Mary Carnell (December 21, 1861 — October 10, 1925) also seen as Mary Carnell MacEuen, was an American photographer and clubwoman based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was founder and first president of the Women's Federation of the Photographers' Association of America.
Early life Mary A. Carnell was born in Glassboro, New Jersey, the daughter of William Carnell and Hannah Elmira Gillman Carnell. She graduated from Glassboro High School.John William Leonard, Woman's Who's who of America (American Commonwealth 1914): 518. Her father owned an iron foundry. She nearly died in 1890, when her uncle tried to push her into the path of an oncoming train, but she was rescued by the train's conductor."A Crazy Man's Death" Miners Journal (September 15, 1890): 1. via Newspapers.com
Career
Carnell ran her own photographic studio from a home on Spruce Street in Philadelphia.Coa'n Josaphare, "An Unusual Studio" Bulletin of Photography (October 16, 1912): 578-581. She organized the Women's Federation of the Photographers' Association of America in 1909,Helen Hoyt, "Women Who Have Achieved Fame in Photography" Williamsport Sun-Gazette (March 5, 1914): 10. via Newspapers.com and served as its first president for three years.Maybelle D. Goolander, "History of the Woman's Federation of the P. A. of A." Bulletin of Photography (September 18, 1912): 417-419."Mary Carnell's Delayed Letter" Bulletin of Photography (October 9, 1912): 554. "Her tact and executive ability is apparent in every movement of her stately figure," wrote Bayard Wootten in 1912. "She is the mother of the Federation, and in grateful appreciation of all she has done for the Federation she was voted its head for life."Bayard Wootten, "As Seen by One of the Throng" Bulletin of Photography (September 18, 1912): 430.
Carnell was also president of the Ladies' Auxiliary of the Old Guard State Fencibles, member of the Historical Pageant Association of Pennsylvania,Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer and Frances Howard Williams, Official Pictorial and Descriptive Souvenir Book of the Historical Pageant (October 7-12, 1912): 24. president of the Professional Women's Club,Untitled news item, Evening Public Ledger (November 3, 1917): 7. via Newspapers.com member of the Society for the Prevention of Social and Moral Diseases, member of the Dickens Fellowship, and on the board of directors of The Plastic Club.Barbara MacIlvaine, "A History of the Plastic Club" , on The Plastic Club website.
Personal life Mary Carnell married Edward Allen MacEuen in 1900. She died in 1925, aged 63 years. Laura H. Carnell, dean of women at Temple University, was her cousin."Althea J. Carnell" Philadelphia Inquirer (July 19, 1939): 9. via Newspapers.com
References
External links Mary Carnell, "With the Women Photographers" The St. Louis and Canadian Photographer (December 1909): 721.