Mary Bradish (1877-1966) was born in Springfield and attended Springfield High School. She lived in the house that her father, Walter H. Bradish built at 931 S. 4th St. He was the co-owner of the Springfield Woolen Mills. After living in Minneapolis and Chicago, she returned to Springfield and established her own business designing clothes. In 1912, she married S. Leigh Call (1872-1952), who was the editor and publisher of the Illinois State Journal. She began painting and studying with George Raab, the director of the Art Association. She traveled the world and permanently left Springfield in 1965. Mary Bradish and S. Leigh Call had one daughter, Mary Leigh Call (1917-2017). She was born in Springfield and died in Maine. She married Jack Scott Smart born John Henley Tenner Scott (1902-1960). He played “the Fat Man” on radio and in the movie. They are all buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery. Ethelwyn Coventry Bradish (1882-1973) was Mary Bradish Call’s sister. She was a grade school teacher, artist, and lecturer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Kathleen Suffel Bradish (1886-1978) was a guide at the Lincoln Home from 1951-1958 and custodian of the home from May-November 1958, when she retired. She was the sister-in-law of Mary Bradish Call.
William Hardin (1808-1871) and Patsy Fleming (1811-1868) are the great-grandparents of Mary Leigh Call. Lewis W. Hardin (1844-1922) was also a child of William Hardin and Patsy Fleming. Amanda H. Call (1845-1917) married Lewis W. Hardin in 1869.
The collection includes photos of Mary Bradish Call, S. Leigh Call, Mary Leigh Call Smart, Jack Scott Smart, Ethelwyn Coventry Bradish, William Hardin, and William Hardin’s parents. Also paintings and a “The Fat Man” performance on disc by Jack Scott Smart, correspondence from Mary Bradish Call to her daughter Mary Leigh Call Smart 1954-1955, a family history, and a small piece of wood from the Lincoln Home.
