Margaret Ann Scruggs Carruth
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Margaret Ann Scruggs-Carruth (1892–1988) was a Texan etcher, printmaker, illustrator and educator. She was primarily active in the first half of the 20th century, illustrating one of the first botanical guides for native Texas plants in 1932.
Margaret was born on February 18, 1892, in Dallas, Texas, the only child of Gross R. Scruggs and Mary S. Price. She came from a well-established family who were proud of their American lineage, which included the 1652 Governor of Maryland Robert Brooke[2] and former first lady Mary Todd Lincoln.[3] She married Raymond Carruth on June 6, 1912, and they had one son, Walter Scruggs Carruth, nearly two years later. Their only daughter, Marianne, died from bronchial pneumonia in 1918 when she was still a child.[1]
Margaret Ann Scruggs-Carruth died in 1988 in her hometown of Dallas, at the age of 96.[4] Upon her death, many art pieces she had collected were donated to Dallas Museum of Art. These included The Burial (1929) by James Auchiah,[5] Head (ca.1930) by Olin Herman Travis,[6] and The Jungle (1930–31) by Otis Dozier.[7]
Social life
Margaret participated in the local debutante scene in Dallas, making her formal social debut at the Idlewild Club Ball of 1911.[8] While still in high school Margaret met Allie Victoria Tennant, a sculptor exactly her age who she would consider a close friend and contemporary for the next 60 years. The two were often members of the same social groups, gatherings, and exhibitions over the years, including Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Dallas Browning Club, Dallas Young Women's Christian Association, and the Texas Fine Arts Association.[8]
Throughout her life, Scruggs-Carruth was an active member of many heritage and genealogy based organizations in addition to DAR. A selection of such groups includes Hereditary Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors, Daughters of Founders and Patriots,[2] Dallas Historical Society,[9] The Huguenot Society of America,[1] and Colonial Dames of America, where she once served as national secretary.[2] Other organizations that counted Margaret as a member included the Dallas chapter of the American Red Cross, Prairie Print Makers,[8] Dallas Women's Club, and the Dallas Little Theater Board of Directors, where she served as secretary for several years - often illustrating their pamphlets and newsletters through the 1940s.[10]
After joining Garden Club of America and participating in the founding of the more regional Dallas Gardens Club, Margaret and her mother Mary were inspired to create a garden club of their own. In 1927 they founded the "Marianne Scruggs Garden Club," named both as a clever combination of the pair's first and middle names and as a tribute to Margaret's late daughter. The garden featured a sculpture titled The Young Bathers crafted by Allie Tennant in 1946.[8] The garden club's special interest was in cross-breeding species of irises, amaryllises, and day-lilies that are native to northern Texas.[8] Their efforts paid off several years later, when a selection of their successful iris hybrids earned them overseas memberships and recognition from the Royal Horticultural Society of Great Britain.[11]
Scruggs-Carruth was a member of the English-Speaking Union in Dallas in early 1941, when the esteemed creator of the organization Sir Evelyn Wrench and his wife visited Texas from Great Britain. At this point Britain was already at war with Germany, so they felt that the need for diplomacy with oil-rich Texas was at an all-time high. Margaret served on the official reception committee to welcome the important visitors, orchestrating a decorated formal reception at the Hall of State.[8]
