Whittemore, Margaret “Planters' House - Leavenworth"

Margaret Whittemore. (1897-1983) “Planters' House - Leavenworth.” 

Lithograph with hand color. 9 1/4 x 7 1/4 (image) plus margins.  Titled and signed in pencil.  Old hinge residue at four corners well away from image, else excellent condition.

Margaret Evelyn Whittemore was born in Topeka, Kansas, studied at Washburn College where her parents both taught, and studied graphic arts at the Art Institute of Chicago and Taos Art Colony in New Mexico.  She was an author and illustrator in the 1930s and 40s. Whittemore worked as an artist in the Works Progress Administration museum extension program and created a series of prints depicting Kansas landmarks, of which this is one. She was a member of the Prairie Print Makers.  Her works are in the collections of the University of Kansas-Lawrence, Clay Center Library-Wichita, Kansas State Historical Society, and the Topeka Public Library.  Ref.: Who Was Who in American Art, p. 677.

This print shows a historical buildings in Kansas and reflects an appreciation for preserving the past as part of a cultural heritage. 

Planters’ House, also called Planters’ Hotel, was the most luxurious hotel in the West at the time it was constructed in the mid-19^th century, only possibly surpassed by contemporary establishments in St. Louis. Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln and other important personages of the period were known to have visited.