The sizeable demand for articles of adornment ensured steady income. Widely promoted as an appropriate field for women, especially for those who had to earn a living, artistic jewelry required a relatively small space and could be executed at home or in a modest-sized workshop with inexpensive tools. 7 At this time, Eda was known professionally as Mrs.

Vernette Morse, the Institute offered practical training in the evenings and weekends to women and men seeking a career in the arts and crafts.

She studied with James Herbert Winn (1866–1940), an influential jeweler and instructor, who began teaching at the Art Craft Institute in Chicago in 1903. 6Īlthough little is known of Eda’s schooling, she likely began her education in silver and enamel work in 1903. Young (1873–1964), a member of her social set in Evanston and a commission merchant at the Board of Trade in Chicago (Fig.

5 One of the earliest public accounts about Eda, a newspaper report of her marriage on Christmas Eve in 1896, describes her as a pretty and vivacious young lady who married William S. 3 Eda’s father was a partner in his father’s Chicago wholesale drug firm, Lord, Stoutenburgh & Co. Born in Evanston on Novemto George Sterling Lord (1850–1916) and Eda Isadore Hurd Lord (1854-1938), she was the second eldest of nine children. Metropolitan Museum of Art, gift of Jacqueline Loewe Fowler, © Metropolitan Museum of Art.Įda Lord Dixon grew up in an artistic and progressive milieu in Evanston, Illinois. Silver, ivory, enamel, and glass length 9 5/8, diameter 4 5/8 inches. With these resources, collectors and scholars now will be able to identify and document more of Eda’s work. As a consequence of The Metropolitan Museum’s project, Eda’s sketch, design, and account books were discovered, and thanks to her descendants they are available through Watson Library’s digital collections portal. 1 The gift prompted staff of the American Wing to embark on research into Eda’s life and work, resulting in the rediscovery of an influential, award-winning American silversmith, enamelist, and jeweler of the early twentieth century. Fortunately, the hand mirror had been published and credited to her in the journal Palette and Bench. At the time, Eda was virtually unknown, even among Arts and Crafts silver scholars, principally because she rarely signed her work. In 2014 the American Wing of The Metropolitan Museum of Art received a gift from devoted patron Jacqueline Loewe Fowler of a stunning Arts and Crafts silver and enamel hand mirror by Eda Lord Dixon (1876-1926) (Fig. Here is the full version, with endnotes, of an article that appeared in a condensed version in our September/October 2018 print edition.

I, Eda by Howard R. Price