The notebook in which I found this and a number of other drawings by Elmer S. Hill of Haydenville MA was already coming apart with some pages loose, so I went ahead and divided it up and am listing these wonderful drawings individully, a few of them—including this one—double-sided and fantastic on both sides.
Here I'm not sure which side I like better--between this terrific perched squirrel, barn, horse, and trees dripping with fruit on one side, and house with fabulous checkerboard roof, hatted figure pumping from a well while a child appears ready to go fishing in it, teepee to his left, and then birds, trees, and another tiny house at bottom right. For me, it is the tiny details on these that make these especially special, so don’t miss scrolling through detail photos!
I have found a definitive record of Elmer Hill, born on 7 March 1874, in Erie, Pennsylvania, United States to David Warren Hill and Annie Pauline Goss, both from New England, and it seems in Erie only for a brief time as the rest of their lives were living in and around Northhampton, MA, including in Haydenville, which he notes on one page of the notebook, which has a date of 1887, so he was about 13 when he made these drawings. Hill married, had two sons, and died on 29 December 1973, in Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States, at the age of 99!
Paper measures 8 1/16” x 6 5/8”; pencil and crayon/colored pencil on faintly lined paper. Paper has darkened a bit over time and is a bit brittle, but shows no foxing and is generally clean and very stable.
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