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Ada Brewster: Civil War Nurse, Traveler, and Artist

Ada Brewster, born in Kingston on May 25, 1842, lived a fascinating life. She served as a nurse at Lovell General Hopsital in Rhode Island during the Civil War; worked at the U.S. Mint in Carson City, Nevada during the production of the first trade dollar coined by the federal government; studied art at the Lowell Institute in Boston and the California School of Design (now the San Francisco Art Institute); opened her own art studio and became known as a portraitist, illustrator, china-painter, and teacher; and moved all over the country before returning home to Kingston in 1919. Stop by to learn more in this month’s Local History exhibit, featuring a selection of Ada’s sketches from her time out West.
Source: This sketch comes from the Ada Brewster Collection (MC24).
Ada Brewster’s Wild West
If you missed the last exhibit in the Local History Room case, you can see it online. Ada Brewster’s Wild West shows a small selection of pencil sketches by one of Kingston’s notable artists.
