Representative women of New England/Anna B. Curry
ANNA BARIGHT CURRY, Dean of the School of Expression, Boston, was born June 19, 1854, in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. She comes of a long line of Quaker ancestors, broken only once in two centuries. Her parents, Samuel Carpenter and Frances (Dean) Baright, have recently moved to North Adams, Mass.
The Barights settled in Pleasant Valley, Dutchess County, N.Y., before the Revolution, on a grant of government land deeded to them by King George. This homestead remained in the family until about 1870. Two Carpenter brothers came to America with William Penn. One of them settled in Pennsylvania, the other in New York. Through the Deans and Mabbetts, on her mother's side, Mrs. Curry is descended from Joseph Castine, one of the original nine patentees who owned and settled the township of Nine Partners in Dutchess County, New York. Her maternal grandmother was Helen, youngest daughter of General Samuel Augustus S. Barker by his second wife. Miss Meribah Collins, of Dutchess County, New York.
General Barker, originally of Branford, Conn., served in the Revolutionary War and in tlie War of 1812. After the close of the Revolu- tion he settled in Beeknian, N.Y. He was a member of the New York Assembly. He died November 19, 1819, and was buried on his own estate in Beekman. His Revolutionary record, as given in the Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army, is, in l)rief, as follows: —
"Barker, Samuel Augustus S., (Ct.) Adju- tant of Douglass' 6th Connecticut State Regi- ment '2l)th June to— Dec, 1776 ; 1st Lieut, antl Adjt. of 6th Ct., 26th Dec, 1776; Capt., 10th of May, 1780: transferred to 4th Ct., 1st of Jan., 1781; Brigade Major in 1781; transferred to 2dCt. 1st Jan., 1782: resigned April 13th, 1782." Perhajxs a further record of the activities in which General Barker participated may not be uninteresting: —
Served in the battle of Long Island, August 27, 1776. Took part in the following retreat to New York and in the hurried retreat from that city, Septeml)er 15, upon the enemy's attack. Was at the battle of White Plains, October 28. In the summer of 1777 was in camp at Peeks- kill, and was frequently detached our-expe- dition or outpost duty. Served in August — October on Hudson in Parsons's brigade under Putnam. AVintered 1777-78 at West Point, assisting in the construction of fortifications. In the summer of 1778 encamped with the main army under Wa.shington at White Plains. Wintered 1778-79 at Redding. In the opera- tions of 1779 served with Connecticut division on east side of Hudson in Heath's wing. Its light company under Captain Champion de- tached to Meigs's light regiment, and engaged at storming of Stony Point, July 15, 1779. Win- tered 1779-80 at Morristown Heights, N.J., and in movements of 1780 served with division on both sides of the Hudson. On discovery of Arnold's treason, Meigs's regiment was or- dered with the troojjs to repair forthwith to West Point in anticii)ation of ailvance of enemy. Wintered 1780-81 at camp "Connecticut Village," near the Robinson House, opposite West Point, and then consolidated for forma- tion of 1781-83. Mrs. Curry's mother has in her possession a wooden trencher made by General Barker while a prisoner, during the War of 1812, on a British war-ship in New York Harbor. Mrs. Curry was graduated at Cook's Collegi- ate Institute, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 1873. Before she was sixteen years old, she attracted unusual attention in the work done at the closing exercises of Gary Institute. Friends at that time predicted a successful future in public work.
Soon after graduating she was tendered a position as teacher of elocution in the Mil- waukee Female College. At the end of one year she was offered the position for ten years, with an annual increase in salary; but the desire to study was stronger than financial inducements, and in 1875 Miss Baright came to Boston.
Professor Lewis B. Monroe, Dean of the Boston University School of Oratory, recognized her powers, and under his influence she continued her studies. In 1877 she was graduated from the School of Oratory with the highest class honors, and appointed by the faculty to represent the class of 1877 at the first Boston University commencement, held in Tremont Temple. Her theme on this occasion was "Elocution as a Fine Art," in which she matle an appeal, not for one art, but for Art. Miss Baright's enthusiasm on this occasion was contagious, and an audience of three thousand responded to her ideals with a fervor almost unheard of at a college commencement.
Thus Miss Baright became associated with the beginnings of the progressive movement in the arts of the spoken word, which has culminated in the School of Expression, Boston, of which S. S. Curry, Ph.D., is president. At the opening exercises of the School of Oratory in the fall of 1877 Miss Baright, then a teacher in the school, gave a reading of Mrs. Browning's " Rhyme of the Duche.'^s May." The lyric possibilities of the ])oem were combined with the most discriminating impersonation, and all the subtler variety of treatment brought into unity about the slender thread of a story. Professor Monroe called her aside after this reading and .said, " I do not wish to lo.se you as a teacher, but it is only right for you to know that your power point's you to the platform." She did not take up platform work, however, professionally, but has directed her powers to train and develop the art instinct in others.
