Lost Artists of Fairhaven Podcast Series – Lilian Allen Dexter

Welcome to the Lost Artists of Fairhaven Podcast Series hosted by Scott Bishop! The series focuses on the artists who once lived, worked, or were born in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. The town was and continues to be called home to many now-historical artists who were forgotten or unsung in their day.

This focused series of podcast episodes presented by The Artists Index brings you informative conversations with historians, family members, friends, or acquaintances who once contributed to Fairhaven as Visual, Performing, Literary, or Culinary Artists as well as the supporters, and cultural impresarios of this remarkable corner of the South Coast’s creative community.

Scott speaks with The Millicent Library‘s director, Kyle DeCicco Carey * about Lillian Allen Dexter. She was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on August 29, 1871. She graduated from New Bedford High School in 1889. From there, she then went on to study at the Cooper Union School in New York City, where she earned a certificate in Pen and Ink Illustration from the school’s Women’s Art Department in 1893.

During the 1890s, Dexter traveled to various locations between Massachusetts, New York, and West Virginia visiting, parks and Civil War battlefields, where she sketched flowers and other botanicals. In the late 1890s, she lived in Washington, D.C., with her uncle, the clerk of the US Senate Finance Committee. While there she worked for the American Rose Company, creating commercial art.

After leaving Washington, Dexter settled in Marion, Massachusetts where she remained until her passing on July 13, 1928. The Millicent Library archival collections include many of her watercolors and pen-and-ink drawings.

If you have any further knowledge, memories, or documentation on this artist, please contact us! Check back here for the latest episodes…

THIS SERIES IS SUPPORTED IN PART with a grant from the Fairhaven Cultural Council, a local agency supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state Agency.

* Kyle DeCicco-Carey has appeared on: