Salt Lake City History Minute - Ada Dwyer Russell

Born in 1863 in Salt Lake City, Mary Ada Dwyer was the first born daughter of James Dwyer and Sarah Ann Hammer. Dwyer owned the first bookstore in Salt Lake City and afforded every opportunity for her to learn elocution and acting. She attended many performances in Salt Lake City and eventually became an actress herself, performing on stages in New York and London as one of the most celebrated actresses in the world.

In 1893, at the age of 30, she became Ada Dwyer Russell, marrying an actor of the Boston stage named Harold Russell. The pair of them had a daughter named Lorna in 1894, but separated soon after that.

Ada left Lorna to be raised by her parents in Salt Lake City and continued her acting pursuits around the world. In 1912, in London, Ada met the poet Amy Lowell and the two of them began a long relationship that would last until the end of Lowell’s life. Ada was the subject of many of her partner’s poems and the two of them became infamous in the circles of the Boston literary scene. It’s said in 1913, that Ada’s father James was asked to resign from the LDS church for telling fellow members that same-sex relationships were not sinful.

Lowell died in 1925, leaving Ada the executrix of her estate. Because they had to keep the nature of their relationship a secret, Ada was directed to burn all of their correspondence, which she did. Ada then took it upon herself to edit collections of Lowell’s work, which caused Lowell to win a Pulitzer Prize the very next year.

In October of 1928, as the Salt Lake Theatre was having its final performance before its destruction, Ada Dwyer Russell read one of Amy Lowell’s poems--”Lilacs”--on stage as an honored guest.

From there, she largely retired from the stage, moved to Maryland, and passed away at the age of 89 in 1952.