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This is a series of portraits of the family of composer Sidney Homer (1864-1953) and his wife contralto Louise Dilworth Homer née Beatty (1871-1947). Homer composed many of his songs with the voice of his famous wife in mind. Among his most famous songs are "A Banjo Song" (Weeden), "Requiem" (Stevenson), "Casey at the Bat" (Thayer), and "The House that Jack Built" ("Mother Goose.") Louise Homer made her American opera debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1900 singing Amneris in Verdi's Aida. She sang at the Met for 19 consecutive seasons, often singing opposite such acclaimed singers as Enrico Caruso, Geraldine Farrar, and Ernestine Schumann-Heink. Composer Samuel Barber was her nephew. In 1923 and 1924 she was listed as one of the 12 greatest living women by the National League of Women Voters. They had six children, including twin daughters Anne Homer and Kathryn Homer, son Sidney Homer, Jr. (economist and author), and daughter Louise Homer.  [1] [2] There are currently 33 photographs of the Homer family in the Bain Collection on Flickr. You can view them all here. They were first identified by Art Siegel, B-59, pennylrichardsca (now at ipernity), Wystan, swanq, and Richard Norton.

Homer Family This is a series of portraits of the family of composer Sidney Homer (1864-1953) and his wife contralto Louise Dilworth Homer née Beatty (1871-1947). Sidney Homer composed many of his songs with the voice of his famous wife in mind. Among his most famous songs are "A Banjo Song" (Weeden), "Requiem" (Stevenson), "Casey at the Bat" (Thayer), and "The House that Jack Built" ("Mother Goose.") Sidney was Louise's music theory teacher in Boston, MA.  After their marriage in 1895, they went to Europe for further voice coaching. Louise Homer's European debut in 1898 was in Vichy, as Leonora in La Favorita, and in 1900 she made her American opera debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City singing Amneris in Verdi's Aida.  She sang at the Met for 19 consecutive seasons, often singing opposite such acclaimed singers as Enrico Caruso, Geraldine Farrar, and Ernestine Schumann-Heink. She made many phonographic recordings with Victor Co.  Composer Samuel Barber was her nephew, and Louise performed several of his songs.  In 1923 and 1924 she was listed as one of the 12 greatest living women by the National League of Women Voters.[1] They had six children, Louise Homer, Jr. (1896-1970) (Louise Homer Stires), son Sidney Homer, Jr. (1902-1983), twin daughters Anne Marie Homer (1907-1995) (Anne Homer Doerflinger) and Katharine Homer (1907-1997) ("Kay", Katharine Homer Fryer); and daughters Hester Makepeace Homer (1911-1967) ("Miss Happy", Hester Homer Henry) and Helen Joy Homer (1915-1946) ("Joy", Joy Homer Doerflinger) There are currently 34 photographs of the Homer family in the Bain Collection on Flickr.  You can view them all here.   They were first identified by Art Siegel, B-59, pennylrichardsca (now at ipernity), Wystan, swanq, and Richard Norton.

On the porch of Homeland, Bolton Landing, NY, which they built. See www.phinneydesign.com/project/homeland-estate-historic/ and warrenny200.org/towns/bolton/

swanq, this has to be one of best "Then and Now"'s evah!   Great work in finding this!

I wonder what took place for all to smile. Others photos they didn't smile.

The "Colonel Donovan" named in the photo's caption is none other than World War I Medal of Honor recipient United States Army Colonel William Joseph Donovan. From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Joseph_Donovan): "During World War I, Donovan organized and led a battalion of the United States Army, designated the 165th Regiment of the 42nd Division, the federalized designation of the famed 69th New York Volunteers, (the 'Fighting 69th'). In France one of his charges was poet Joyce Kilmer. For his service near Landres-et-St. Georges, France, on 14 and 15 October 1918, he received the Medal of Honor. By the end of the war he received a promotion to colonel, the Distinguished Service Cross and two Purple Hearts " Much better known as "Wild Bill" Donovan, he was a law school classmate of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Donovan, although a Republican, was a friend and confidant of Democrat Roosevelt's prior to the Second World War and on the eve of the war was entrusted by FDR to found the Coordinator of Information (COI), which would become the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the World War II predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Donovan would lead the OSS until it was disbanded by President Truman in September 1947. The Victory Arch depicted in the photo was a temporary structure erected in Madison Square Park (note the Flatiron Building looking north though the arch) at the conclusion of World War I to honor New York's war dead. It would later be dismantled.