Zahrah Preble Hodge

Zahrah Preble Hodge
Preble, from a 1907 newspaper
Born
Ethel Leila Preble

August 17, 1880
San Francisco, California, U.S.
DiedApril 27, 1934 (age 53)
South Pasadena, California, U.S.
Other namesZarah Ethel Preble
OccupationsWriter, performer
SpouseFrederick Webb Hodge

Zahrah E. Preble Hodge (August 17, 1880 – April 27, 1934), born Ethel Leila Preble, was an American writer and performer. She wrote about the indigenous cultures of California and the American Southwest, and her dances, songs, and costumes were inspired by this interest.

Early life and education

Preble was born in San Francisco, California, the daughter of Charles Sumner Preble and Ella Melana Thomson Preble. She studied music at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1906.[1][2] She was vice-president of the Theta Rho Club at Berkeley.[3]

Career

In 1907, Preble was one of the organizers of a "psychical research society" in Berkeley.[2] Preble gave a joint recital with soprano Doris Schnabel at the Greek Theater in Berkeley in 1909, before an audience of six thousand.[4][5] By 1909,[6][7] Preble, who was white, danced and sang in beaded, fringed costumes[8] with a feather headdress and blanket wrap[9] in an impersonation meant to evoke indigenous cultures of California and the American Southwest.[10][11] As part of her performing persona, she claimed a spiritual connection with Zuñi culture.[12][13] She sang Indianist works by Charles Wakefield Cadman[14] and Carlos Troyer.[15][16] She performed in Berkeley and San Francisco,[17][18] and at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in 1915.[19][20]

Preble was music director at a high school school in Escondido from 1917 to 1918. She worked at the Pala Indian Reservation School in 1919, and was active in the Camp Fire Girls, as a summer camp director and artistic advisor.[21][22] From 1921 to 1922 she coached a high school drama program in the Panama Canal Zone. She moved to New York City in 1922, and made recordings on the Victor label in 1923. She accompanied Frederick Webb Hodge on an archaeological expedition to the Hawikuh Ruins in New Mexico,[23] to study Zuñi music and domestic arrangements.[24]

She returned to California with her husband in 1931, when he became director of the Southwest Museum.[25]

Publications

Preble wrote articles for popular and specialized publications, including The Oil Miller, The Forecast and Sportlife.[24] She also wrote genre fiction, and a children's book, illustrated by her sister Donna Louisa Preble.[26]

  • "The Habit of Respecting Property Rights" (1923, article)[27]
  • "Home Education: Burbanking Your Child" (1923, article)[28]
  • "Home Education: Persistent Misbehavior in Small Children" (1924, article)[29]
  • "Catching Motion on the Wing" (1925, fiction)[30]
  • "Speaking of Men: Eight Lives for a Horse" (1926, fiction)[31]
  • "The Oldest Sport in America: The Stick-Race of the Indians of the Southwest" (1926, article)
  • "The Twin Bracelets" (1927, fiction)
  • "The Mexican of Tortillas and Frijoles" (1928, article)[32]
  • "The Dying Tree" (1932, a poem)[33]
  • "Marie Martinez: Indian Master Potter" (1933, article)[34]
  • Tomar of Siba: The Story of a Gabrielino Indian Boy of Southern California (1933, children's book)[26]
  • "How to Make an Inexpensive Screen" (1934, article)[35]

Personal life

Preble married anthropologist and museum director Frederick Webb Hodge in 1927. She died from liver cancer in 1934, at the age of 53, in South Pasadena, California.[36] The Autry Museum of the American West has a collection of photographs by Zahrah Preble Hodge.[37]

