Alice Barber Stephens was among the first generation of American women artists to acquire professional training independent of family connections. Through newly opened institutional opportunities for women she acquired skills in drawing the human figure from life, which gave her the skills necessary for an active illustration career. Stephens started her career as a wood engraver, a profession which women were encouraged to enter because there was a shortage of engravers, and went on to become one of the best-known American illustrators at the turn of the century.

Alice Barber was born on 1 July 1858 near Salem, New Jersey, one of nine children of farmers Mary Owen and Samuel Clayton Barber. Her mother's family had emigrated from Wales before 1775 and had settled on Long Island, New York. Her father's parents were Quakers who had come from England to Princeton, New Jersey. Barber's family moved to Philadelphia when she was...