Alice Bertha Curtis (January 1, 1874 – April 19, 1956) was an American

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vo ...

active with the

National American Woman's Suffrage Association The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was an organization formed on February 18, 1890, to advocate in favor of women's suffrage in the United States. It was created by the merger of two existing organizations, the National Woman ...

, a college professor, author of two fictionalized childhood memoirs, ''Children of the Prairie'' (1938) and ''Winter on the Prairie'' (1945), and the writer of the short story "Wings of Mercy" that was adapted for the 1937 RKO movie ''

The Man Who Found Himself ''The Man Who Found Himself'', also known as ''Wings of Mercy'', is a 1937 American aviation film based on the unpublished story "Wings of Mercy" by Alice B. Curtis. The film marked the first starring role for 19-year-old Joan Fontaine, who was ...

''.

Life and work

Educated at Iowa State Normal School, University of Iowa, and University of Chicago, Curtis taught at small Midwestern colleges in the early 1900s and was associate professor of English at Colorado A. & M. College from 1922 to 1942. Curtis was involved in political action for

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

in four states: Iowa, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. She worked as private secretary to

Carrie Chapman Catt Carrie Chapman Catt (born Carrie Clinton Lane; January 9, 1859#Fowler, Fowler, p. 3 – March 9, 1947) was an American women's suffrage leader who campaigned for the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave U.S. women t ...

during the Iowa campaign, as a salaried suffrage worker in Wisconsin, and on a petition signature drive in Oklahoma. Curtis was the author of magazine articles and short stories, verse, and two novels dealing with pioneer life in Iowa. She is featured on the Literary Map of Iowa produced in 1952 by the Iowa Association of Teachers of English. Her story "Wings of Mercy" was the source material for the 1937 RKO Radio movie starring

Joan Fontaine Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was an English-American actress best known for her roles in Hollywood films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Fontaine appeared in ...

. The pioneer novels for children are set in Iowa and were likely based on her childhood in that state. ''Winter on the Prairie'' is in the public domain; the copyright for ''Children of the Prairie'' was renewed in the 1960s by Curtis' literary executors.

Alice Dalgliesh Alice Dalgliesh (October 7, 1893 – June 11, 1979) was a naturalized American writer and publisher who wrote more than 40 fiction and non-fiction books, mainly for children. She has been called "a pioneer in the field of children's historical fi ...

writing in ''Parents'' magazine called ''Children'' "real and friendly." ''Children of the Prairie'' was recommended for purchase by Indiana school libraries and was suggested reading for a fifth-grade unit study on "pioneers of the west." ''Child Life'' magazine called ''Winter on the Prairie'' an "excellent story" and excerpt from ''Winter'' called "The Blizzard" was included in a Canadian elementary-school reader. ''Winter on the Prairie'' was illustrated by Grace Paull. Curtis lived in

Fort Collins, Colorado Fort Collins is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality in Larimer County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The population was 169,810 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, an i ...

until her death in 1956.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curtis, Alice Bertha 1874 births 1956 deaths American suffragists Writers from Iowa Writers from Fort Collins, Colorado American women writers 20th-century American writers Colorado State University faculty National American Woman Suffrage Association activists