May Garrettson Evans (1866-1947)
May Garrettson Evans spent her entire life breaking boundaries. She is credited as the first female reporter at the Baltimore Sun, but this was just one of her many accomplishments. She and her sister Bessie also founded the Peabody Preparatory School of music, where she also served as superintendent until her retirement in 1930. Evans received a certificate degree from the Peabody Conservatory in 1889 and then worked at the Sun from 1888-1895. She belonged to the Woman’s Literary Club of Baltimore during that period, from 1890-1895. She frequently offered violin accompaniment for musical pieces and read several of her pieces for the Club. Like other Club members, Evans was fascinated with Edgar Allan Poe and wrote several pieces about him: Music and Edgar Allan Poe: A Biographical Study in 1939 and Poe in Amity Street in 1941. Evans also studied ethnomusicology; her book American Indian Dance Steps, which she co-wrote with her sister Bessie, was published by A. S. Barnes in 1931.
Sources
Geiger, Dale. “Sisters in Step.” Johns Hopkins Magazine, April 2000.
“Miss Evans, 80, Peabody Music Pioneer, Dies.” Baltimore Sun, Jan. 13, 1947.
Contributors
Sydney Johnson; Alessia Hughes