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Over the Trail that Stanley Made
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"Emma
Shaw Colcleugh -- The Born Nomad"
"In the early twentieth century, Copley Hall hosted the Women's Press Association Bazaar. Various booths were set up for the big New England event, which included both flower and military themes. Across the room at the Native American booth a tall, slim woman could be seen dressed in full Native American costume. Not only were the buckskins worn tanned by her alone, but they were also gathered from Native Americans she had visited during one of her many travels. The woman was Emma Shaw Colcleugh, a journalist from the small state of Rhode Island. A strong passion for traveling intertwined with a 43-year career as a reporter led Colcleugh to remarkable success in the male-dominated world of journalism. Colcleugh weaved in and out across the continent exploring the land and presenting lectures based on her most recent travels. Articles vividly describing her experiences were published in distinguished newspapers such as the Providence Journal, Boston Transcript, Pittsburgh Dispatch, New York Daily Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle and Boston Globe. At a time when a woman in the workplace was generally unacceptable, Colcleugh ventured out of the office and into unexplored territory. A Chicago paper called her an "energetic, fine looking woman with flashing, all-seeing eyes and a look of health and endurance."(1) She visited natives in Samoa and Africa. She dined with royalty and trekked through the Arctic. Her travels to the Arctic Circle were the first by any woman in history. In Hawaii she rode horseback through pouring rain 10,000 feet up Haleakala, the world's largest extinct volcano. She was also the only foreign woman present for the construction of the Uganda railroad in 1908. Colcleugh explored places even men never dared. It was unfathomable for a woman to attempt such feats at such an early time period in history. Most women preferred their roles in the household and disapproved of Colcleugh's achievements. In reference to other women's opinions at the time, in 1937 a retired Colcleugh told the St. Petersburg Times, "I don't know and what's more, I don't care. If they said nice things, it may have spoiled me, and if they said nasty things, it was probably just as well that I didn't hear them."(2) Despite certain criticisms, Colcleugh believed women had a strong advantage over male reporters. "Even in travel, publishers are beginning to realize that the byways and unbeaten paths are what people want to hear about, and these we seem to find better than the men, who busy themselves with statistics and problems of state, after overlooking the little things that are bright, possibly and really more readable," Colcleugh said. "I can think of no other field of work in which woman is finding today such pleasant and remunerative labor as in the journalistic field."(3) Colcleugh described her feelings toward other female journalists, who generally covered society and fashion beats, but never criticized their efforts. "Do not think I could do this sort of work myself. No indeed. Think of going up to a lady, taking hold of her dress and asking where she got it and what she paid for it. It is too cheeky for me, I assure you," she said.(4) She also mentioned the increasing role of women in the field:
Colcleugh was born on September 3, 1846, to Abby Carpenter and George W. Shaw of Thompson, Connecticut. She was a descendent of Stukely Westcote, who came with Roger Williams and helped purchase the state of Rhode Island. Abby was from Thompson and George was born in Providence, Rhode Island. Emma's father worked at Clafin & Company in Providence and in 1837 he came to Thompson where he opened his own store. He was a traded-shell worker, making various items such as tortoise shell combs and jewelry. Emma's parents married on May 31, 1843. The Shaws were active members of their local church, the West Thompson M.E. Church. George died June 25, 1875, and Abby died fifteen years later, on April 21, 1890. Emma was one of five children. She had an older sister, Rosamond, who died at the age of three in 1847. She also had two younger brothers, Edward and George, and a younger sister, Julia. Born January 20, 1853, her brother George E. Shaw became a prominent businessman in Putnam, Windham County, and established one of the leading jewelry businesses in the area. Julia became a schoolteacher in Thompson and Putnam.Edward, the youngest of the Shaw family, born January 19, 1857, became a cotton-goods broker in Providence.