contralto

Louise Homer: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Homer The baby is apparently Helen Joy Homer (1915-1946), later the first Mrs. William Main Doerflinger, the youngest of the six Homer children. She was always called Joy, but one of her wedding announcements calls her "Miss Helen Joy," and when her older sister Louise married in 1921, the youngest sisters Hester Makepeace Homer and Helen Joy Homer are listed as her flower girls. query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60710F83A5B11728... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Homer Joy Homer had an eventful short life: she was a medical relief worker in China, wrote a memoir of her harrowing journey on foot (Dawn Watch in China), edited Woody Guthrie's Bound for Glory, worked for the OSS in New Delhi during WWII; while in India, she was hurt in a car accident, and she eventually died from her injuries. She's buried in New York: www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nywarren/cemeteries/bolton.htm

More Bain/LOC photos of Madame Louise Homer:

I always love learning about fearless women throughout history. Thanks for the postings.

wonderful in one word !

pennylrichardsca (now at ipernity) I'm just reading Joy Homer's book and she was a newspaper reporter in China and was apparently financed by some newspaper / media, but also offered reports to US papers as a freelancer. She didn't intent to write a book at first. She also says she was educated at Smith College, and that she was in London before and worked with "slum dwellers" there (she mentions this comparing them with the Chinese coolis). Do you have more information about her?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karin_Branzell "Karin Branzell (24 September 1891 – 15 December 1974) was a Swedish operatic contralto (sometimes described as a mezzo-soprano), who had a prominent career at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and in Europe. Her very wide range enabled her to sing both contralto roles and the occasional soprano role. She was particularly noted for her singing of the music of Richard Wagner, in roles such as Ortrud (Lohengrin), Venus (Tannhäuser), Erda (Das Rheingold and Siegfried), Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde), and Brunnhilde (Die Walküre). ... She first appeared at the Metropolitan Opera on 6 February 1924, singing Fricka in Die Walküre, and sang there every season until 1944. She returned for a farewell season in 1951, singing Erda in Rudolf Bing's first Ring cycle."

Thanks swanq for identifying another person despite the misspelling of their name. We'll update the catalog record.

Another photo: flic.kr/p/7UYxvv

Sort of looks like Rudolf Valentino here

Margarethe Arndt-Ober (1885–1971) was an American opera singer of German descent who had an active international career during the first half of the twentieth century. A highly skilled contralto, Ober enjoyed a particularly long and fruitful association with the Berlin State Opera from 1907 to 1944. She also was notably a principal singer at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City between 1913 and 1917. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Ober

I love how strong and bold the woman looks in this photograph. She looks so graceful and poised. Her strength just really stands out.

Ortrud is a character from Lohengrin by Richard Wagner.

lisby1 and judgedeadd: Thank you for the additional details on Arndt-Ober and her career as on opera singer. We will expand the description when we update this record.