"On February 27, 1885 Dr. E.B. Knight invited Mr. A.H. Combe Mr. E. Woodward and Mr. G.W. Whitaker to meet at his residence (No. 190 Broadway, Providence) to consider the matter of organizing a club to study art. It was unanimously agreed upon at the meeting to get a sufficient number of art lovers together to meet alternate Thursday evenings. A dozen or more names were at once thought of; and a meeting was appointed to be held March 12th at Whitaker’s studio (No. 65 Westminster street). This ended the business part of the meeting.
Then a spirited debate took place on the subject of Engraving. On invitation of then present Mr. Woodward consented to give us a talk on Engraving at next meeting. Adjourned at 11 p.m." *
The essays presented here are transcriptions of the talks given at the A. E. Club by fellow artists, collectors and critics who lived and worked alongside Edward and who may have spent time in his studio talking about art and the artist. More presentations will be added as time permits. A special thanks goes to Barnaby Evans and Elizabeth Zimmerman who transcribed some of the texts and to the staff at the Rhode Island Historical Society who scanned the original documents. More will be added as time permits. You can read an “Early History of A. E.” by Walter L. Munroe; transcribed by Gwendolyn D. Shaw here.
The original documents are a part of the Ann Eliza Club Records from the Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
*Meeting minutes of the A.E. Club, February 27, 1885.