May Garrettson Evans (1866-1947)
May Garrettson Evans was born in 1866 and was educated in Georgetown at the Convent of the Visitation. After moving to Baltimore, she entered the Peabody Conservatory in 1886 and received a certificate degree in 1889. Evans was the first female reporter at the Baltimore Sun, working there 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, with her sister Bessie Evans, also studied ethnomusicology; their book American Indian Dance Steps was published by A. S. Barnes in 1931.