Solitary Child on Porch in Beverly, MA

Solitary Child on Porch in Beverly, MA

Susan Higginson Bowditch Long: 1857-1935

A contemplative child-most likely related to the Long family, sits for her portrait on the front stoop of a home believed to belong to the photographer in Beverly, MA. 

From a series of candid photographs believed to have been taken by the artist compiled in a late 19th Century album bearing the armorial bookplate of her spouse Harry Vinton Long, 1857-1949. Long attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1876-77 and she later worked closely in 1909 with the Olmstead Brothers- successors to famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead Sr.- in designing the extensive gardens for her family’s summer estate on Little White Head Island at Cohasset, MA.

Note: In 1903, the artist became a member of the Massachusetts Society of Colonial Dames of America, seventh in descent from Rev. Francis Higginson. Her husband Harry Long was a Mayflower descendent, Boston stockbroker and Director of Museums for the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. (now Historic New England)

Title
Solitary Child on Porch in Beverly, MA
Photographer
Country
Medium
Year
Dimensions

Image Dimensions8.9 x 11.5 cm

Support Dimensionsnone

Print Notes

Recto: Marginal sunning; location and date based on similar dated works by the artist not held by this archive. The attribution to photographer Susan Higginson Bowditch Long is based on known image of the artist operating a plate camera: Isles of Shoals Aug ’87 from same album held by this archive featured in our blog Sea & Shore.

Provenance

Purchased for this archive in August, 2015 from North Carolina dealer who disassembled original album. (details: see description)