In the book, Elbert Hubbard of East Aurora, author Felix Shay lists some of the then-famous visitors that visited the Roycroft Campus during the early 1900s. Some names are still recognizable in 2012 (Henry Ford, Stephen Crane, Booker T. Washington), but, for most people, other names are less so. Here is some information on some of those less well known today:
Carrie Jacobs Bond – 1861-1946; singer, Tin Pan Alley’s first million selling songwriter, composer, lyricist, poet and first woman to establish a music publishing firm in America.
Ben Greet – 1857-1936; theatre producer; in 1886 he started staging open-air productions of the classic English stage repertory; one of his companies was called the Ben Greet Players.
Minnie Maddern Fiske – 1865-1932; actress; born as Marie Augusta Davey, but often billed as Mrs. Fiske, was widely considered the most important actress on the American stage in the first quarter of the 20th century.
Winifred Sackvile Stoner – 1870-1931; an educator; founder of three schools of “Natural Education”, mother of poet, Winifred Sackville Stoner Jr.
Joe Choyinski – 1868-1943; light heavy weight fighter; a.k.a. “The California Terror,” or “Little Joe.”
Gutzon Borglum – 1867-1941; American-born Danish artist and sculptor famous for creating the monumental sculpture of the presidents at Mount Rushmore.
William Marion Reedy – 1861-1920; writer & publisher; published the most influential magazine in America, Reedy’s Mirror, from his hometown of St. Louis, MO. Word had it that if you wanted to be somebody in the literary world you needed to get William Marion Reedy to publish you.
David Bispham – 1857-1921; American baritone; the leading Wagnerian baritone of the Metropolitan Opera Company, New York City, from 1896 to 1903.
Saunders Norvell -president of the Norvell-Shapleigh Hardware Co. where he wrote a column of “Thots” attributed to a teamster, which were printed in the company’s house organ, and were widely quoted because of their practical philosophy.
Dr. Algernon Crapsey – 1847-1927; religious reformer, Rochester, NY; angered orthodox Christians with his refusal to accept literal interpretation of Scripture. He was found guilty of heresy and defrocked by Episcopal authorities in 1906, after a trial which commanded national attention.
- Sue
