Clark Kimberling, UE professor of mathematics, has an invited article about Myrtle Hart in the current issue of the American Harp Journal. Entitled "Myrtle Hart (Louise Kavanaugh), Harpist: A Documentary History", the article opens with a picture of Myrtle at her harp, as it first appeared in an 1895 Chicago newspaper. Eighteen years earlier, Myrtle had been born in Evansville to Henry and Sarah Hart, at a time when Henry was known as Evansville's "king of music".
About 1878, the Harts moved to Indianapolis. There Henry's reputation spread, and in 1901, he was profiled as a "social necessity" who had played for five Indiana governors and for visits of U. S. Presidents Hayes, Cleveland, and Harrison. Henry was greatly admired by Col. Eli Lilly, who made it possible for Henry to purchase a magnificent harp for Myrtle.
Myrtle became known as "the greatest Afro-American harpist in the world". Kimberling's article traces her professional and personal life, including her change of name and passing for white, as well as the associated personal and professional challenges. His research, begun years ago, led to writing the Wikipedia article on Henry Hart: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Hart_(musician). The Wikipedia article concludes with links to UE-based pdfs on Myrtle and her sister, Hazel Hart Hendricks, for whom an Indianapolis public school was named. Tombstones for Henry, Sarah, and Hazel are located a little more than one mile from the UE campus, and Myrtle is memorialized in Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts: https://mountauburn.org/aaht-hart/.
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