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CLUTTON, Alma

Born
Norwich, ON, 1873
Died
Norwich, ON, 1955
Biography synopsis
Alma Clutton traveled to Detroit in the late 1800s to study photography with F. W. Schaldenbrad. Upon her return to Norwich, she took over a commercial studio and became the first female photographer in Norwich. Clutton soon gained fame for her talents in child and infant portraiture. Many of her portraits of the Norwich community can be found in the Norwich and District Archives. Around 1921, Clutton put her studio on hold and journeyed to Europe and Egypt taking many pictures along the way. Clutton was also intensely fascinated by antiques and traditional crafts and, along with the help of Stella Mott, the town's high school teacher, she founded the Norwich Pioneers Museum. In her eighty-two years of life, Clutton never married. She is remembered as a quiet, but dedicated woman whose determination allowed her to manage her own business at a time when women seldom became professionals.
Media used
Photography
File & Archive locations
Norwich and District Archives, ON
Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Writings about
"First Woman Photographer Always Willing to Learn." Oxford Review 23 Mar. 2002: 11
"Outstanding Women of Oxford." Norwich Gazette 3 Dec. 1980: 14
Beattie, Helen. "Careers for Women: Photography Pays Off But Not to Clinging Vines." Globe and Mail (Toronto) 20 Apr. 1946: 12
Dyer, Brenda; Kolasiewicz, Sarah and Stevenson, Donna. Outstanding Women of Oxford County. Oxford, ON: Oxford County Board of Education, 1979
Glanzer, Phil. "News Photography: Feminine Version." Popular Photography 21.6 (Dec. 1947): 251-252
Kidd, Gwendolen M.. "Historical Museums in Canada." The Canadian Historical Review 21.3 (1940): 285-297

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