[1] She attended school at the highly-regarded Nashville Female Academy (established in 1816),[2] which gave her a solid foundation for her writing career.
Her father was a Unionist during the Civil War, and his Saint Cloud Hotel in Nashville was used as headquarters for Union officers.
[5] The marriage fell apart quickly as Lieutenant Holloway often landed in jail for disruptive behavior, and Laura was twice forced to plead with Tennessee Military Governor Andrew Johnson to have her husband released.
Taking its name from the conductor Anton Seidl, the Society was established to promote musical culture among “all classes of women and children” and to produce “harmony over individual life and character.”¹ Convinced that music was a spiritual force with the power to dispel the divisions created by sex, race, or social class, Laura Holloway-Langford envisioned the Seidl Society as a public space where she could implement her ideals.
The society also presented lectures by prominent feminists, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.
[11][12][13][14] Holloway's letters to Anna White are held in the Edward Deming Andrews Shaker Memorial Collection at the Winterthur Library.