Bertha Corson Day Bates Papers
Bertha Corson Day (1875-1968) was born in Philadelphia and grew up in Germantown. She enrolled in the Drexel Institute art department in 1892 and studied in Howard Pyle’s illustration class that began at Drexel in the fall of 1894. After completing the four-year course at Drexel in 1896, she decided to continue as an advanced student in Pyle’s illustration class from 1897 through 1899.
Three of Day’s decorative designs were published in the Chap-Book in 1896 and 1897, and her poster design advertising Cashmere Bouquet products won second prize in a contest sponsored by Colgate and Company in 1897. She illustrated several novels, though her most important work was a series of twenty-two illustrations for the book Where the Wind Blows (1902), a collection of fairy tales from different countries, written by Howard Pyle’s younger sister, Katharine.
After her marriage in 1902 to Daniel Moore Bates of the Bancroft textile firm she did very little commercial illustration, devoting her time instead to raising her three children.
The Bertha Corson Day Bates Papers were donated by her daughter, Mrs. J. Marshall Cole, and contain correspondence, notebooks, books, photographs, photocopy of journal, catalogs, cards, and programs.
Browse the collection by series:
- Series I, Subseries A: Personal and Biographical – Miscellaneous Biographical Material
- Series I, Subseries B: Personal and Biographical – Journals and Notebooks
- Series I, Subseries C: Personal and Biographical – Calendars
- Series II, Subseries A: Correspondence – Personal
- Series II, Subseries B: Correspondence – Business
- Series III, Subseries A: Artwork – Materials Designed by Bertha Corson Day Bates
- Series III, Subseries B: Artwork – Illustrations and Tear Sheets
- Series IV, Subseries A: Printed Matter – Exhibition Catalogs
- Series IV, Subseries B: Printed Matter – Miscellaneous
- Series IV, Subseries C: Printed Matter – Books and Periodicals
- Series V: Photographs