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Edward H. Collins (1829-1900) was born in Ithaca, New York, and died in
Denver, Colorado. He moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he worked for a paint and oil
wholesaler. By age 24, Collins had established his own lumber business in Chicago,
Illinois, and by 1858, he was involved in manufacturing and selling furniture. In 1860,
Collins relocated to Denver. There he married Mary H. Collins (b. Hodgson), an artist
and teacher of drawing and painting, in 1865. In 1878, Collins opened an art supply
shop. He suffered from tuberculosis for years and turned to Christian Science in 1886,
having learned of its success healing a friend, Mary Melissa Hall, who was a student of
Mary Baker Eddy's. The Collinses soon became students of Bradford Sherman, who was also
a student of Eddy's, by entering his Primary class. Afterwards, they both become
students of Eddy's, completing her Normal class in February 1887. In August 1888, Eddy
invited the Collinses to join her Obstetrics class, however there is no record that they
did. In 1885, the couple visited Rome, Italy, where they met the American sculptor
Luella Varney Serrao. They commissioned portrait busts, and a few years later, Serrao
became their student, attending one of their Christian Science classes in Ohio. Sometime
later, Mary Collins, who had been impressed with the quality of Serrao's work, asked
Eddy's consent to have a bust carved in Carrara marble made of her, to which Eddy agreed
and sat for. Several reproductions were made by Serrao in 1890, one of which is in
Longyear Museum in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, and another of which is in the
Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D. C. One of these reproductions
was made for the Collinses and was later given to the Colorado State Historical Museum,
however it was unfortunately destroyed in 1952. Collins was involved with forming a
Students' Christian Scientist Association in Denver. He taught Christian Science classes
in Ohio, New York, Florida, and California, before finally settling back in Denver,
where he practiced and taught for many years until his passing.
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