Jeanette Marks (1875-1964). Courtesy Mount Holyoke College.
Jeannette Augustus Marks (August 16, 1875 - March 15, 1964) was an American poet and academic.
Life[]
Marks was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the daughter of Jeanette (Colwell) and William Dennis Marks, a factory owner and later went on to become professor of engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and president of the Philadelphia Edison Company.[1]
Marks was educated at boarding schools in the United States and Europe and went on to attend Dana Hall and then Wellesley College where she earned a B.A. in 1900. At Wellesley Marks met Mary Emma Woolley, then a Wellesley professor, who was to remain her companion for the next 50 years.[1]
When Wolley became president of Mount Holyoke College, she appointed Marks an instructor in the English Department, which she eventually chaired. Marks founded the Play and Poetry Shop Talks lecture series, which brought notable authors and poets to Mount Holyoke to discuss modern literature. In 1928 she founded the Laboratory Theatre, which would become her primary focus at the college until her retirement in 1941.[1]
Marks began writing short stories while a student at Wellesley and continued to publish throughout her career. Most notable among her writings were "The Family of the Barretts", a biography of the family of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and "The Life and Letters of Mary Emma Woolley". She also conducted a great deal of research on narcotics and published several books pertaining to drug addiction.[1]
She was a member of the National Women's Party, the 1st organization to support the Equal Rights Amendment. Her political activities also included advocacy for Sacco and Vanzetti and Eugene V. Debs. She corresponded with and donated money to local and national socialist causes throughout the 1920s.[1]
After Marks's retirement in 1941, she moved with Woolley to to her childhood home, Fleur De Lys, on Lake Champlain in New York. Marks died in Westport, New York, at the age of 88.[1]
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- Willow Pollen. Boston: Four Seas, 1921.
Plays[]
- Three Welsh Plays: The merry, merry cuckoo / The deacon's hat / Welsh honeymoon. Boston: Little, Brown, 1917.
- The Sun Chaser: A play in four acts. Cincinnati, OH: Stewart Kidd, 1922.
- The Merry, Merry Cuckoo, and other Welsh plays. New York & London: Appleton, 1927.
- Love Letters. Alexandria, VA: Alexander St. Press, 2004.
- Steppin' Westward. Alexandria, VA: Alexander St. Press, 2004.
Novels[]
- The End of a Song. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1911; London: Putnam, 1911.
- Leviathan: The record of a struggle and a triumph. London: Hodder & Stoughton / New York: Doran, 1914.
- The Family of the Barrett: A colonial romance. New York: Macmillan, 1938.
Short fiction[]
- Through Welsh Doorways (illustrated by Anna Whelan Betts). Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1909; London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1910; Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1971.
- Early English Hero Tales. New York & London: Harper, 1915.
Non-fiction[]
- A Brief Historical Outline of English Literature: From the origins to the close of the eighteenth century. Pawtucket, RI: J.W. Little, 1902.
- English Pastoral Drama: From the Restoration to the date of the publication of the 'Lyrical Ballads' (1660-1798). London: Methuen, 1908.
- A Girl's Student Days, and after. New York & Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 1911.
- Gallant Little Wales: Sketches of its people, places, and customs. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1912; London: Constable, 1912.
- Vacation Camping for Girls. New York & London: Appleton, 1913.
- Courage Today and Tomorrow. New York: Womans Press, 1919.
- Genius and Disaster: Studies in drugs and genius. New York: Adelphi, 1925.
- Thirteen Days. New York: A. & C. Boni, 1929.
- Life and Letters of Mary Emma Woolley. Washington, DC: Public Affairs Press, 1955.
Juvenile[]
- The Cheerful Cricket, and others. Boston: Small, Maynard, 1907; London: George Allen, 1907.
- Little Busybodies: The life of crickets, ants, bees, beetles, and other busybodies (with Julia Moody). New York & London: Harper, 1909.
- A Holiday with the Birds (with Julia Moody; illustrated by Chester A. Reed). New York & London: Harper, 1910.
- The Children in the Wood Stories. Springfield, MA: Milton Bradley, 1919.
- Geoffrey's Window: More 'Children in the wood' stories. Springfield, MA: Milton Bradley, 1921.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[2]
See also[]
References[]
Fonds[]
- Jeannette Marks Papers, 1901-1947, Five Colleges Archives & Manuscript Collections.
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Biographical Note, Jeannette Marks Papers, 1901-1947, Five Colleges Archives & Manuscript Collections. Web, July 12, 2015.
- ↑ Search results = au:Jeanette Marks, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, July 12, 2015.
External links[]
- Poems
- "Sea Gulls"
- Marks in Poetry: A magazine of verse, 1912-1922: "Sea-gulls," "Rosy Miller," "Rose Toada," "Ebony," "{http://www.bartleby.com/300/2160.html The Broken Door]"
- Prose
- Books
- Jeanette Augustus Marks at Amazon.com
- About
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