Edith Whitehead Sheridan

Edith Whitehead Sheridan was an artist and designer who helped found the Kansas City Art Institute during the late 1800s. The Art Institute began as a "sketch club" in 1885, offering classes to roughly 200 students at various locations. In 1893, the school's main building on 10th Street in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, burned down, destroying all of the equipment and exacerbating the economic depression triggered by the Panic of 1893. That year, classes were taught at the YMCA, and Sheridan was one of only four instructors, along with Madge Overstreet, George Van Millet and Alfred H. Clark. The school would see many other locations before settling at its permanent campus. 

After teaching in Kansas City for several years, Edith Whitehead Sheridan moved to Chicago during the early 1900s. There she operated a highly successful interior design business. While little information is available about Sheridan's later life, she left an important mark on the arts community of Kansas City through her contributions as an educator and organizer.