Elmer Boyd Smith

Elmer Boyd Smith was an illustrator, painter and writer known for having illustrated more than fifty books. He signed his name E. Boyd Smith and is often credited as such in publications. Smith was born in New Brunswick, Canada, in 1860 and raised in Boston. In the early to mid-1880s he attended the Académie Julian in Paris and studied with Gustave Boulanger and Jules Lefebvre. Smith traveled to the American West when he returned to the U.S. In the late 1880s, he became one of the first directors of the Kansas City Art Institute. At that time, the college was known as the Kansas City Art Association and School of Design. He taught painting classes at the college, and even designed a logo for it. He widely exhibited his paintings in Kansas City. Elmer Boyd Smith, Kansas City Art Association and School of Design logo , circa 1880s. “Elmer Boyd Smith, Canada ‘Shanks’ family tree,” Ancestry , accessed April 8, 2021. “Culture Clubs, the L.A.C.E. Society,” Kansas City Times , 1888 or 1889. “About E. Boyd Smith,” Brooklyn Public Library, accessed April 7, 2021, . Mazee Bush Owens and Frances S. Bush, A History of Community Achievement: 1885-1964 (Kansas City: Kansas City Art Institute and School of Design, 1965), Mantle Fielding, Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers (Poughkeepsie: Apollo, 1983). Elmer Boyd Smith, Kansas City Art Association and School of Design logo , circa 1880s. “Elmer Boyd Smith, Canada ‘Shanks’ family tree,” Ancestry , accessed April 8, 2021. “Culture Clubs, the L.A.C.E. Society,” Kansas City Times , 1888 or 1889. “About E. Boyd Smith,” Brooklyn Public Library, accessed April 7, 2021, . Mazee Bush Owens and Frances S. Bush, A History of Community Achievement: 1885-1964 (Kansas City: Kansas City Art Institute and School of Design, 1965), Mantle Fielding, Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers (Poughkeepsie: Apollo, 1983).