Burrage, Mildred G. (Mildred Giddings), 1890-1983

Born in Portland, Me., to Henry Sweetser Burrage and his second wife Ernestine (Giddings) Burrage. Raised in Kennebunkport, Me., she attended Miss Wheeler's School in Rhode Island. Mildred Burrage studied art from a young age; traveled in Europe during the early 19 teens but forced to return to the U.S. at the onset of World War I and she turned to her artwork as well as traveling throughout the country. Lived in Virginia City, Nev., and San Francisco in late 1920s and early 1930s. Participated in the WPA in the 1930s and 40s and her most notable work was her handkerchief map of Washington, D.C. (a project of Frederick A. Delano). Both Mildred and her sister Madeleine Burrage supported the war effort and continued to work as artists, teaching art to soldiers at a hospital in Staten Island, N.Y., completing one of her more famous murals at Bryn Mawr College in the science building during this time. Moved to Wiscasset, Me., in the 1940s and later assisted in establishing the Lincoln County Cultural and Historical Association. She was also fundamental in the formation of the Maine crafts movement and involved in historic preservation. She exhibited throughout the U.S., established a strong relationship with Colby College and assisted in the formation of its art museum. She lived with her sister Madeleine Burrage, a jeweler and well known cook, throughout her life.