Cary Memorial Library is named in honor of its benefactor, Lexington native Maria Hastings Cary. She grew up on a farm on Lincoln Street where her family had lived since the early 1700s, and both her father and grandfather served with Captain John Parker at the Battle of Lexington. After marrying William Harris Cary in 1828, the couple made their home in New York City due to William’s business as an importer. A later portrait of Maria Hastings Cary by Edgar Parker (1840-1892) also hangs in this room.
Charles E. Osgood (1809-1890) was an American artist from Salem, Massachusetts. After unsuccessfully working as a bank clerk, he moved to Boston to study painting. He would later split his time between Salem and New York City, but was most successful in his hometown. During his career as a portraitist, he painted several prominent figures including Nathaniel Hawthorne and John Quincy Adams. Examples of his work are in the collections of the Peabody Essex Museum, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Historical Society.