Meet Lorinda

… and help us save her

In 1985, the Granville Library discovered a dark and dusty painting tucked away in the building's furnace room. No one there really knew who it was or how it came to be there. The library gave the painting to the Historical Society later the same year. It was in poor condition, the patina filthy with age and furnace room dust and dirt. Some attempts to clean it in house made little improvement and eventually it slipped back into the history of time.

Meet Lorinda, wife of Charles Webster Bryant, founder of the Granville Historical Society, granddaughter of Augustine Munson, and great granddaughter of Jesse Munson--both who came to Granville in the original Licking Land Company migration.

After the death of Charles in 1886, Lorinda worked for the town's drugstore where her husband had an interest. Six years later, she received a Bachelor of Science degree from Granville Female College and eventually became the first woman in Ohio to be a registered pharmacist. A few years later, she followed her son east and established the Montrose School for girls in South Orange, New Jersey. Lorinda eventually turned to writing, publishing over 20 books. A History of Painting, published in 1906, was among her most successful.

The Granville Historical Society would like to remember and acknowledge this amazing woman, one of Granville's treasures. With your help, we will restore the painting and then launch a series of activities--simultaneously fun and historical, crafted for children and adults--to share this woman's story of accomplishment and survival. Lorinda Munson Bryant will live again.

A grant received from the Granville Community Foundation for the first $2,000 kicks off a campaign to fund the remaining $1,550 to restore this important piece of art and history. Please help us celebrate Granville history, women's education, and women in science by sending a gift of $50 - $250, or a donation of your choice, to the Granville Historical Society, earmarked specifically for this restoration. Just click below!

And thank you...