Annie Hollins (1850?-1911)
Annie Hollins was an accomplished pianist and linguist who played an active role during her short tenure in the Club. For 6 years until her untimely death in 1911, Hollins was chair of both the Committee on Music and the Committee on the Literature of Music. In these roles she organized the music of the salons, often being one of the featured pianists or accompanying guest performers.
Hollins also gave papers on composers or music history, illustrating her talks by playing musical selections. An active member of the Committee on Foreign Languages, Hollins prepared many translations from Italian. She was elected to two terms as Board member, 1909-10 and 1910-1911. Hollins also served as secretary of the Arundell Club.
Annie Hollins became ill while traveling to a Club meeting in January 1911, and died soon after. She was remembered by fellow member Emily Lantz as a prominent and valued member of the Club and “one of the most representative women of Baltimore in point of social standing, culture, philanthropy and progressive spirit.”
Annie Hollins was the daughter of George Hollins, an Englishman who was a successful grocer in Baltimore. Annie was the only unmarried daughter and in later years kept house for her brother, George, on Dolphin Street and then moved to 1229 N. Charles Street, living her sister Eliza Kirk, whose husband Henry ran a jewelry business, Samuel Kirk and Sons. In 1901, Hollins traveled to Europe with the Kirks, and her letter on crossing a Mont Blanc glacier was published in the Baltimore Sun.
Sources
“Miss Annie H. Hollins.” Baltimore Sun, January 5, 1911, p. 10.
Lantz, Emily. “Frocks and Frills and Woman’s Will.” Baltimore Sun, January 5, 1911, p. 15.
Hollins, Annie. “Crossing an Alpine Glacier.” Baltimore Sun, August 12, 1901, p. 10.
Contributor: Cynthia Requardt