Bertha Stuart Collection, 1996-2002 | Boston Public Library Archival and Manuscript Finding Aid Database

The collection is organized alphabetically.

This collection contains the research material gathered by Barbara Adams Hebard for a biography (unpublished) of Bertha Stuart (1869 –1953), an American book cover designer. The research became the basis for an exhibit on Stuart featured in the Rare Books Department of the Boston Public Library. Included is the exhibit catalog,  biographical material, correspondence between Stuart and her employer, Henry Holt, and sketchbooks and book covers.

Stuart, Bertha

Bertha Stuart was born on October 22, 1869 in Clinton, Iowa. When she was a child, her family moved to Chicago where her father opened a stationary store. Stuart studied design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and in 1890, won first prize for Decorative Designing. The Stuarts moved to Portland, Oregon in the early 1890s. While in Portland, Stuart continued to draw and sketch.

In 1900, Stuart moved to New York City to pursue her art career. She attended the Women’s School at Cooper’s Union and also took courses at the Art Student’s League. In 1902, while at Cooper’s Union, she won the Bronze Medal for Designing among first year students and later that year, won a prize for Best Design in Silk. In 1904, she began to work for Henry Holt’s publishing company for which she drew 73 of her 168 cover designs. By 1912, changes in publisher’s binding styles eliminated the need for book cover artists such as Stuart; consequently she stopped working for Holt in 1914.

Stuart returned to Portland and opened an interior decorating shop called The Studio. Some of her clients included the Pittock Mansion, the Governor’s Mansion, and the Autzen Mansion. Stuart died in Portland on January 22, 1953.