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Jennie Brownscombe: Wayne County's Own

Sunday BonnetThe National Museum of Women in the Arts has called Jennie Brownscombe "a kind of Norman Rockwell of her era. In fact, the skillful drawing, attention to detail, and nostalgic moods of her paintings make the comparison between Jennie Augusta Brownscombe and the popular American illustrator seem quite apt.”

Brownscombe's early life sounds like the story behind one of her own pictures. Born in a farmhouse near Irving Cliff, Honesdale, she was the only child of William Brownscombe, an English-born farmer, and Elvira Kennedy, a direct descendant of a Mayflower passenger, who encouraged her young daughter to write poetry and draw. Brownscombe won her first

awards as a high school student, exhibiting her work at the Wayne County Fair. When her father died in 1868, Brownscombe began supporting herself through teaching locally, creating book and magazine illustrations, and selling the rights to reproduce her watercolor and oil paintings as inexpensive prints, Christmas cards, and calendars. More than 100 of Brownscombe's works were distributed this way, spreading her images into homes throughout the nation.

A prize-winning student at the Cooper Institute School of Design for Women and the National Academy of Design, both in New York City, Brownscombe in 1875 became a founding member of the Art Students League, where she later served on the faculty. Her oil paintings met with immediate success, as both her subjects (sentimental genre pictures and scenes from colonial American history) and her style appealed to prevailing Victorian tastes.

Brownscombe studied art in France in 1882, spent the winters of 1886 through 1895 in Rome, and exhibited her pictures there and in London, New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia. She continued working until virtually the end of her long life, completing her final large oil painting at the age of 81 after recovering from a stroke. She is buried in Honesdale’s Glen Dyberry Cemetery.

Wayne County Historical Society’s exhibit will include several of her original oils, three of which, The Parson’s Daughter, The Young Woman in Pink & Green, and Sunday Bonnet have been reproduced as giclee unframed prints and may be purchased at the Museum’s Gift Shop. Two charcoal drawings, which have not been exhibited for several years have recently been reframed by the Woman’s Club of Honesdale, and are included.

Several engravings, watercolors, and reproductions of her calendar art are also included.

This temporary exhibit is made possible in part by the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission, Commissioners of Wayne County, members, and friends of the Wayne County Historical Society.

Navigation
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Cut Glass Industry
For many years Wayne County was known nationally and internationally for its cut glass. In 1862…
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Delaware & Hudson Canal Co Office
Pictured on the front is the entrance of the former office of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Co., 810…
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Gravity Railroad
The Gravity Railroad was suggested by engineer Benjamin Wright, engineer of the company, as a more…
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Irving Cliff
Irving's trip to Honesdale was described in a letter from Washington Irving to his sister in glowing…
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Jennie Brownscombe: Wayne County's Own
The National Museum of Women in the Arts has called Jennie Brownscombe "a kind of Norman Rockwell of…
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The Stourbridge Lion and the Birthplace of America's Commercial Railroad
In 1827 the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company began to investigate the use of the steam engine for…
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WCHS NEPA Gives in the Spotlight
Jun 2, 2023, 6:00 AM
NEPA Gives is a generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform…
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Become a WCHS 2023 Sponsor
Jun 15, 2023, 6:00 AM
The WCHS is a 501(c)(3) organization, so your donations to the Society qualify as tax-deductible…
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Canal Boat Pavilion Grand Opening Dinner June 17, 2023
Jun 17, 2023, 6:00 AM
The event at D& H Canal Park at Lock 31 will be able to showcase the completed replica canal…
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Wayne County’s canal boat replica to be named after Clinton Leet
Aug 19, 2023, 10:00 AM
The Wayne County Historical Society is planning its 10th annual Canal Festival for August 19, 2023.…

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Welcome to the Wayne County Historical Society, home of the full-size replica of the Stourbridge Lion, the first locomotive to run on commercial track in the United States.

Our main museum and museum shop are housed in a building built in 1860 as headquarters of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company....click here for more information.

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Hand-Kirkland Property
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Edmund Hardenbergh House
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Genealogy in Wayne County
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