Waist-length portrait of Harriet Ware, wearing a bonnet and a dress with lace collar, knitting., In Wayland, Francis. A memoir of Harriet Ware (Providence, 1850), frontispiece., Harriet Ware was an educator and philanthropist who founded the Providence Children’s Friend Society after retiring as a teacher at Indian Point, a suburb of Providence., “She seldom allowed herself to sit many minutes without work of some kind in her hands. While entertaining callers and friends, knitting was her most common employment, and, even while intensely interested in conversation, her needles would be flying, as if impelled by some unseen power. Knitting work came at length to be called her ‘coat of arms;’ and in the daguerreotype portrait, a copy of which was taken only at the urgent request of her friends, which I believe is to accompany the memoir of her, her knitting work has its appropriate place, and may serve as a fit emblem of the homely virtues which she honored and practiced.”--P. 129-30.
In The national portrait gallery of distinguished Americans (Philadelphia, 1840), v.2, plate opposite entry. Also appears in other editions. Note that by the 1852-53 Peterson edition fewer portraits of women are included. This portrait is not included., Facsimile signature: Marcia Van Ness., Mrs. Van Ness devoted considerable time and wealth to the Washington City Orphan Asylum in Washington, D.C., which is now the Hillcrest Children's Center., Waist-length portrait of the philanthropist wearing a bonnet., Other portraits appear in Jones, A.D. The illustrated American biography (New York, 1853), v. 1, p. [125]; Jones, A.D. The American portrait gallery (New York, 1855), p. [125].
