Newspaper career

Early in her life Spencer held a variety of jobs at the Newark Advocate. In the 1880s she was managing three of the departments at the paper. In 1916 Spencer began writing a daily column called "The Melting Pot" under the pen name "Aunt Ca'line." She continued the column for 25 years, stopping only near the end of her life.

References
  1. Haverstock, Mary Sayre (2000). Artists in Ohio, 1787–1900 : a biographical dictionary. Vance, Jeannette Mahoney, Meggitt, Brian L., Weidman, Jeffrey, Oberlin College Library. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press. ISBN 0-87338-616-7. OCLC 38731960.
  2. Spencer, Ema (1898). "The Newark Camera Club". Brush and Pencil. 3 (2): 93–99. doi:10.2307/25505327. JSTOR 25505327.
  3. "Camera Club". Chillicothe Gazette. November 21, 1899.
  4. "The Newark Camera Club invites you to be present at a reception and exhibition to be held at the home of Miss Spencer August 4, 1898. 161 North 4th St. 7:30 o'clock". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  5. The Newark Camera Club 1899 Exhibition Catalogue, Licking County Historical Society
  6. "The New photo-miniature. v.2 pt.1 no.13–18 1900". HathiTrust. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  7. "Chicago Photographic Salon of 1900 / held under the joint management of the Chicago Society of Amateur Photographers and the Art Institute of Chicago". libmma.contentdm.oclc.org. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  8. "Photo-era magazine. v.5–6 1900–1901". HathiTrust. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  9. Sciences, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and (1914). Yearbook of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences.
  10. "No Mere Button-Pressers: Clarence H. White, Ema Spencer, and The Newark Camera Club". Columbus Museum of Art. July 2, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
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