On February 18, 1898, Paul Laurence Dunbar was visited by a former school friend while at work at the Library of Congress in Washington, D. C. Paul wrote about the incident in a letter to his fiancée Alice Ruth Moore in Brooklyn, and jokingly asked her permission to have a drink with his friend.
A card has just come up from an old school-mate of mine who is now an artist on Scribner's and McClure's. He illustrates a story in the latter this month. I shall be very glad to see him. Dear, when I go out may I take just one drink with Blumey -- his name is Ernest L. Blumenschein -- for old [time's] sake?
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Alice Ruth Moore, February 18, 1898. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 8).
Paul's letter refers to Ernest Blumenschein's illustrations for a Stephen Crane story published in McClure's Magazine that month.
Ernest Blumenschein's illustrations for "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky," by Stephen Crane. McClure's Magazine (New York, New York). February 1898. Pages 377, 379 and 383.
About a decade earlier, Paul and Blumenschein attended Dayton's Central High School together. As a youth, Blumenschein created a sketchbook called "Tomfoolery." One illustration shows Paul and other members of the school literary society debating the topic "Which is the butt end of a goat?" Near Paul's desk is a book called "Encyclopedia of Large Words." Another page contains an ink-blotted rendering of Paul's juvenile poem "My Best Girl" along with a drawing of the title character.
"Tomfoolery" illustrations by Ernest L. Blumenschein, 1891. The Paul Laurence Dunbar Collection, Dayton Metro Library (Dayton, Ohio). MS-002, Box 1, Folder 5.
Several months after visiting Paul at the library, Blumenschein traveled to New Mexico with another artist and they were inspired to create the Taos Society of Artists. Today he is best remembered as a painter of Southwestern and Native American scenes.