In this episode, we dive into the life of Clarence Frederick Underwood, a Meadville-raised artist who became one of the most celebrated illustrators of the Golden Age of Illustration in early 1900s. From his parents' drug store along Chestnut Street, to the elite art academies of Paris, to his Manhattan studio, Underwood’s journey reflects the "creative-maker" spirit of Meadville that still exists today. We explore how he shaped the visual identity of 20th-century America, revolutionized advertising, and championed a more active, modern portrayal of women

Episode References:

https://clarenceunderwoodart.com/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/runaway-wrecking-ball-goes-on-pa-rampage/

https://www.meadvilletribune.com/news/local_news/runaway-wrecking-ball-injures-three/article_cd86e1ac-0949-5bee-b163-97fbe91e3a29.html

https://www.meadvilletribune.com/archives/top-2007-story-roll-heard-round-the-world/article_070549ad-eb77-5cfa-946f-6

d717ab89577.html

Forward to Girls of Today, NYC, 1909

Cleveland Sunday Leader - October, 1903

Erie Dispatch 1902

On today’s episode of Meadville in the Making we look at how a boy made in Meadville grew into a reformer who then carried the lessons of our hometown with him as he helped reshape cities, immigration, and democratic life across the nation.

Ashley also really tries to make a case for the stage revival of Hello, Meadville a 1988 musical by Dr. William Holland Jr.

Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America - by Kurt Andersen

From Progressive to New Dealer: Frederic C. Howe and American Liberalism by Kenneth Miller

The Confessions of a Reformer by Frederic C Howe

The story of one turn-of-the-century female minister - trained right here in Meadville - whose passion for social change, votes for women and female solidarity made her not just one half of a national powercouple but a change-maker in her own right.

References:

Miller, Kenneth. From Progressive to New Dealer: Frederic C. Howe and American Liberalism. The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2010.

Newspapers.com : Marie Jenney Howe

Courtesy Meadville Lombard Theological School:

“Fifty Years of Unity Church: The Story of the First Unitarian Church of Sioux City, Iowa.” UUA Congregational Records Collection, MLTS.US.3014.15.B003 (Iowa).

Jenney, Marie. “Women in the Ministry.” The Meadville Portfolio, Volume 1, No 2 (September 1894): 21-23.

Howe, Frederic C. The Confessions of a Reformer. The Kent State University Press, 1988.

Scutts, Joanna. Hotbed: Bohemian Greenwich village and the Secret Club that Sparked Modern Feminism. Seal Press, 2022.

Howe, Marie Jenney. An Anti-Suffrage Monologue. National Woman Suffrage Association, [1912]. Nineteenth Century Collections

link.gale.com%2Fapps%2Fdoc%2FAYVTNI611575865%2FN

CCO%3Fu%3Dalleg_main%26sid%3Dgale_marc. Accessed 22 Oct.2025

Original music written and recorded by Jeff Rose of Gin & Sonic studio.