Ada Dwyer Russell

Who was Ada Dwyer Russell?

Ada Dwyer Russell, was a Mormon actress of the stage. She performed on stage in Broadway and London.

Dwyer married Harold Russell in 1893 but entered a lifelong separation a few years after their marriage. The couple never sought divorce. In 1909 Russell met writer Amy Lowell. The two entered into long-term lesbian relationship, or a "Boston marriage" beginning in 1912, which would last until Lowell's death in 1925. Russell was the subject of many of Lowell's explicit poems, such as the Taxi. Russell was also the executrix of Amy Lowell's will, and burned all her items upon request.

In The Taxi, Lowell conveys a strong sense of her separation from Russell and her pain. Collected in Sword Blades and Poppy Seed, The Taxi serves as an excellent example of Amy Lowell's "polyphonic prose", in which she experimented with different "rhythmic units".

Lowell left her fortune in a trust to Ada Russell.