Flavia Camp Canfield

Flavia Camp Canfield
Born	Flavia Camp (1844-01-28)January 28, 1844 Black Earth, Wisconsin
Died	August 12, 1930(1930-08-12) (aged 86)
Nationality	American
Spouse	James Hulme Canfield ​ ​ (m. 1873⁠–⁠1909)​
Relatives	Dorothy Canfield Fisher (daughter)

Flavia Camp Canfield (January 28, 1844 – August 12, 1930) was an American artist, author, and founder of the Columbus Federation of Women's Clubs.^[1]

Early life

Flavia Camp was raised in Black Earth, Wisconsin by her mother and step-father, the Congregational pastor Asa A. Allen, with a combined total of fifteen siblings, half-siblings, and step-siblings.^[2] She taught in a local school in her late teens,^[3] and went to the University of Wisconsin in 1863, the first year it admitted women.^[2]

On June 24, 1873 she married James Hulme Canfield^[1] with whom she had a son and in 1879 a daughter Dorothy.^[4][5] Although she didn't speak any foreign languages, she made many trips to Europe with her daughter,^[6] for example studying art for a year in Paris.^[7]

Organisational work

Canfield became interested in the nascent Women's Club Movement, and accordingly while her husband was president of Ohio State University, she began a campaign to organize and federate clubs in the Columbus region.^[8] In all she founded 26 such clubs and the Columbus Federation of Women's Clubs.^[1] She was the first president (1895–97) of the Ohio State University Women's Club,^[9] and was president of the Ohio Federation of Women's Clubs from 1898–1900.^[1]

Canfield continued her interest in the arts as president of The Columbus Art Association, in which role she "broadened the policy of the association and enlarged the membership".^[8]

Literary legacy

Her published novels include The Kidnapped Campers: A Story of Out-of-Doors (1908), The Refugee Family: A Story for Girls (1919), The Big Tent (1921), and Around the World at Eighty (1925).^[4]

Being made the subject of satire in "Flavia and Her Artists", a short story by her daughter Dorothy's friend Willa Cather, was probably the cause for the 10-year rift between Dorothy and Cather.^[10]

References

1. "Canfield, Flavia A, Mrs James Hulme Canfield, (1/28/1844-8/12/1930) Fisher, Dorothy Francis Canfield (2/17/1879-11/9/1958)". Columbus in Historic Photographs. Columbus Metropolitan Library. Archived from the original on 2013-04-14. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
2. "Flavia Camp, mother of Dorothy Canfield Fisher, gifted novelist, well remembered by Mrs. Annie Taylor Noyes". The Madison Democrat. Madison, WI. 1919-07-20. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
3. "Back to the old home after an absence of 55 years". Black Earth News. Black Earth, WI. 1919-07-11. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
4. "Novelist's Mother Dies". The Cincinnati Enquirer. August 14, 1930. p. 16. Retrieved December 19, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "James Hulme Canfield Collection". University of Vermont Libraries. 1998. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
6. Ehrhardt, Julia (2004), "Tourists accommodated, with reservations", Writers of Conviction : The Personal Politics of Zona Gale, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Rose Wilder Lane, and Josephine Herbst, Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press
7. "FISHER, Dorothy Canfield, Feb. 17, 1879-Nov. 9, 1958", Notable American Women: The Modern Period, 1980 (subscription required)
8. Denney, Jane (1920). "Club History". The University Women's Club of the Ohio State University. Archived from the original on 2013-04-16. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
9. "Past Presidents". The University Women's Club of the Ohio State University. Archived from the original on 2013-04-16. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
10. Rosowski, Susan J. (1985). "Prototypes for Willa Cather's "Flavia and Her Artists": the Canfield Connection". American Notes & Queries. 23: 143–145.