Ema Spencer

Ema Spencer (March 1, 1857 – September 30, 1941) was an American photographer, newspaper columnist, and teacher from Newark, Ohio. In 1898, alongside Clarence H. White, Spencer was one of the co-founders of the Newark Camera Club, an amateur photography club.

Ema Spencer
Born	March 1, 1857 Gratiot, Ohio, U.S.
Died	September 30, 1941 (aged 84) Newark, Ohio, U.S.
Nationality	American
Known for	Photography
Style	Pictorialism
Movement	Photo-Secession

Early life

Ema Spencer was born to Dr. Benjamin Franklin Spencer and his wife, Susan Porter Spencer, in the Licking County, Ohio village of Gratiot. She had a sister, Carolyn, and a brother, Charles Hildreth. She attended Newark High School where she graduated Valedictorian and she went on to study at the Young Ladies' Institute in nearby Granville.^[1]

Photography career

In early 1898 Spencer and Clarence H. White co-founded the Newark Camera Club, a group of fifteen amateur photographers from the city.^[2] That fall she served as the Secretary for the newly established Ohio State Association of Amateur Photographers.^[3] Spencer's photography career continued until at least 1914 despite the Newark Camera Club's dissolution in 1906 when White left for New York.

Year	Exhibition	Location	Notes
1898	Newark Camera Club^[4]	161 North 4th St., Newark, Ohio, U.S.	Held at Ema Spencer's home
1899	Newark Camera Club^[5]	YMCA, Newark, Ohio, U.S.
1899	Philadelphia Salon^[6]	Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
1900	Chicago Photographic Salon^[7]	The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
1900	Third Philadelphia Photographic Salon^[8]		Alfred Stieglitz, Gertrude Käsebier, Clarence H. White, Frank Eugene served as jury members
1900	Newark Camera Club	YMCA, Newark, Ohio, U.S.
1901	New York Camera Club
1901	Ninth Annual Exhibition of the Photographic Salon	Dudley Gallery at the Egyptian Hall, London, UK	Organized by the Linked Ring
1902	The "Photo-Secession" at the Arts Club	National Arts Club, New York City, U.S.
1902	International Exposition	Turin, Italy	Awarded the silver medal
1903	The First International Exhibition for Contemporary Picture-Photography	Wiesbaden, Germany	Awarded unknown medal
1903	An Exhibition of Salon Photographs	The Photographic Society of Philadelphia
1906	Fourteenth Annual Exhibition of the Photographic Salon	London, UK
1907	Annual Member's Exhibition, New York Photo Club	New York City, U.S.
1910	International Exhibition of Pictorial Photography	Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, U.S.
1911	International Exposition	Hamburg, Germany	Awarded unknown medal
1912	An Exhibition Illustrating the Progress of the Art of Photography	Montross Art Galleries, New York City, U.S.
1914	Ema Spencer^[9]	Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, Brooklyn, New York City	Solo exhibition
1914	The Fifty-Ninth Annual Exhibition of the Royal Photographic Society	Gallery of the Royal Society of British Artists, London, UL
1988	In Pursuit of Art Amid Difficulties	The Ohio State University, Newark Art Gallery, the Lancaster Library, and the Ohio Historical Society	Posthumous. Organized by the Ohio State University, Newark and the Licking County Historical Society
2020	No Mere Button-Pressers: Clarence H. White, Ema Spencer, and The Newark Camera Club^[10]	Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio, U.S. and The Works, Newark, Ohio, U.S.	Posthumous

Newspaper career

Early in her life Spencer held a variety of jobs at the Newark Advocate. In the 1880s she was managing three of the departments at the paper. In 1916 Spencer began writing a daily column called "The Melting Pot" under the pen name "Aunt Ca'line." She continued the column for 25 years, stopping only near the end of her life.

References

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ema Spencer.

1. Haverstock, Mary Sayre (2000). Artists in Ohio, 1787–1900 : a biographical dictionary. Vance, Jeannette Mahoney, Meggitt, Brian L., Weidman, Jeffrey, Oberlin College Library. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press. ISBN 0-87338-616-7. OCLC 38731960.
2. Spencer, Ema (1898). "The Newark Camera Club". Brush and Pencil. 3 (2): 93–99. doi:10.2307/25505327. JSTOR 25505327.
3. "Camera Club". Chillicothe Gazette. November 21, 1899.
4. "The Newark Camera Club invites you to be present at a reception and exhibition to be held at the home of Miss Spencer August 4, 1898. 161 North 4th St. 7:30 o'clock". Library of Congress. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
5. The Newark Camera Club 1899 Exhibition Catalogue, Licking County Historical Society
6. "The New photo-miniature. v.2 pt.1 no.13–18 1900". HathiTrust. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
7. "Chicago Photographic Salon of 1900 / held under the joint management of the Chicago Society of Amateur Photographers and the Art Institute of Chicago". libmma.contentdm.oclc.org. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
8. "Photo-era magazine. v.5–6 1900–1901". HathiTrust. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
9. Sciences, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and (1914). Yearbook of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences.
10. "No Mere Button-Pressers: Clarence H. White, Ema Spencer, and The Newark Camera Club". Columbus Museum of Art. July 2, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2020.