May Garrettson Evans (1866–1947) led the kind of life that most women were denied prior to the mid-twentieth century. Born into a prominent Maryland family, her privilege allowed her to transcend many social inequities of her era. She was the first female reporter at The Baltimore Sun, founder and superintendent of the Peabody Preparatory, and president of the Edgar Allan Poe Society.
In 1888 May Garrettson Evans joined the Sun as a reporter. Armed with a stiletto for self-defense and the assignment to “hustle for news,” she ended up at the Peabody Conservatory in search of a story. A proponent of affordable education and a former Peabody student familiar with the demands of the conservatory system, she pressed then-director Asger Hamerik on the lack of community music programs at the institute. When Hamerik demurred, Evans and her sister Marion founded their own school, the Peabody Graduates' Preparatory and High School of Music, in 1894. The school's immediate success caught the attention of the Institute, which incorporated it as the Peabody Preparatory Department in 1898.
Evans stayed on as superintendent at the Preparatory until 1929, overseeing the school’s expansion into its new quarters at Leakin Hall and tirelessly advocating for more branches of the school to be opened in Baltimore's poorer neighborhoods. During this interval, she also served as president of the Edgar Allan Poe Society and successfully lobbied for the preservation of the poet's last residence in Baltimore.
This exhibit displays some of Evans's scholarly writings, newspaper stories, photos, and letters that capture key parts of her multifaceted life. It was curated by Matt Testa and Andrea Copland for the Peabody Institute's Arthur Friedheim Library.
As part of the Johns Hopkins University's commemoration of the centennial of women’s suffrage, the Peabody Institute is proud to present an exhibit on an inspirational woman central to Peabody’s history. Learn more about local commemorative activities at https://womensvote100.jhu.edu/