Dora Wetherbee Erway (November 19, 1889 – December 5, 1976) was an artist and home economist on the faculty of Cornell University from 1921 to 1958. She is best remembered today for the Dora Erway Doll Collection, a set of 37 dolls in elaborate historical costumes, made by her students in the 1920s.
Dora Erway | |
|---|---|
 Dora Wetherbee (later Erway), from the 1926 yearbook of Cornell University | |
| Born | Dora Ella Wetherbee November 19, 1889 Fitchburg, Massachusetts |
| Died | December 5, 1976 Ithaca, New York |
| Occupation(s) | Home economist, college professor, artist |
| Spouse | Edgar W. Erway |
Early life and education
editDora Ella Wetherbee was born and raised in Fitchburg, Massachusetts,[1] the daughter of Vernon Wetherbee and Iola E. Wetherbee (later Nutting). Her father was a contractor.[2] Her parents divorced in 1894.[3]
She graduated from Massachusetts Normal Art School in 1912,[4] and attended summer programs at the Commonwealth Art Colony in Boothbay Harbor, Maine for several years. She traveled widely[5] and made further studies as possible, ranging freely across disciplines and institutions.[6] Her art teachers included Cyrus Edwin Dallin and Albert Henry Munsell.[7]
Career
editErway taught art at the high school and college level as a young woman. She was a professor of color and design in the College of Home Economics at Cornell from 1921 to 1958.[6][8] She was acting head of the Household Art Department in 1944 and 1945. She served on the advisory board of the Journal of Home Economics, and chaired a national committee of the American Home Economics Association.[7] She lectured on textile history and other subjects to community groups.[9]
She spent much of a sabbatical year in 1955 in South America, studying "Inca civilization and culture."[10] She also made wood carvings,[11] and painted in watercolors and oils,[12][13] and exhibited her paintings and carvings in several gallery shows,[14] including a one-woman show in New York City.[6]
Personal life
editDora Wetherbee married insurance agent Edgar William Erway[15] in the mid-1920s. Her husband was born in 1906, 16 years her junior.[16] She died in 1976, at the age of 87, in Ithaca, New York.[17] The Dora Erway Doll Collection at Cornell includes 37 dolls made in the 1920s by students in Erway's sewing classes,[18] dressed in historical costumes using fabric scraps and, sometimes, their own hair.[19][20][21]
References
edit- ^ "High School Notes". Fitchburg Sentinel. 1913-04-02. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Vernon Wetherbee". Fitchburg Sentinel. 1938-07-05. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Mismated Couples". The Boston Globe. 1894-06-14. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Lang, Susan S. (February 21, 2008). "An 80-year-old student project revealed in the guise of dolls". Cornell Chronicle. Retrieved 2023-06-28.
- ^ "Mrs. Erway Leaves to Tour the World". The Ithaca Journal. 1930-01-28. p. 7. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c White, M. Vivian, and Ruth B. Comstock, "Dora W. Erway, November 19, 1889 – December 5, 1976)" In memoriam files, Office of the Dean of the University Faculty, Cornell University.
- ^ a b "Mrs. Erway, 87, Cornell Professor Emeritus, Dies". Ithaca Journal. December 6, 1976. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Good Aids Taste in Wise Spending Says Dora Erway". The Ithaca Journal. 1929-02-12. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Textile History Traced in Talk". The Ithaca Journal. 1937-01-08. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Professor Erway to Make Trip". The Ithaca Journal. 1955-06-17. p. 7. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Thomas, Dorothy Welty (1957-02-13). "Ithaca Artists; White Art Museum". The Ithaca Journal. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Works of 22 Ithaca Artists in Exhibit at Hill Gallery Sponsored by Garden Club". The Ithaca Journal. 1933-10-18. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Ithaca Artists". The Ithaca Journal. 1957-02-09. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-06-29 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Museum to Show Water Colors". The Ithaca Journal. 1957-05-31. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-29 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Erway, Edgar William (1927). A Study of the Lumber Industry and Its Merchandising Problems. Cornell University.
- ^ "Obituary for Edgar W. Erway". The Ithaca Journal. 1977-10-17. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Mrs. Erway Dies; CU Prof Emeritus". The Post-Standard. 1976-12-07. p. 26. Retrieved 2023-06-29 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Schoch, Deborah (1979-04-24). "These dolls are clothed in history". The Ithaca Journal. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Guide to the Dora Erway doll collection, 1924–1928". Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library. Retrieved 2023-06-28.
- ^ Iacchei, J. M. (March 17, 2020). "Rehousing the Dora Erway Doll Collection: A custom-fitting". Cornell University Library Conservation. Retrieved 2023-06-28.
- ^ "Library displays historically costumed dolls". The Ithaca Journal. 2008-12-20. p. 11. Retrieved 2023-06-28 – via Newspapers.com.