Inez Harrington Whitfield
Inez Harrington Whitfield (May 25, 1867 – June 26, 1951) was an educator and botanical illustrator best known for her watercolor paintings of wildflowers native to Arkansas. Biography Inez Harrington Whitfield was born on May 25, 1867, to James Whitfield and Ida Doty Whitfield. She had one sibling, a sister named Erle Winfred who was born in 1873. Their mother was a direct descendent of Edward Doty, an early American colonist. The family lived in Ilion, New York, where Inez received an early education before graduating from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1889 with a bachelor of letters degree. Inez struggled with rheumatoid arthritis for the majority of her life, eventually relying on a wheelchair for mobility starting in 1911. In 1901, she began regularly traveling to Hot Springs, Arkansas to take advantage of the effect the area's warmer weather and therapeutic baths had on her disability. She officially moved to Arkansas in the early 1900s and soon became a recognized figure in the community, founding the area's first Little Theater in the late 1920s. She organized the Hot Springs Garden Club and the Hot Springs Business and Professional Women's Club, as well as the Hot Springs branch of