Local historians unite to bring new life to early Grinnell musician
Isabella Beaton (1870-1929) was a pianist and composer who was born and raised in Grinnell. As an adult, in addition to pursuing her career as a concert pianist and composer, she opened the Beaton School of Music in Cleveland, Ohio. She returned to Grinnell for the final years of her life, a chapter that was clouded in mystery. Long on the list of notable women of Grinnell, there were many gaps in the knowledge of her career and her final years in Grinnell. Over the course of the last several years, a group of local history enthusiasts from the library, the college, and the Grinnell Historical Museum have been working to fill in some of these gaps. That work culminated on May 1st with an event at the museum that featured the playing of a string quartet written by Beaton, likely the first performance of her music in Grinnell in nearly a century.
Learn more about this project and the many interesting things that came together to help fill in Isabella’s story on the Isabella Beaton webpage on the library’s Local History website.