In July, 1879, she opened at Martha's Vine- yard the first summer school of oratory held in the United States. Professor Monroe was to have conducted this school, with Miss Baright as an assistant. He was taken ill about the date set for the opening. He telegraphed to Miss Baright to go on and attend to the work. His death occurred on the first day of the school, and, although several other teachers were in attendance, indecision and lack of leader- ship seemed to threaten the disbanding of the students. Miss Baright saw the situation, anfl, with her characteristic readiness to meet emer- gencies, organized the school, divided it into classes, placed them under teachers, and start(>d the work, inspiring the confidence that held all the students assembled at Martha's Y'lnf}- yard for the five weeks' term.
Boston University disorganized the School of Oratory, August 22, 1879. President War- ren advised Miss Baright to take the name of the old school and conduct a school herself. As she demurred on account of her age anil lack of experience, Dr. Warren said : " If you do not, some one else will who is not as well entitled to do it as you." Miss Baright, how- ever, did not take the name of the school of oratory, but opened classes in elocution and expression. The name was taken by other parties, and Miss Baright's career as a teacher in Boston reached its second stage.
In 1880, through Mr. W. E. Sheldon, editor of the Journal of Education, Miss Baright received an offer of a position in Philadelphia as superintendent of teachers of the public schools, at a salary of two thousand dollars a year, which she did not accept.
On May 31, 1882, she was married to S. S. Curry, Ph.D., afterward Snow Professor of Oratory in Boston University anil founder of the School of Expression, Boston, and on Juno 1 sailed with her husband for Europe, where they spent several months in travel, retui'n- ing to Boston the following autumn. Six children have been born of their union, and four of them are now living — I'^thcl (iertrudo Curry, Mabel Campbell Curry, Gladys Ban- ning Curry, and Haskel Brooks Curry.
In these later years ^Irs. Curry has been associated with her husband in the develop- ment and organization of the School of Ex- pression, Boston, of which he is the founder and jiresident. The aim of the School of Expression is to emphasize the educational value of artistic methods as applied to train- ing in the use of the spoken word. A delicate tribute by the late Professor J. W. Churchill to the associated work of Mr. and Mrs. Curry as princi{)als of the School of Expression is particularly interesting: "Fortunate indeed are those who come under the benign influ- ence of ideals so pure and noble, who work upon ])riiicii)les so clear, so sound, so truly ])hilos()]jhical, and therefore so wisely practical, and who share in achievements so rich, varied, and enduring. Happy indeed are those who are guitled in their art studies by the philo- sophic insight and scientific method of one of the principals of the school and the beautiful technique, inspirational interpretations, and stimulating example of the other. Long may this brilliant binary star, with its blended radi- ance of philosophy and art, guide earnest seekers after the true, the beautiful, and the good in expressive speech, as they tread the pathway of human perfection."
Belief in inspiration was Mrs. Curry's birth-right, and the inalienable right of self-activity was her heritage. Through her maternal grandfather, Jonathan Dean, who was something of a poet, she came naturally by her love of poetry and the drama. He died in early manhood, but, even in the days before public reading had gained popular recognition, was the favorite in social circles, where he recited Shakespeare and poetry for the entertainment of his friends. Jonathan Dean's brothers, Edwin and Seneca, were also patrons and lovers of art. One day they brought home a violin, after having learned to play upon it in secret; and their father, in the spirit of a martyr, rak(^d open the coals in the oven, and laid this instrument of sin upon the blazing embers. But the art instinct is not thus to be annihilated. Edwin Dean later became owner and patron of a theatre, and his daughter, Julia Dean, one of our greatest American actresses.
Mrs. Curry's strongest characteristic is the harmonious co-ordination of intellectual and emotional power. Her dramatic instinct has developed into a deep insight into truth. She has done some strong creative work in the vocal interpretation of the dramatic and lyric spirits in literature, notably in her readings from Mrs. Browning's "The Rhyme of the Duchess May," old ballads, Shelley's "Prometheus Unbound," and Rossetti's "Sister Helen"; of the epic spirit in Tennyson's "Idylls of the King"; in the blending of the epic and dramatic spirit in an adaptation from Homer's Iliad and modern epic poems.
Of Mrs. Curry as a reader of the Bible, Dr. William F. Warren, President of Boston University, has spoken unqualified appreciation. Of her reading of "The Story of the Passion of Christ, as told in the Gospels," a critic .says, "It is the apotheosis of all art, and reveals in art the reality of His life." As a teacher. Professor Lewis B. Monroe said of her, "She is the only one who has ever been able to take classes from my hands without losing their attention." And Professor J. W. Churchill said, "She is the greatest woman teacher of elocution in the country."
Mrs. Curry, while not a club woman, has held membership in the New England Woman's Club, Cantabrigia Club (Cambridge), Boston Browning Society.
Mrs. Curry is now editor of Expression, and has in its columns made an application of dramatic principles to platform work. She feels that her best years of work are to come.