Collection on Grace Hodsdon Boutelle

Grace Hodsdon Boutelle (1869-1957) was a poet, suffragette, musician, and ethnomusicologist who resided in Minneapolis from about 1912 to 1946. She was born in Bangor, Maine to Charles A. and Sarah Hodsdon Boutelle. Charles A. Boutelle was a nine-term Republican Congressman from Maine's 4th Congressional District, and Grace Hodson Boutelle served as his hostess in Washington after her mother died. In the late 1890s and early 1900s she had a number of poems published in Munsey's Magazine.

In 1903, two years after her father's death, she traveled to London, England, where she wrote for British and American papers including the Boston Transcript, and became a part of the British women's suffrage movement. While there, she was arrested and served 30 days hard labor for being part of a group attempting to deliver a suffrage petition to the House of Commons. When she returned to the United States she presented many lectures on her experience, including one in Minneapolis in October of 1911.

While in Minneapolis, she worked as a voice and piano teacher, musical accompanist and musicologist. She presented lectures, wrote articles, and instructed local groups on English folk music. She also served as a patroness of the Phi Chapter of the Sigma Alpha Iota music fraternity. In the Minneapolis City Directory, she is listed as residing at 1123 Mt. Curve Avenue and later 2105 First Avenue South, first listed in 1912 and last listed in 1946, with her occupation give as music or piano teacher.