(6) Educated in Connecticut, Emma became a schoolteacher in Providence at the young age of eighteen. She began writing poetry a little over a decade later and eventually had some poems published in various local publications. The first poem published was "New Year's Eve" appearing in the Providence Journal in 1883. In 1875, the same year as her father's death, Colcleugh embarked on her journey into the field of journalism. Advised to spend her summer vacations outdoors for health reasons, Colcleugh booked a trip aboard a steamer traveling along Lake Superior. Before planning the trip to Canada, she contacted the Providence Journal and asked editors if there would publish articles she planned on writing about her travels. The newspaper agreed and eventually Colcleugh also became the editor for the women's club column. Her weekly column later was called "Among Women's Clubs." Colcleugh was 29 years old when she began her new and exciting life as a reporter. An adventurer, Colcleugh had a thirst for traveling and exploring exotic places. Every summer while she worked for the Providence Journal, Colcleugh would plan an outing. But the plan for each trip did not always include an itinerary. The woman who was once described as "brave and persistent . . . animated by a wonderful degree of physical courage and endurance"(7) sailed, hiked and trudged through arduous landscapes and harsh weather conditions. "Most of these trips were bristling with what would have been hardships and discomforts to most people, but I am a born nomad and I find enjoyment in simply seeing; especially out of the way of things," Colcleugh once said.(8) She took two consecutive trips to Alaska, in 1884 and 1885. In 1888 the journalist headed to Canada, where she met Frederick William Colcleugh, a local merchant and politician. Frederick was the mayor of Selkirk, Manitoba, seven times and was a member of the Manitoba Provincial Parliament. He was a widower with four grown children. Shaw and Colcleugh united in marriage on May 17, 1893. The wedding was held in her brother Edward's house on a Wednesday evening. The 47-year-old Emma wore a yellow bengaline gown and carried a bouquet of daffodils. A marriage announcement in a local paper described the reception's daffodil theme: "The rooms were decorated with daffodils, the ices were in the shapes of daffodils, and everything that could resemble the flower of the occasion had its color whenever it was possible to use."(9) The couple left the ceremony for a honeymoon in Ottawa before returning home to Winnipeg, Canada. She took a break from work that same year, and remained in Winnipeg for four years with Frederick before the couple divorced in 1897. In 1907, Frederick, who suffered from paralysis, died of a stroke. Throughout their marriage, Colcleugh lectured and continued expeditions in the north. She kept her married name when she returned to New England to write for the Providence and Boston newspapers. Colcleugh also continued touring the country lecturing at various women's clubs, churches and public schools. Among her lectures were "Through Hawaii with a Kodak," Alaska and the North Pacific Islands," "Fiji and Fijians" and "Up the Saskatchewan." In an April 20, 1897, Chicago Chronicle article Colcleugh explained how she planned to travel around the world but first wished to see North America entirely beforehand. "I want to know everything about my own environment first. How many miles have I traveled? I wish I knew but I don't."(10) Colcleugh was also quoted in another publication saying, "No, I have not crossed the Atlantic. I did not want to go be one of those snobbish Americans who went abroad before seeing their own country."(11) Asked her opinion of the Bisland-Bly around-the-world race, Colcleugh told the Boston Transcript, "Miss Bisland is a correspondent of mine, and I know that her trip was not at all sought by her for notoriety, but only undertaken under orders from her managing editor. Miss Bly, on the other hand, had her route all planned out and got Mr. Cockerill to let her go. There was nothing wonderful in her work, as everything was provided for her on her way beforehand by telegraph."(12) Colcleugh's writing style consisted of informative pieces with strong narratives and description. In "A Lady's Long Voyage-Off for Honolulu," Colcleugh presented a vivid account of boarding the Australia I departing for Hawaii:
The 1891 trip was her first to Hawaii. She revisited the Aloha State a second time in the summer of 1897. The Providence Journal published Colcleugh's stories about the island's sugar industry, volcanoes, education and royalty. She took photographs with a Kodak camera to accompany her articles. But Hawaii was merely one small stop on Colcleugh's 30,000-mile journey throughout the South Pacific, which also included visits to the Fiji Islands, Samoa, New Zealand and Tahiti. Colcleugh found native Samoans repulsive and the least interesting out of all people she had visited. She saw the men as curious and rude and the women as overly confident.(14) That same year she was made an honorary member of the Victorian Woman's Club of Sydney, Australia. While in Fiji, the two princesses, Andi Thakambau and Andi Reahakamba, invited Colcleugh to an elaborate dinner in her honor. Colcleugh's article, "Dining with Royalty in Fiji," appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle in December of 1900. While on her way to Tahiti, the steamer Colcleugh rode broke down, leaving both her and fellow occupants drifting in the sea for twelve sweltering hours in the hot summer sun.