Hammond, Catherine Russell, 1909-1976.

Catherine Russell Hedge Hammond (nicknamed "Caffy") was born in 1909 in Massachusetts. She attended the Winter School and then later, the Amy Sacker School of Design in Boston (1928-1930). She married Franklin Hammond in c. 1931 and the couple had four children. Franklin grew up on Scott Street, in Cambridge, and was a neighbor of the Paul Sachs family. Ms. Hammond was the illustrator for the 1965 International Pocket Library book "20 Common Mushrooms and How to Eat Them" and belonged to many organizations including the New England Wildflower Society and the Boston Mycological Club. Ms. Hammond died in 1976.

From the description of Personal Papers c. 1928-1975. (Harvard University Art Museum). WorldCat record id: 706960402

Catherine Russell Hedge Hammond (nicknamed "Caffy") was born in 1909. Her father, Henry Hedge, was born c. 1873. He was raised in Plymouth, Mass., and later moved to Brookline. Catherine attended the Winsor School and later the Amy Sacker School of Design in Boston (1928-1930). She studied landscape painting in France under the guidance of Clara Perry of Boston. She married attorney Franklin Hammond in 1931. The couple had four children: John Wilkes Hammond, Jr. (1933), Henry Hedge Hammond (1936), Franklin Tweed hammond III (1940), and Catherine Russell Hammond ("Kate"-1943).

The August, 1947 issue of National Geographic Magazine contained an article titled "Land of the Pilgrims' Pride" which featured a re-enacted Pilgrim family scene. Because of the long-held Hedge family ties to Plymouth, the Hammond family was selected as the models for the photograph, taken in the Harlow House (built 1677).

Franklin T. Hammond Jr. was born in 1901. He grew up on Scott Street in Cambridge, where he and his siblings (notably his sister, Harriet) were neighbors and friends of the family of Paul Sachs. Sachs, the Assistant/Associate Director of the Fogg Museum from 1915-1948, lived in "Shady Hill," the home formerly owned by the art historian Charles Eliot Norton.

In c. 1933 Franklin Hammond purchased a home for the family on Traill Street in Cambridge, designed by a woman architect, Lois Lilley Howe (1864-1964), in c. 1900. The Hammonds moved to Washington D.C. when Franklin Hammond was hired to work for the Pentagon during World War II. He subsequently served in North Africa and Italy, where he prosecuted war crimes.

During this time, Catherine frequented USO "canteens," where she made quick crayon sketches of servicepeople passing through; later she would bring this talent to local church and school fairs.

After her youngest child entered high school, Hammond resumed her art education at the Museum School of Boston's Musuem of Fine Arts. Throughout her adult life, she was a prolific artist, concentrating on portraits in charcoal and crayon; landscapes; watercolors and drawings of nature. Hammond's work appeared in several exhibitions in Boston, Cambridge and Plymouth, and as illustrations in botanical books. In addition to her artistic endeavors, Hammond was an enthusiastic and skilled figure skater and ballroom dancer.

She died in Cambridge, Mass., in 1976. Frank died in 1996

From the guide to the Papers, c.1928-1975, (Harvard Art Museums Archives)