RARE AND IMPORTANT KENTUCKY FOLK ART SCHOOL GIRL MAPS, LOT OF FIVE, descended in the Cowan and Craig families of Central Kentucky, including "A Map of the United States Drawn by Mary H. L. Craig at the Domestic Academy", "A Map of the World Drawn by Elizabeth B. Craig at the Domestic Academy", and "A Map of Kentucky by Charles Craig", several with watermark for Thomas Gilpin & Company, an early paper manufacturing enterprise in Wilmington, Delaware that was in operation 1787-1837. Unframed. Circa 1810. Larger examples 19" x 23".
As-found condition with minor to moderate toning, foxing, and areas of staining/discoloration. Each with tears and losses, primarily to edges.
Provenance: Property of Virginia Baskett Leach and the late Maurice Derby Leach, Jr., Lexington, VA.
Catalogue Note: Discovered rolled up in a cardboard tube in the consignor's home, these exceptionally rare school girl maps descended in the Cowan and Craig families of central Kentucky. Captain John Cowan (1748-1819) was an early explorer, settler, and developer of the state. Likely born in Augusta Co., VA, Cowan married Mary Craig (1748-1837), the daughter of Captain John Craig (1718-1802) and Sarah Laird of Rockingham Co., VA, on September 14, 1781 near Harrisonburg, VA. Captain Craig was also an early Kentucky pioneer and settler who eventually took up residence in Lincoln Co., KY. In fact, the Craig's residence on Gilbert's Creek is noted on John Filson's famed 1784 map of Kentucky produced nearly eight years before statehood. John Cowan's family ultimately settled in Danville, a growing town situated in Boyle Co. just northwest of the Craig homestead in Lincoln Co. Both the Cowan's and the Craig's were important families in the early history of Kentucky, and they maintained close ties through marriage, business, and other matters. While the bulk of the material from the Leach estate descended through the Cowan family, several items in the group are known to have originated with the Craig's. Such is the case with these maps.
Preliminary research has revealed that such a "Domestic Academy", also called the "Ladies Domestic Academy" was in operation in Washington County, KY, circa 1807-1814, and was overseen by a Mrs. Louisa Caroline Warburton Fitzherbert Keats, whose husband was a cousin of John Keats, the English Romantic poet. Lewis Collins writes of the Domestic Academy and of Mrs. Keats in his Historical Sketches of Kentucky: History of Kentucky, Volume 2, published in 1878: "The most celebrated female school in the west at the time was in Washington, 1807-1812; that of Mrs. Louisa Caroline Warburton Fitzherbert Keats, sister of Geo. Fitzherbert, of St. James Square, London, and wife of Rev. Mr. Keats, a deaf and uninteresting old gentleman, relative of the great English poet George (sic) Keats. Among her scholars were daughters of distinguished citizens, and who themselves became the wives of like distinguished men - daughters of John Breckinridge (late U. S. attorney), Gov. Thos. Worthington, and Gen Findlay, of Ohio, and the wives of Gen Peter P. Porter, of N. Y. (U. S. secretary of war), Gov. Duncan McArthur, of Ohio, John J. Crittenden, of Ky, etc."
The school's operations were short-lived, however, apparently due, in part, to scandalous behavior involving Mrs. Keats and a male instructor at the school.
These drawings are very early works for KY school girl art; in fact, the Domestic Academy seems to be one of the earliest female educational institutions in the region, or the state for that matter. The present works are rare survivals made even more desirable by their pleasing design and exceptional provenance. The discovery of the rare example depicting central Kentucky by Charles Craig, likely the brother of Mary and Elizabeth, adds another dimension to the story as well. The appearance of these works on the market represents a unique opportunity to acquire rare artifacts of early Kentucky history, from a period when institutions were brand new and the untamed frontier was still close at hand. These school girl works present us with a unique impression of the world in geo-political terms at a time when the young nation, not unlike the young Craig girls, was still struggling to define its own identity. Additionally, the Craig sister watercolor maps are a tangible indicator of the country's rapidly transforming social, cultural, and economic character, particularly in relation to newly-developing notions about the types of roles women in the nascent republic would be expected to fill. A fascinating glimpse into early Kentucky life, these maps from the Domestic Academy typify the pioneer's instinctual drive for self-improvement and advancement and echo our own innate desire to understand the complex world around us.

As-found condition with minor to moderate toning, foxing, and areas of staining/discoloration. Each with tears and losses, primarily to edges.