Interviewee: Elizabeth Lawrie
Date of birth: unknown
Interviewer: Lorrie Petrov
Interview date: June 13, 1985
Interview location: Lawrie’s home, Old Mill Road, New hope
Length: 46 minutes
Time span discussed: 1949 to the time of the interview
Summary: Elizabeth was a New Hope resident from 1949 and became a well-known local painter. This interview really shines from minute 41:00 to end, where she talks about her painting. Unfortunately this could have been much longer! The early parts of the interview are poorly recorded with the interviewer being almost impossible to understand. Topics like local New Hope businesses, people, artists, and the library are covered but with little new insight. Nevertheless, Elizabeth was a local personality.
Time markers:
00:00 – earlier life, moved to New Hope, Pittsburgh
02:00 – Old Mill Road, first house built
03:00 – studied with Harry Leith-Ross, painting outdoors
05:30 – other local artists mentioned, but indistinct
07:50 – work at the library, then in the stone building at the corner of Ferry and Main streets (once Martine’s restaurant)
18:40 – jury work at Phillips’ Mill
21:40 – New Hope changes
22:15 – South Main Street and other street improvements
25:50 – merits and personalities of a few artists: John Sharp, Harry Leith-Ross, and others
26:20 – two restaurants in New Hope, 1949
26:50 – Bill Ney’s studio location
28:00 – shops and people in New Hope
30:00 – 1955 flood
33:00 – dynamiting a stump out of a garden on Mechanic Street
39:00 – post office, pick up, no delivery service
39:40 – “everything left town…no liquor store!”
41:00 – Bucks County Playhouse shows
41:30 – her painting training and her watercolor work’s evolution; her voice picks up strength, verve
43:00 – funny story about Ranulph Bye
