Jane Allen Boyer, an illustrator for several charming WWI era books aimed at girls, lived in Riverton.
Her 1940 obituary gives a fuller explanation of her life in Riverton, where “…she was most active in its church, club, and social life.”
Her considerable accomplishments as a member of Christ Church, the Porch Club, the Red Cross, the Cinnaminson Home Board of Managers, and the Welfare Association of Riverton and Cinnaminson certainly helped improve the well-being of the Borough’s citizens.
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The Mary Frances Sewing Book -
The Mary Frances Knitting and Crocheting Book -
The Mary Frances First Aid Book -
The Young American Readers – Our Town and Civic Duty -
The Mary Frances Cook Book
While abebooks.com has a used hardcover copy of The Mary Frances Sewing Book for sale for $225, at least three of Boyer’s books (Cook Book, Knitting & Crocheting, and Sewing) now live on as 100th-year anniversary paperback editions for sale on Amazon for $19.99-$21.95 each.
This image from the auction site invaluable.com depicts a sold oil on canvas work by Jane Allen Boyer.
By the way… our historical society does not have any of the items pictured here. Even the New Era obit is a screen capture from our digital newspaper archive.
If a reader can fill in a bit more about the life and work of this Riverton artist, or favor us with a donated item, please contact us. -JMc, Editor
Added 10/9/2022: I recently bought an old hardbound book entitled “The Quaker Boy on the Farm and at School” by Isaac Sharpless, illustrated by Jane Allen Boyer, and published by The Biddle Press at 1010 Cherry Street in Philadelphia in 1908.
Discarded from Houston Public Library and eventually making it to an eBay online auction, I paid $6.95 plus $4.20 shipping so that I could add to this post more examples of Jane Allen Boyer’s illustrations.
Turns out I could have saved my money had I found this page-by-page scan of the whole volume on google books!
If a reader would send us an actual item illustrated by Jane Allen Boyer we would gladly display it along with these virtual examples.