References

  1. ^ Sutcliffe, George (1917). Who's who in Berkeley, 1917. p. 61. Archived from the original on 2024-07-09. Retrieved 2025-12-04 – via Hathi Trust.
  2. ^ a b "Berkeleyans Hope for Key to Spirit Land, Organize Psychical Research Society". The San Francisco Examiner. 1907-08-05. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-12-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Theta Rho's Dance". San Francisco Call. April 24, 1898. p. 15 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  4. ^ "Half Hour of Music by Young Vocalist". San Francisco Call. May 2, 1909. p. 24 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  5. ^ "Six Thousand Applaud Half Hour of Music". San Francisco Call. May 3, 1909. p. 4 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  6. ^ "Program to Consist of Cliff Dwellers' Music". San Francisco Call. March 20, 1909. p. 12 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  7. ^ "Will Sing the Zuni Sundown Call; Miss Ethel Preble of Berkeley to be the Soloist at a Band Concert". San Francisco Chronicle. 1909-07-12. p. 4. Retrieved 2025-12-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Indian Legends, Songs and Dances Given at Club". Oakland Tribune. 1920-02-24. p. 11. Retrieved 2025-12-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Miss Zahrah Ethel Preble in Her Zuni Costume, Who Featured the Program for the Camp Fire Girls Today". The Record. 1919-03-22. p. 4. Retrieved 2025-12-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "New Indian Dance by Berkeley Girl to Charm Society; Returns from Eastern Triumphs to Create New Interpretive Dance". San Francisco Call. April 13, 1914. p. 3 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  11. ^ "Ethel Preble to Visit in South; Berkeley Girl Will Sing Indian Songs". San Francisco Call. February 10, 1911. p. 8 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  12. ^ "Will Give Songs from Aborigines; Gifted Singer Will Render Music of Zuni Indians". San Francisco Call. October 3, 1909. p. 41 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  13. ^ "A Sister to the Indians". The National Sunday Magazine. September 26, 1915. p. 324 – via Internet Archive.
  14. ^ "Soloist to Sing Farewell Today; Miss Ethel Preble Appears for Last Time at Heart Greek Theater". Oakland Tribune. 1910-03-13. p. 35. Retrieved 2025-12-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Natoma Concert Tonight to Help the Band Fund". Morning Press. p. 8 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  16. ^ "Interesting Items about the August Teachers". The Master Mind. 8 (4): 139. July 1915 – via Internet Archive.
  17. ^ "Will Sing Indian and Persian Songs; Miss Ethel Preble to Be Heard in Novel Programme on Friday". San Francisco Chronicle. 1909-10-03. p. 36. Retrieved 2025-12-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Clubhouse Walls Bar Storm from Gay Music; Indian Interpretation Feature of Etude Concert". Oakland Tribune. 1916-01-25. p. 8. Retrieved 2025-12-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ Metzger, Alfred (September 4, 1915). "Paderewski and Exposition Orchestra Score Triumph". Pacific Coast Musical Review. 28 (23): 8.
  20. ^ Cannata, Amanda (February 2014). "Articulating and Contesting Cultural Hierarchies: Guatemalan, Mexican, and Native American Music at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915)". Journal of the Society for American Music. 8 (1): 76–100. doi:10.1017/S1752196313000618. ISSN 1752-1963. Archived from the original on 2024-08-18. Retrieved 2025-12-05.
  21. ^ "Camp Fire Girls in Grand Council; Throng 69th Regiment Armory and Squat in a Circle with Candle Light". The New York Times. June 14, 1913. p. 20. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-12-04.
  22. ^ "Outing at Oak Park Yesterday". Stockton Independent. March 23, 1919. p. 2 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  23. ^ "The Eyrie". Weird Tales. 2 (2): 79. September 1923 – via Internet Archive.
  24. ^ a b Hinsley, Curtis M. "The Anthropological Career of Fred Hodge, 1889–1956" in On a Trail of Southwest Discovery: The Expedition Diaries of Frederick W. Hodge and Margaret W. Magill, 1886–1888 edited by Curtis M. Hinsley and David R. Wilcox (University of Arizona Press 2024). ISBN 9780816553013
  25. ^ "Zahrah Hodge, Museum Head's Wife, Mourned; Native Daughter, Expert on Indians, Passes". The Pasadena Post. 1934-04-28. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-12-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ a b Hodge, Zahrah Preble (1933). Tomar of Siba: The Story of a Gabrielino Indian Boy of South California. Suttonhouse.
  27. ^ "The Habit of Respecting Property Rights". The Universalist Leader. 26 (28): 15–16. July 14, 1923 – via Internet Archive.
  28. ^ Preble, Zahrah E. (May 5, 1923). "Home Education: Burbanking Your Child". Organized Labor. p. 2 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  29. ^ Preble, Zahrah E. (December 1924). "Home Education: Persistent Misbehavior in Small Children". Stirling News-Argus. p. 26 – via Internet Archive.
  30. ^ Preble, Zahrah E. (November 1925). "Catching Motion on the Wing". Complete Novel Magazine. 1 (7): 107–111. Archived from the original on 2025-02-28. Retrieved 2025-12-05.
  31. ^ Preble, Zahrah E. (February 1926). "Speaking of Men: Eight Lives for a Horse". Fawcett's Triple-X Magazine. 4 (21): 120–122. Archived from the original on 2024-09-19. Retrieved 2025-12-05.
  32. ^ Preble, Zahrah E. "The Mexican of Tortillas and Frijoles" Archived 2025-12-11 at the Wayback Machine The Forecast (September 1928): 140–142, 193.
  33. ^ "Mrs. Ada Quigley Gives Reading at Writer Meet". Eagle Rock Advertiser. November 10, 1932. p. 9 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  34. ^ Hodge, Zahrah Preble. "Marie Martinez: Indian Master Potter" Southern Workman 62(5)(1933): 213–215.
  35. ^ Preble, Zahrah E. (January 1934). "How to Make an Inexpensive Screen". Sunset Magazine: 22–23 – via Internet Archive.
  36. ^ "Zahrah Hodge, Museum Head's Wife, Mourned; Native Daughter, Expert on Indians, Passes". The Pasadena Post. 1934-04-28. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-12-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  37. ^ Zahrah Preble Hodge Collection, The Autry Museum of the American West.
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