Alice Ericson Cosgrove (1909–1971) was born on February 16, 1909, in Concord, New Hampshire, the youngest daughter of Finnish immigrants Eric Ericson, a granite cutter, and Sophia Granholm. Encouraged by her father to pursue art from a young age, she graduated from Concord High School in 1925 and enrolled that same year at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, completing her studies in 1929._Cosgrove) Shortly thereafter, she married fellow artist Roland "Roy" Cosgrove, with whom she had a daughter, Johanna, and returned to Concord in the early 1930s.
Cosgrove's career spanned diverse roles, beginning with the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project in 1935, where she contributed to the Index of American Design by meticulously documenting folk art objects in watercolor and graphite—such as *Carved Eagle* (c. 1942), *Mannequin* (c. 1941), *Hooked Rug* (1941), and *Toaster* (c. 1939), among twelve works now in the National Gallery of Art collection. During World War II, she drafted precision dials at Hoyt Electrical Instrument Works while painting in her spare time. From 1946 until her retirement in 1971, she served the New Hampshire State Planning and Development Commission as draftswoman, designer, art director, and state artist, producing geological maps, posters, publication covers, and innovative promotional displays incorporating natural elements like live beavers and running streams.
A versatile portraitist and muralist, Cosgrove painted commemorative portraits of figures like George M. Putnam, Robert Frost, and John F. Kennedy, and executed murals at Way School in Claremont._Cosgrove) Her designs included the iconic "Chippa Granite" character promoting New Hampshire tourism and agriculture, a U.S. postage stamp featuring the Old Man of the Mountain, and the clay model for the New Hampshire Marine Memorial sculpture at Hampton Beach—a poignant "Gold Star Mother" honoring war dead lost at sea. Working in a realistic style suited to documentation and promotion, her oeuvre ranged from figurative precision to abstract drawings.
As a charter member of the New Hampshire Art Association, Cosgrove's legacy endures through her state-commissioned works, preserved papers at the University of New Hampshire and New Hampshire Historical Society, and a 1987 retrospective exhibition at UNH celebrating her dedication and innovative spirit._Cosgrove) She passed away on December 7, 1971, at Massachusetts General Hospital._Cosgrove)
