Archive for H. A. MacNeil Biography
Christmas Eve 1895.
Chicago, Illinois
There was a Wedding in …
Hermon MacNeil’s Studio
~ 1733 Marquette Building ~

Married in a private ceremony on Christmas Day Hermon and Carol MacNeil had a reception in the Marquette Building
~
Every Christmas we remember this
Special Christmas Day Wedding of two sculptors.
They met in Chicago, Carol’s hometown as they sculpted the “White City” of The Worlds Columbian Exposition (aka. Chicago Worlds Fair). That event opened in May 1893.
Hermon made figures on the Electricity Building. Carol (Carrie) was a student of Lorado Taft and became a “White Rabbit”, that group of select females permitted to sculpt as the deadline for opening day loomed closer.
Two years later Hermon, age 29, proposed to Carol (Carrie) just 24. She accepted. They got a Marriage License on Christmas Eve and used it the next day. Several weeks later they sailed to Rome where Hermon had accepted the Reinhart Fellowship and they both continued to learn sculpture for 3 years. And then spent a a fourth year in Paris.
~ Christmas Day 1895 ~
~~ SLQ ~~ Part One ~~
In September 2019 the cover story of the Numismatist
featured a superb story
by Edward Van Orden
entitled,
an Introduction to the Standing Liberty Quarter”
CLICK HERE or Above for full Article
SLQ Article: The Numismatist Sept ‘19
Edward Van Orden describes the Standing Liberty quarter dollar by saying:
“Eversince it first appeared in circulation in January 1917, the Standing Liberty quarter (SLQ) has been considered among the most beautiful U.S. coins ever produced. Its historically symbolic and sculptural design played a vital role in elevating the artistry of U.S. silver coinage.

Hermon A. MacNeil Commemorative sketched by Artist Charles D. Daughtrey as the seventh work in his Series of Coin Designers is available at http://www.cdaughtrey.com/
Crafted by American sculptor Hermon Atkins MacNeil (1866-1947), this iconic image of Liberty was the winning entry in a contest that drew upward of 50 submissions. An artist of some renown, MacNeil designed the east pediment of the United States Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., and sculpted a rendering of General George Washington for the Washington Square Arch in New York’s Greenwich Village. MacNeil’s Liberty spoke to the movement in American numismatics initiated in 1904 by President Theodore Roosevelt and preeminent sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. In the spirit of Saint-Gaudens’ double eagle (gold $20)and
Victor D. Brenner’s Lincoln cent designs, – the quarter found its renaissance, boasting a style hearkening back to antiquity that intertwined artisan form with transactional function
At a time when most of Europe was actively engaged in the First World War, President Woodrow Wilson, elected on a peace platform in 1916, was biding our country’s time before directly involving the United States militarily. It was against this backdrop that the Standing Liberty quarter was unveiled to an eager public.
The design fittingly reflected America’s increasing global involvement, epitomized by Miss Liberty’s confident, forward movement, holding a shield in her left hand for protection and an olive branch in her right for peace. Our nation, for the most part, desired peace but was prepared to defend itself and its way of life. In the words of Mint Director Robert W. Woolley in July 1916, the design seemed to typify “the awakening interest of the country in its own protection.”
FOR CONTINUED ARTICLE VIEW HERE
To be Continued … Come back for MORE ….
~~~~~~~~~~~
SOURCES used by Van Orden for his article:
Benford, Timothy B., Jr. “MacNeil’s Liberty: Art or Obscenity?” The Numismatist (December 2003).
Brothers, Eric. “New York City: Mecca of Numis- matic Artistry.” The Numismatist (November 2013). Cline, J.H. Standing Liberty Quarters, 3rd edition.
Palm Harbour, FL: author, 1997.
Dolnick, Michael M. “Design Changes on the Lib-
erty Standing Quarter.” The Numismatist (Septem- ber 1954).
Doyle, Al. “Class of 1916, Part 2.” The Numismatist (October 2016).
____. “MacNeil’s Standing Liberty Quarter among Most Artistic.” Coin World’s Coin Values (November 2004).
Duffield, Frank G. “Slight Change in the Die of Quarter Dollars.” The Numismatist (June 1926).
Kelman, Keith N. Standing Liberty Quarters. Nashua, NH: International Numismatica Corporation, 1976. (ANA Library Catalog No. GB24.K4) .
LaMarre, Tom. “MacNeil’s Standing Liberty Remains a Favorite.” Coins magazine (September 30, 2009).
Lange, David W. “The Coinage of 1921.” The Numismatist (December 2003).
____. “Collecting Standing Liberty Quarters.” The Numismatist (December 2003).
____. “The Impossible Dream.” The Numismatist (October 2005).
____. “1923-S Coinage, Part 2.” The Numismatist (September 2011).
____. “The Standing Liberty Quarter.” The Nu- mismatist (July 2016).
Moran, Michael F. Striking Change: The Great Artistic Collaboration of Theodore Roosevelt Augus- tus Saint-Gaudens. Atlanta: Whitman Publishing, 2008. (GB40.M6s)
Sieber, Arlyn G. “Images of Liberty.” The Numis- matist (July 2016).
Woolley, Robert W. “Symbolism of the New Coins of 1916.” Report of the Director of the Mint (July 15, 1916).
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Hermon & Tom Henry MacNeil ~~ MacNeil Month – Two Birthday’s
Posted by: | CommentsWhy do we celebrate MacNeil Month each February? Two reasons:
-
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Hermon MacNeil.