(15) Nevertheless, Colcleugh never complained about mishaps during her adventures. A newspaper clipping describing Colcleugh visiting her brother George read, "Mrs. Colcleugh is probably one of the greatest travelers in this country, possibly in the world."(16) Along with friend Sarah Hopkins, also of the Providence Journal, Colcleugh traveled to Cuba in 1899. The two reporters wrote about the poor conditions and suffering children as results of the Spanish-American War. Colcleugh believed since the United States was responsible for overthrowing the Spanish rule in Cuba, then it should also be responsible for the establishment of a better government.(17) The following year Colcleugh headed to Puerto Rico. The Providence Journal received articles describing Puerto Rican street life, poor schooling, the necessity for better road systems and improved labor conditions. Colcleugh also wrote a feature about Puerto Rican burial rituals, as well as articles about the conditions of women in the country. In 1902 she went to Africa and wrote about savage tribes she encountered. She contracted a fever while visiting and was no longer able to vigorously travel. The 56-year-old continued lecturing and writing for the Providence Journal, and by this time Colcleugh had been published in an array of newspapers and magazines. Colcleugh's writings, however, did not stop with travel pieces. She wrote on vast topics from ostrich farming to aboriginal fishhooks. She wrote features on Rhode Islanders' summer homes in New Hampshire, Connecticut and other New England places of interest. She also visited Native Americans and collected artifacts from all her travels. In addition to her work for the Providence Journal, Colcleugh was the corresponding editor for Club Woman's Magazine for Rhode Island, and was on the editorial staff of American Kitchen. She was also a staff member of the Boston Transcript and New York Commercial Advertiser. Colcleugh was a member of the Rhode Island Short Story Club, American League of Women's Press Clubs, Women's Press Association and the Liberty bell party in Boston. Colcleugh was honored with an election into membership of the National Geographic Society of Washington, a feat owned by few women during the time. At the age of 81, Colcleugh retired from the Providence Journal on April 14, 1927. In 1932, she wrote a series of 19 articles titled, "I Saw These Things," documenting her travels. She used her field notebooks and corresponding letters as a basis for the series and accompanied them with her own photographs. She later moved back to her hometown in Connecticut before making one last trip, traveling alone to Florida by train, where she stayed at the Morgan Ten-Eyck Hotel. She described her trip as an "overnight jaunt" compared to the trips she made as a young journalist.(18) In "Pioneer Woman Reporter, Now 91, Visits Here," in the St. Petersburg Times, Nona Parker wrote, "To her, newspaper writing is the most fascinating work in the world, and she has derived enough color, adventure, and thrills of it to make her content with mere memories for the remainder of her life."(19) Colcleugh was 94 at the time of her death. In 1930 Colcleugh had sold 218 artifacts previously collected in her travels along with her collection notebook to Rudolf Haffenreffer Jr. The collection is currently located at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology in Bristol, Rhode Island. The museum also owns Colcleugh's personal scrapbooks, which contain every newspaper article she wrote. Colcleugh also had saved clippings written by other authors praising her many accomplishments and announcing her upcoming lecture presentations. Like a true journalist, Colcleugh marked corrections in her articles and others written about her with a pencil. Tickets, wedding announcements, personal letters and other articles of interest were also saved. Colcleugh was a woman who made the news in more ways than one -- she not only wrote interesting and newsworthy stories, but also made headlines herself. Notes (3) "Women in Journalism. What a Clever Representative of Those Workers Says About Them: Gossipy Interview With Miss Emma Shaw, of the Boston 'Transcript' -- How Woman's Field is Growing, Etc.," The Portland. No date given. (4) ibid. (5) ibid. (6) George E. Shaw Biography & the Shaw Family. Available online at www.geocities.com/Heartland/Fields/4791/georgeshaw.html (7) Hopkins, Mary Sargent. "Emma Shaw Colcleugh, Artic Traveller," The Ladies World. Dec, 1896. (8) The Chicago Chronicle, April 20, 1897. (9) Wedding announcement clipping from Colcleugh Papers Volume II (newspaper unknown) (10) The Chicago Chronicle, April 20, 1897. (11) "Women in Journalism . . . cited above (12) ibid. (13) Cocleugh, Emma Shaw. "A Lady's Long Voyage Off for Honolulu," January 24, 1891. (14) Colcleugh Papers, Volume I. (15) ibid. (16) Newspaper clipping from Colcleugh Papers. No date or publication available. (17) New York Daily Tribune. August 23, 1899. (18) Parker, Nona, cited above. (19) ibid. |
