Puget Sound to Exhibit Letters of American Artist and Activist Abby Williams Hill
September 18, 2009
Abby Williams Hill (1861-1943) was a Tacoma-based painter and social activist widely recognized for her paintings of the North Cascades and western national parks. Less well known, but equally important, are her papers. She was an astute observer of her time; her letters, diaries, and daybooks paint a remarkably rich and personal picture of American life between the Civil War and World War II. An exhibition of Cut Out for the Wilds: The Collected Papers of Artist and Activist Abby Williams Hill will be held Oct. 22-Jan. 5 in Collins Memorial Library on campus. The exhibit will include writings of Hill's family, as well as photographs and ephemera, and the debut of an installation of Hill's paintings in the library's reading room. The opening reception will be Oct. 22, 4:30-6 p.m.
Born to one of the founding families of Grinnell, Iowa, Hill taught and exhibited locally before moving to New York to study under William Merritt Chase at the Art Students League. In 1889, she and her physician husband, Frank Hill, moved to Tacoma. Between 1903 and 1906, she accepted four commissions from the Great Northern and Northern Pacific railways to record in oil the spectacular vistas of the Pacific Northwest and Yellowstone National Park. The commissions allowed for extended stays in the wilderness, often in the company of her four young children. In 1907 she wrote, "I was cut out for the wilds."
In addition to her work as an artist, Hill is remembered as the first Washington state chapter president of the Congress of Mothers, the forerunner of today's PTA. In her work for the congress, she advocated on behalf of immigrant and disadvantaged families. Later in her life, she embarked on letter-writing campaigns to create a national sanitarium for tuberculosis patients. She also lobbied on behalf of the environment, having already witnessed the degradation of several of the landscapes she had painted early in her career.
The Abby Williams Hill Collection was donated to University of Puget Sound in the decades following her death in 1943. Many of the paintings are on display in Jones Hall and other locations on the Puget Sound campus. The Hill papers reside in the archives room of Collins Memorial Library. For more information visit: www.pugetsound.edu/awh.xml.
Related Events
No Woman Has Ventured As Far - the Art and Adventures of Abby Williams Hill
A living history performance by Karen Haas
Collins Memorial Library, University of Puget Sound
Nov. 7, 2-3:30 p.m.
Learn about Abby Williams Hill's life in Tacoma and the Pacific Northwest, and about the many important contributions this remarkable woman made to our community. The free, family-friendly event will include light refreshments and a craft activity.
For directions and a map of the campus: www.pugetsound.edu/directions.xml
Press-quality photos of Abby Williams Hill paintings can be downloaded from: www.pugetsound.edu/x18990.xml
CONTACT
mediarelations@ups.edu
253.879.2611
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