Harriet Augusta Prunk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1840
- Boston School of Oratory
- Boston School of Expression (now Curry College)
Harriet Augusta Prunk | |
|---|---|
.png) Prunk in 1893 | |
| Born | Harriet Augusta Smith 1840 Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | October 15, 1911 Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. |
| Resting place | Crown Hill National Cemetery |
| Alma mater |
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| Occupations |
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| Employer | Indianapolis Conservatory of Music |
| Known for | founder, Indiana Boston School of Elocution and Expression |
| Spouse |
Daniel Hammond Prunk
(m. 1858) |
| Children | 3 |
| Signature | |
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Harriet Augusta Prunk (née Smith; 1840–1911) was an American reader, educator, and school principal who founded the Indiana Boston School of Elocution and Expression.[1] For many years, Prunk was prominent in Indianapolis, Indiana as a reader and instructor; hundreds of people on the professional stage and in other lines where speaking is employed were her pupils. During her long association with educational movements, she was well known throughout the U.S.[2]
Harriet Augusta Smith was a native of Cincinnati, Ohio.[1][2] Her parents were William J. and Lavinia (Lennox) Smith. Her parents were natives of Virginia, where the maternal name of Lennox figured prominently for many generations, her grandfather Lennox having been a lieutenant in the American Revolutionary War.[1]
Soon after her birth, Prunk's family moved to Covington, Kentucky, where she was reared and resided until her marriage.[1]
In 1859, Prunk graduated from the Wesleyan Female College. Very early in life she evidenced talent in declamation and elocution, which gave her some prominence during her college years, so that she was assigned duties of this sort at entertainments, as well as at social gatherings, and amateur entertainments.[1]
Her marriage did not end her studies, for she devoted another ten years studying in the field of elocution. In October 1877, she entered the Boston School of Oratory, graduating in May 1879, which was one year less than the regular course. She received special instruction from Profs. Steele MacKaye and R. R. Raymond, of Boston and New York.[1] From time to time, she was a student at the Boston School of Expression (now Curry College).[3]
