Description: In this cabinet card, Clara Belle Sproul Jewell Ivancovich is portrayed as a young woman seated at a table looking up from the book she is reading. In a feminine gesture, the fingers of her left hand touch the left side of her face, and her right hand appears to mark a place in her book. She wears a dark skirt and matching jacket with elaborately decorated cuffs. She also wears a white, lace ruff and a white, lace, scarf tied in a bow. Her forehead is adorned with short tight curls, and the remainder of her hair appears to fall down her back.
Biographical Note: Clara Belle was born in 1853 in Canton, Illinois and moved with her family to Petaluma at age ten. She graduated from Petaluma High School in 1877 and may have then attended the “Normal Classes” conducted at Petaluma High School which prepared high school graduates to be primary teachers. She was a skilled musician, composer, journalist, playwright, novelist, and poet. She sang in the Methodist Church Choir, taught piano lessons in her home, and wrote the anthem for the San Francisco District Federated Women’s Clubs. Originals and early copies of several of Clara’s literary creations are housed at the Petaluma Historical Library & Museum, including her journals, her novella Adele La Croix, and several poems. Also housed at the PHL&M is her autograph book signed by many prominent Petalumans and a copy of the anthology entitled Singing Years which contains five of her poems. (See her bibliography below for access to digital copies of several of these artifacts.) Unfortunately, copies of several of her works have not been found, including a one-act play entitled Discretion and a pageant performed at Petaluma’s 1923 Butter & Egg Days Celebration entitled Princess Petaluma. As a long-time member of the Petaluma Woman’s Club, Clara Belle contributed news of the club in an Argus-Courier column and served as chairwoman of the Literary and Choral Committee and as President in 1917 and 1918.
Family Affiliation: Clara Belle was the daughter of Petaluma pioneers, Roxanne Cordelia King Sproul (1826-1908) and John Sproul. Roxanne was a landlady and early suffragist, and John was a Civil War Veteran and construction contractor. On October 30, 1878, Clara Belle married Petaluman, John Elliott Jewell (1852-1932). The marriage ended in divorce in 1897, and in 1898, at the age of 40, she married the Petaluma medical doctor, George Ivancovich (1850-1924).
Bibliography:
THE PHOTOGRAPH:
Format / Size: carte de visite, approximately 6.25 x 10.5 cm
Medium: albumen photographic print mounted on cardstock
Description, front: This portrait masterfully captures the image of a lovely young woman looking up as though interrupted from her studies.
Description, back: Handwritten in cursive in pencil along the top edge of the card is, “to J E Jewell”. (John Elliott Jewell was Clara Bell’s first husband to whom she was briefly married.) Printed on a diagonal in the center of the back is the photographer’s imprint, “L Dowe, Photographer, Petaluma, Cal.” Attached along the bottom of the card is a sticker containing the address of the donor.
Date: September 1875 - March 1882
Condition: All four corners of this carte de visite are stained.
Owner: Petaluma Historical Library & Museum, 2014-791-35
Reproduction rights: The Petaluma Museum Association makes no assertions as to ownership of any original copyrights to the digitized images here reproduced. These images are intended for personal or research use only. Any other kind of use, including, but not limited to commercial or scholarly publication in any medium or format, public exhibition, or use online or in a web site, may be subject to additional restrictions including but not limited to the copyrights held by parties other than the Association. USERS ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE for determining the existence of such rights and for obtaining any permissions and/or paying associated fees necessary for the proposed use.
