Harriette Dubose Kershaw Leiding (June 26, 1874 – March 20, 1948),[1] known socially as Mrs. H. G. Leiding, was an American writer, clubwoman, and gallery director, based in Charleston, South Carolina.[2] She wrote several local histories, including Street cries of an old southern city; with music and illustrations (1910),[3][4] Historic Houses of South Carolina (1921),[5] and Charleston, Historic and Romantic (1931).[6] Her photographs are in the Charleston Museum.[7]
Harriette Kershaw Leiding | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 26, 1874 Sewanee, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | March 20, 1948 (aged 73) Charleston, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, gallery director, local historian, clubwoman |
| Relatives | Joseph B. Kershaw (grandfather) Wilmot Gibbes de Saussure (grandfather) |
Early life
editHarriette Kershaw was born in Sewanee, Tennessee, and raised in Camden and Sumter, South Carolina, the daughter of Rev. John Kershaw and Susan B. de Saussure Kershaw of the De Saussure family.[8] Her paternal grandfather, Joseph B. Kershaw, was a major general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, and later a politician. Her maternal grandfather, Wilmot Gibbes de Saussure, was also a Confederate general and a politician.[9] She graduated from the Peabody College for Teachers in 1894.[10]
Career
editLeiding wrote four books[9] of local history and folklore about Charleston, emphasizing a romantic, nostalgic view of the Southern city.[11] She also wrote shorter essays,[12] and the lyrics to a 1913 song, "Calling to Thee", with music by Eugene Wyatt.[13]
Leiding was director of Gibbes Art Gallery.[9] She donated "extraordinarily" large stone crab claws to the Charleston Museum, which also holds a collection of her photographs.[14] She was a member of the South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Society.[15]
In 1915, she was local chair of the Southern Commercial Congress, when it met in Charleston, and she was active in the Woman's Committee Council of Defense during World War I,[16] the Charleston Civic Club, the State Federation of Women's Clubs, the Art Association of South Carolina, and many other organizations. "She has been with all the big civic movements inaugurated in Charleston," noted a 1915 profile.[17] "As a patriotic and civic worker she is earnest, active, and always on the job," according to a 1918 article.[16]
Publications
edit
- Street cries of an old southern city; with music and illustrations (1910)
- "Charleston Gardens" (1914)[18]
- "The Great or Broad Seal of the Confederacy" (1921)[12]
- Historic Houses of South Carolina (1921)
- "Inscriptions from the Church Yard at Wiltown Bluff" (1926)[19]
- Charleston, Historic and Romantic (1931)[6]
Personal life
editKershaw married Charleston businessman Herman Gustavus Leiding.[20][9] She died in 1948, at the age of 73, at her home in Charleston.[21]
See also
edit- Alfred Hutty, Charleston artist who illustrated one of her books
- Street cries
References
edit- ^ While her gravestone gives 1878 as her birth year, newspaper obituaries consistently gave her age at 73 in March 1948; and she gave 1874 as her birth year on her 1919 passport application, via Ancestry.
- ^ "The American Catalogue". A.C. Armstrong & Son. November 22, 1911 – via Google Books.
- ^ ""Street cries of an old southern city,"". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.
- ^ "The Publishers Weekly". R.R. Bowker Company. November 22, 1911 – via Google Books.
- ^ Leiding, Harriette Kershaw (1921). Historic houses of South Carolina. Cornell University Library. Philadelphia, London, J. B. Lippincott Company.
- ^ a b Flippin, P. S. (June 1, 1932). "Charleston, Historic and Romantic. By Harriette Kershaw Leiding. (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1931. 293 pp. Illustrations. $3.50.)". Journal of American History. 19 (1): 105–106. doi:10.2307/1896664. ISSN 0021-8723.
- ^ "Leiding, H.K. (Harriette Kershaw), 1878-1948". Charleston Museum.
- ^ "Mrs. Leiding Dies; Formerly of Sumter". The Item. March 22, 1948. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d "Funeral Held for Mrs. H. G. Leiding, Charleston Writer". The Columbia Record. March 23, 1948. p. 16 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ George Peabody College for Teachers (1913). George Peabody college for teachers. Reopening of the college, alumni lists, progress of scholarship campaign, Knapp school of country life. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. p. 43 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Dance, Daryl Cumber (November 22, 1978). "Shuckin' and Jivin': Folklore from Contemporary Black Americans". Indiana University Press – via Google Books.
- ^ a b Leiding, Harriette Kershaw (May 16, 1921). "The Great or Broad Seal of the Confederacy". The State. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Library of Congress Copyright Office (November 22, 1913). "Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical Compositions. Part 3". Library of Congress. p. 256 – via Google Books.
- ^ Museum, College of Charleston (November 22, 1910). "Bulletin of the College of Charleston Museum". The College – via Google Books.
- ^ "Notes and Reviews". The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine. 43 (2): 129. April 1942 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ a b "Woman's Committee Council of Defense Happenings for Week". The Greenville News. July 7, 1918. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Chairman for Charleston". The Tennessean. November 21, 1915. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Leiding, Harriette K. (May 1914). "Charleston Gardens". Art and Progress. 5 (7): 259–263.
- ^ Leiding, Harriette K. (April 1926). "Inscriptions from the Church Yard at Wiltown Bluff". South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine. 27 (2): 104–106 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "Herman G. Leiding". The Columbia Record. July 17, 1952. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Mrs. Harriette Leiding of Charleston". Florence Morning News. March 21, 1948. p. 17 – via Newspapers.com.