Proper, Ida (1873 - 1957)

Genre: Non-Fiction

Ida Sedgwick Proper was born in 1873 on a farm in Iowa. She attended Bethany College, an Episcopal school for girls, in Kansas. She studied and taught art at schools in New Jersey and Pennsylvania; from 1919 to 1922 she was on the faculty of the University of Puerto Rico; and she worked in libraries in Seattle and New York City. In 1925 or 1926 she first came to Monhegan Island in Maine on a vacation and bought a house which became her home for thirty years. As a permanent resident of Monhegan, she continued to sketch and paint, conducted an art school on the island, and served as librarian and registrar or town clerk. Her study of the background of early settlers led to an interest in 16th century travel, politics, intrigues, and literature. She was also a renowned artist. She died on Monhegan in 1957.

Bibliography

  • Monhegan, the cradle of New England (1930)
  • Our elusive Willy (1954)