Mabel Cox Surdam (born October 23, 1879 — died after 1940) was an American portrait photographer based at various times in Binghamton, New York, Toronto, Ontario, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Mabel Cox Surdam | |
|---|---|
 Mabel Cox Surdam, from a 1919 publication | |
| Born | Mabel E. Cox October 23, 1879 Scranton, Pennsylvania |
| Died | after 1940 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | portrait photographer |
| Spouse | Sherman Evarts Surdam |
Early life
editMabel E. Cox was from Scranton, Pennsylvania, the daughter of David Austin Cox and Lettie Austin Rome Cox. Her father worked for the railroad.[1][2]
Career
editIn 1910, Mabel Cox Surdam hosted a meeting of the Photographers' Association of Binghamton, in her home in that city.[3] She worked as a receptionist and portrait photographer in Toronto, for the T. Eaton Company.[4] After eight years in Toronto, she worked at the Breckon studio in Pittsburgh, beginning in 1921,[5] and was active in that city's photography groups too.[6][7] She spoke at a meeting of the Professional Photographers Society of New York in 1918,[8] and the Professional Photographers of Pennsylvania in 1923.[9]
In 1911 and 1912, Surdam was elected second vice-president of the Women's Federation of the Photographers' Association of America, in the Federation's leadership with Maybelle Goodlander and Pearl Grace Loehr.[10][11] She had seven works in a traveling exhibit organized by the Photographers' Association of America in 1916.[12] She spoke to the convention on the topic "Personality in Business" in 1919.[13] 1922 she was named third vice-president of the Association.[14] "There is never a convention at which she is not present, either as a speaker or spectator," noted one profile of Surdam in 1919.[4]
Personal life
editMabel Cox married fellow photographer Sherman Evarts Surdam in 1898.[1] Her husband was head of the photographic department at General Electric,[15] taught photography at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,[16] and was president of the Professional Photographers Society of New York in 1940-1941.[17]
References
edit- ^ a b Albert Oren Cummins, Cummings Genealogy (Argus and Patriot Printing House 1904): 120-121.
- ^ "Railroad Engineer Found Dead in Bed" Scranton Republican (February 21, 1916): 10. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Photographers Hold a Meeting" Binghamton Press (March 29, 1910): 5. via Newspapers.com
- ^ a b "Our Cover Portrait and the Hall of Fame" Portrait (August 1919): cover.
- ^ "Reception Opens Breckon Studios" Pittsburgh Sunday Post (May 22, 1921): 13. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Officers Chosen by Local Photographers" Pittsburgh Press (June 19, 1921): 67. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Exhibit Proved Local Photographers At the Top of their Profession" Pittsburgh Press (May 6, 1923): 2. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Report of the New York State Convention" Bulletin of Photography (March 13, 1918): 245.
- ^ "Pro Photographers to Meet in Town" Public Opinion (April 28, 1923): 1. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Convention Honors Mrs. Mabel C. Surdam" Binghamton Press (August 4, 1911): 8. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Katherine Jamieson, "Attention, Women Photographers" Studio Light (June 1912): 8.
- ^ "Loan Exhibit" Photographers' Association News (November 1916): 424.
- ^ "Photography is Discussed by Women" The Gazette Times, Pittsburgh (March 20, 1919): 15. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Report of the P. A. of A. Convention at Kansas City" Bulletin of Photography (May 10, 1922): 613.
- ^ "Surdam Speaks at Camera Club" Post-Star (October 4, 1941): 2. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Club Will Hear Camera Expert" Post-Star (October 3, 1941): 13. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Heads State Photographers" New York Times (May 2, 1941): 15. via ProQuest