Charlotte “Pink” Cathcart lived at Pennsylvania and Pratt (now 9th) Street in the St. Joseph neighborhood of Indianapolis in the late 19th to the mid 20th century. At some point she wrote a manuscript called Indianapolis From Our Old Corner, about her reminisces of living in the neighborhood, and included photographs she herself had taken to document the changes she saw during the years she lived there. The book was published by the Indiana Historical Society in 1965, the year after Miss ... view more »
Charlotte “Pink” Cathcart lived at Pennsylvania and Pratt (now 9th) Street in the St. Joseph neighborhood of Indianapolis in the late 19th to the mid 20th century. At some point she wrote a manuscript called Indianapolis From Our Old Corner, about her reminisces of living in the neighborhood, and included photographs she herself had taken to document the changes she saw during the years she lived there. The book was published by the Indiana Historical Society in 1965, the year after Miss Cathcart died, and is now an invaluable source of information about the Indianapolis of the past.
The mural illustrates an open book at the top of the wall, with pages open and cascading letters down onto a female figure, which is derived from a historical photograph of Miss Cathcart. The letters swirl around her and form her skirt. Faint background patterns are derived from ornamentation and windows on several architectural structures in the neighborhood. Text is also visible in the skirt and pages of the book, as follows: “the drawing is far from perfect.” This is in reference to a drawing of the neighborhood that Miss Cathcart enclosed in a letter she wrote to her friend.
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