Grace Blakeman, circa 1899

 Grace Blakeman graduated from the Storrs Agricultural  College, now the University of Connecticut, in 1896.  After college, Miss Blakeman married fellow classmate Sherman W. Eddy in 1899.  Active in the Congregational Church, a  correspondent for the Hartford Courant, and a farm census taker, Grace died on March 26, 1919, of influenza.  The portrait of Grace Blakeman (above) was painted by her cousin Fannie C. Burr of Monroe, Connecticut, and is presumed to have been painted in honor of Ms. Blakeman’s engagement to Mr. Eddy.  The portrait was recently donated to the University Archives in recognition of Ms. Blakeman’s status as one of the first women to graduate from UConn.

Although UConn alums are always welcome to visit the University Archives, it is always a special treat  when some of them (or their memorabilia) come to “stay” in the Archives and share their story with others interested in the history of the institution.

–Betsy Pittman, University Archivist