A handwritten love letter with the words "her love for Italy" in the upper-left corner dated 1854. The handwriting is in flowing cursive.
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John M. Olin Library, Level 1, Thomas Gallery

Intertwined Lives: Harriet Hosmer and Cornelia Crow Carr

In 1848, two young women met at school in Lenox, Massachusetts. Hattie Hosmer was from a high-society family in nearby Waterford. Fiercely independent, people often described her as a tomboy. Cornie Crow, born in rural Kentucky, lived in St. Louis, where her father was a merchant. Harriet “Hattie” Hosmer would become America’s first accomplished female sculptor, while “Cornie” became Mrs. Cornelia Crow Carr, wife and mother. Despite their differences, they would come to be lifelong friends and chosen family.

A collage of two separate photographs of women from the 1860s: Harriet Hosmer posed standing in a full gown leaning against a railing with her hair done and a head-and-shoulders seated photo of Cornelia Crow Carr in a button-down top with elaborate sleeves, earrings, and her hair done.
Harriet Hosmer (left) and Cornelia Crow Carr (right), circa 1860s, preserved in a Crow family album, Julian Edison Department of Special Collections.
Head and shoulders marble sculpture of a topless woman.
Sculpture of Daphne. Courtesy Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.

At a time before society had the terms lesbian or homosexual, Harriet Hosmer fell fiercely in love and had complex relationships with women. She had a career as an artist, and her legacy was carefully protected by Cornelia’s editing when publishing Hosmer’s biography. Featured in the exhibition is Hosmer’s first sculpture, Daphne. A head-and-shoulders bust, the sculpture was completed in Rome as a gift for Cornelia. Shipping it to St. Louis in 1854, Hattie wrote, “…when Daphne arrives kiss her lips and then remember that I kissed her just before she left me. I hope you will like her and look upon her as a blood-relation.” The sculpture remained in the Crow family until 1880 when it was donated to the collections of Washington University.

Drawing from several archives, including the newly acquired Crow Carr Family Collection, this exhibition offers a deeper look at the intertwined lives and families of these individuals. The exhibition goes behind the published history and looks at original documents to see the reality of these strong, independent women in the 19th century.

The Intertwined Lives: Harriet Hosmer and Cornelia Crow Carr exhibition is organized by Miranda Rectenwald, curator of local history collections.