Roberta Cowing

'''Roberta Cowing Throckmorton''' (October 1860 - July 31, 1924) was an American artist, employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).<ref name="auto">{{cite book|last1=Cowing|first1=Roberta|title=Made From This Earth: American Women and Nature|date=1993|publisher=The University of North Carolina Press|isbn=0807843962|location=Chapel Hill & London|page=54|quote=Roberta Cowing was one of many female artists employed by the U.S. Department of Agricuiture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.}}</ref>

== Early life == Roberta Cowing was born to William Jackson Cowing (1832–1893) and Matilda Helen Crupper Cowing (1837–1896) in October of 1860, in Rushville, Rush County, Indiana, USA.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |title=Roberta Cowing Throckmorton |url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/205210777/roberta-throckmorton |website=Find a Grave}}</ref> She had one older brother, Frank Myrtle Cowing (1857–1894).<ref name="auto1"/>

== Career == thumb|Anthracnose of the bean by Roberta Cowing Cowing was employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries<ref name="auto"/> to paint watercolors of fruit and nut varieties, as part of the USDA's Pomological Watercolor Collection. The collection includes paintings of Prunus salicina (Japanese plum), Pyrus communis (pears), and Rubus (brambles).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Search USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection|url=https://search.nal.usda.gov/discovery/collectionDiscovery?vid=01NAL_INST:MAIN&collectionId=81279629860007426|access-date=2021-08-12|website=usdawatercolors.nal.usda.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Norwood|first=Vera|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HWTqCQAAQBAJ&dq=Roberta+Cowing+illustrator&pg=PA54|title=Made From This Earth: American Women and Nature|date=2014-07-01|publisher=UNC Press Books|isbn=978-1-4696-1744-2|pages=87|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Cohen|first=Shana Miriam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbVPAQAAMAAJ&q=Roberta+Cowing+illustrator|title=American Garden Clubs and the Fight for Nature Preservation, 1890-1980|date=2005|publisher=University of California, Berkeley|language=en}}</ref>

She made illustrations of plants collected in an 1891 botanical survey of Death Valley; the work was published in an educational journal.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Norwood |first1=Vera |title=Made from this Earth: American Women and Nature |date=1993 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-2062-9 |page=58 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G40G4EhCWZ4C&q=Cowing |language=en}}</ref>

''Collections from the U.S. National Herbarium'' published twenty-one drawings of plants collected in Death Valley in their November 1893 issue, seventeen of which were signed by Roberta Cowing.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Norwood |first1=Vera |title=Made from this Earth: American Women and Nature |date=1993 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-2062-9 |page=54 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G40G4EhCWZ4C&q=Cowing |language=en}}</ref>

Today, Cowing's work can be found in Carnegie Mellon University's [http://fmhibd.library.cmu.edu/HIBD-DB/ArtCatpd/recordlist.php Catalogue of the Botanical Art Collection at the Hunt Institute: Public Domain Images], as well as in several USDA government publications: * ''Bulletin No. 1-29'', U.S. Government Printing Office, 1888<ref>{{cite book |last1=United States Division of Botany |title=Bulletin No. 1-29 |date=1888 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zXJWAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22Roberta+Cowing%22&pg=PA295 |language=en}}</ref> * ''Peach Yellows: A Preliminary Report'', Department of Agriculture, Botanical Division, 1888<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Erwin Frink |title=Peach Yellows: A Preliminary Report |date=1888 |publisher=Department of Agriculture, Botanical Division |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=APWhuOBL-fYC&dq=%22Roberta+Cowing%22&pg=PA301 |language=en}}</ref> * ''Bulletin'', U.S. Government Printing Office, 1888<ref>{{cite book |last1=United States Division of Botany |title=Bulletin |date=1888 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bSgIAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22Roberta+Cowing%22&pg=PA294 |language=en}}</ref> * ''Yearbook of Agriculture'', U.S. Government Printing Office, 1889<ref>{{cite book |title=Yearbook of Agriculture |date=1889 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=337 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=00xMAAAAMAAJ&dq=Roberta+cowing&pg=PA337 |language=en}}</ref>

Cowing was active in Washington, D.C. from 1887 to 1920.<ref>{{Cite book|last=McMahan|first=Virgil E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X4jrAAAAMAAJ&q=Roberta+Cowing+illustrator|title=The Artists of Washington, D.C., 1796-1996|date=1995|publisher=Artists of Washington|isbn=978-0-9649101-0-2|language=en}}</ref>

She resided at 1311 13th Street N.W. Washington, D.C.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lrjNAAAAMAAJ&dq=Roberta+Cowing&pg=PA331|title=Boyd's Directory of the District of Columbia|date=1892|publisher=R. L. Polk & Company|language=en}}</ref>

== Personal life == Roberta Cowing married Ernest Throckmorton at her parents' residence, on December 27, 1892.<ref>{{cite news |title=28 Dec 1892, Page 3 - Evening Star at Newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=80540849&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjE0NjM3OTU0MywiaWF0IjoxNjI1MDg4NDExLCJleHAiOjE2MjUxNzQ4MTF9.8IZBM8sKpoIC99hqFHrE5rDARZb8TICPOJHVsIxSkHU |work=Newspapers.com |date=28 Dec 1892 |language=en}}</ref> Together, they had two sons, Robert W Throckmorton (1893–1952) and set designer Cleon Francis Throckmorton (1897–1965).<ref name="auto1"/><ref>{{Cite book|last=Inc|first=Marquis Who's Who|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZTQOAQAAMAAJ&q=Roberta+Cowing+illustrator|title=Who was who in American History, Arts and Letters|date=1975|publisher=Marquis Who's Who|isbn=978-0-8379-3301-6|language=en}}</ref>

== Death == Roberta Cowing Throckmorton died at the age of 63, at George Washington University Hospital,<ref>{{cite news |title=3 Aug 1924, 7 - Evening Star at Newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=80541584&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjYxODI4NjgwMiwiaWF0IjoxNjI1MDg4NTMxLCJleHAiOjE2MjUxNzQ5MzF9.nVCxrOhrqJ9I1RIfDDF-Yc4x9StoOEDhvV-up2f7Ojs |work=Newspapers.com |date=3 Aug 1924 |language=en}}</ref> on July 31, 1924, and she was buried in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.<ref name="auto1"/>

== References == {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Wikicommons}} * [https://search.nal.usda.gov/discovery/collectionDiscovery?vid=01NAL_INST:MAIN&collectionId=81279629860007426 U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection] **[https://search.nal.usda.gov/discovery/collectionDiscovery?vid=01NAL_INST:MAIN&collectionId=81279629860007426 Images] painted by Cowing in the collection. * [https://thejohnsoncollection.org/directory-of-women-artists/ The Johnson Collection, Directory of Southern Women Artists] * [https://www.huntbotanical.org/admin/uploads/03hibd-huntia-4-2-pp103-124.pdf Huntia: A Journal of Botanical History, Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie-Mellon University] * [https://books.google.com/books?id=X4jrAAAAMAAJ&q=Roberta+cowing The Artists of Washington, D.C., 1796-1996] {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowing, Roberta}} Category:1860 births Category:1924 deaths Category:19th-century American artists Category:American botanical illustrators Category:Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery