Narcissa Yager
Narcissa Elizabeth "Bess" Harrison Yager was an American clubwoman, arts patron, and suffragist, active in the General Federation of Women's Clubs and the Daughters of [the American Revolution]. She was president of the American Opera Society of Chicago and the Illinois Federation of Music Clubs.
Early life
Yager was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Williamson Riddle Harrison and Anna Eliza Griffin Harrison. She was raised in Canton, Ohio, where she studied with Anna Meller Sheib. She also studied in Chicago with Samuel Kayser.Career
Yager was a church soloist, and represented Oak Park, Illinois, at the national conference of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1908. Also in 1908, she was a soloist at a performance of Handel's Messiah in Ohio. She was active in the cause of women's suffrage; she sang at the 1912 banquet of the Chicago Political Equality League, and she was a delegate to the NAWSA national convention in 1917.Much of Yager's clubwork was focused on music. She was second vice-president of the Chicago Woman's Music Club when it was founded in 1914, and president of the Illinois Federation of Music Clubs, and she was active in the General Federation of Music Clubs. She chaired the federation's national contest for young artists in 1917 and 1921. During World War I, she directed the federation's community singing events.
Yager was a founder and president of the American Opera Society of Chicago in the 1920s, working with Marion Mitchell Ochsner, Edith Rockefeller McCormick, and other clubwomen to promote English-language opera productions. She was in charge of music at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933.
Yager sold her quilt collection to Andrew and Mary Dole in 1938.