Hermon A. MacNeil Commemorative sketched by Artist Charles D. Daughtrey as the seventh work in his Series of Coin Designers is available at http://www.cdaughtrey.com/
- February 27 is the 154th anniversary of the birth of Hermon A. MacNeil, born in 1866. Hermon is the patron-sculptor whose work and life are celebrated at this website – HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com.
- “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Tom Henry McNeil, My grandfather ~ And the older cousin of Hermon MacNeil.
- February 29 is the Anniversary of the birth of Thomas (Tom) Henry McNeil (my grandfather) born in 1860, one-hundred and sixty years ago.
- Tom told his daughters to address “Hermon” as “Uncle Hermon.” “Uncle” was the title of respect bestowed on their first-cousin-twice-removed.
Happy 153rd Birthday~ Hermon Atkins MacNeil ~ February 27, 2019
Posted by: | CommentsTODAY marks the 153rd anniversary of the birth
of Hermon Atkins MacNeil

Hermon A. MacNeil Commemorative sketched by Artist Charles D. Daughtrey as the seventh work in his Series of Coin Designers is available at http://www.cdaughtrey.com/
AND THE 10th Year of my Search for “Uncle Hermon”
for whom this website is dedicated.
For a brief summary of his life and work click here for => A Brief Bio of Hermon Atkins MacNeil
This website also is inspired by the memory of my mother, Ollie McNeil Leininger.
I remember my mother telling me about her “Uncle Hermon.”
She handed me some “Liberty Standing Quarters” from her grocery change and showed me the little “M” at the left foot of Lady Liberty.
She showed me “The Sun Vow” statue in the Saint Louis Art Museum. We also visited “The Pony Express” statue in St. Joseph, Missouri. I grew up with a sense of pride and quiet fascination with mom’s “Uncle Hermon”
I never met “Uncle Hermon”
Hermon A. MacNeil died on October 2, 1947 at the age of 81 years, 7 months, and 8 days. On the day that he died I was just two years-old.
My own Mother died years later in the winter of 1985. At that time, I wrote:
With her passing a warm, safe feeling faded from my world. I was the “baby” of her six children. Her death ushered in feelings of being a midlife orphan who would soon turn forty. Darkness seemed to creep in from the far corners of my life. A strange fearful child inside of me said, “Who will take care of me now?”
As the years passed, I would think of mom, and occasionally, of her “Uncle Hermon.”
By the turn of the 2K millennium, computers and the internet had become household items. This allowed people to hunt, find, and save data. I found fascinating stories about Hermon Atkins MacNeil. Virtually anything from anywhere could be researched.
In 2010, I met Dan DeBlock. He is a retired Army Chaplain and Lutheran Minister who builds websites for churches. It started as a hobby interest and became Leiturgia Communications, Inc. The Host and Tech Support for this website.
One day I asked Dan DeBlock, “Could a website be built as virtual gallery of the sculpture of Hermon Atkins MacNeil?”
Nine years and 170 stories later, “HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com” is the answer to my question and Dan’s hosting.
In that year (2010), I seriously began my “Searching for Uncle Hermon.”
That journey continues. This is story # 171 – A Birthday Present for Hermon Atkins MacNeil.
This Gallery celebrates Hermon Atkins MacNeil, American sculptor of the Beaux Arts School.
MacNeil Month — February 2017
Posted by: | CommentsFebruary 27th 2017 marks the 151st Anniversary of the birth of Hermon Atkins MacNeil.
February 29th marks the 157th Anniversary of Tom Henry McNeil (Thomas H. McNeil). Because he was born on Leap Day his birthday came only once every four years (Leap Year).
So we remember the McNeil/MacNeil cousins Tom Henry and Hermon. And we celebrate each February as “MacNeil Month” here at HermonAtkinsMacNeil.com.
Hermon Atkins MacNeil (1866-1947) and Thomas Henry McNeil (1860-1932) were cousins. They shared a common grandfather, Peter McNeil (1786-1847).
Hermon is the sculptor celebrated on this website.Thomas (Tom Henry) was my grandfather. My mother, Ollie Francis McNeil, always referred to Hermon as “Uncle Hermon”. Their parents wanted her (and her sisters and brother) to do that out of respect.
Tom Henry was born near Burdette, Missouri, in Bates County. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1884 (Literature) and 1885 (Law).

1884 Michigan Wolverines Football Team. Tom Henry McNeil, seated in the front in the black shirt, was the team captain. By Unknown – 1884 Michigan football team photograph http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/fbteam/1884fbt.htm, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12425688
He played football there as the first starting quarterback in consecutive seasons of 84 and 85. He practiced as a lawyer for Kansas City Railways Company, and in later years, he was responsible for making accident reports to the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Public Service Commission of Missouri. He died in 1932.

1885 Michigan Wolverines Football Team — Quarterback Tom Henry MacNeil is seated second from the left holding a ball. A rugby style ball was used, but no forward passes were allowed
Hermon was born in Everett (Chelsea, Malden) Mass. In 1886 he graduated from Normal Art School in Boston (now Mass Art). He moved to Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York. As Instructor
until 1889, leaving to study in Paris as a pupil of Henri M. Chapu and Alexandre Falguière. He sculpted in Chicago from 1891-1895, at the Columbian World Exposition (1893 Chicago World’s Fair) meeting Carol Brooks (also a sculptor). They married on Christmas Day 1895 and sailed days later for Rome (1895-99). Following another year in Paris (1899-1900), they settled in New York City building a home and studio in College Point, Long Island. He worked and lived there until his death in 1947.