Selections from the Blanche Espy Chenoweth Papers

68 Items
Last Updated: 2021-03-04

This collection contains photographs documenting the life of Blanche Espy Chenoweth, a lecturer, writer, and radio broadcaster who covered topics related to women, etiquette, homemaking, and general well-being. The photographs of Chenoweth, her family and friends, and her travels give a glimpse of American life during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The digital collection includes 67 photographs and a 48-page scrapbook.

The photographs, including those found in the scrapbook, include formal portraits and snapshots. Many of the portraits provide examples of formal dress and photographic customs from the time period, including dresses worn for graduations and weddings. In contrast, the snapshots show life candidly. These snapshots include groups of friends and colleagues, travels across the American Southwest, and picnics, sports, and other social outings. Much of the information about the photographs comes from notes included in the archival collection that houses the materials, the Blanche Espy Chenoweth Papers.

Chenoweth was born in Iowa in 1875 and spent the last 25 years of her life in Houston, prior to her death in 1960. Throughout her adult life she lived and travelled in various cities giving lectures on women’s etiquette. In the 1920s, she lectured and wrote on women's issues at the Chautauqua Institute in New York, and in the 1930s she had a radio program in Chicago which gave advice on women’s personal problems. During this time she also wrote an advice column for a newspaper.

The original materials are available in UH Libraries' Special Collections in the Blanche Espy Chenoweth Papers.

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