Over the summer the Print Department hosted a half-day
orientation for teachers attending a Library of Congress “Teaching with Primary
Sources” seminar about the history of photography in relation to identity. In preparing
for the presentation, I had the opportunity to revisit material I had researched
and cataloged several years ago. One such item was a photograph album
compiled 1892-1893 by Ida F. Drew, a student in her last year at the Ogontz
School for Girls in Elkins Park, Pa. Having not had access to Ancestry.com
during my initial work with the album, I thought I would take advantage of it
now to find out a little bit more about Miss Drew. What had become of the girl
who had compiled a volume of formal class photographs and views of her school in
the early 1890s, as well as numerous snapshots of her school chums and family
friends during outings and vacations?
It turns out that Miss Drew was still Miss
Drew and living with her parents, prominent lawyer and general Charles W. Drew
and Anna Fleetwood, in Chicago in 1900.
By the 1910 census, she was the wife of Chicago lawyer Bertrand Walker whom
she wed on September 14, 1901. From the census data, it appears that she had no
children, though servants were regularly listed as part of the household. She
died on September 2, 1946, outlived by her husband, and was buried in Graceland
Cemetery in Chicago. Much still remains
a mystery about Ida Drew Walker—including which of the young ladies in the
photographs is she! Nonetheless a little more about her life has come to light.
Erika Piola
Associate Curator, Prints and Photographs
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