Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards (February 27, 1850 – January 14, 1943) was an American writer. She wrote more than 90 books including

biographies A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

, and several for children. One well-known children's poem is her

literary nonsense Literary nonsense (or nonsense literature) is a broad categorization of literature that balances elements that make sense with some that do not, with the effect of subverting language conventions or logical reasoning. Even though the most well-k ...

verse Eletelephony.

Biography

Laura Elizabeth Howe was born in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, on February 27, 1850. Her father was Dr.

Samuel Gridley Howe Samuel Gridley Howe (November 10, 1801 – January 9, 1876) was an American physician, abolitionist, and advocate of education for the blind. He organized and was the first director of the Perkins Institution. In 1824, he had gone to Greece to ...

, an

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

and the founder of the

Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind Perkins School for the Blind, in Watertown, Massachusetts, was founded in 1829 and is the oldest school for the blind in the United States. It has also been known as the Perkins Institution for the Blind. Perkins manufactures its own Perkins Br ...

. She was named after his famous deaf-blind pupil

Laura Bridgman Laura Dewey Lynn Bridgman (December 21, 1829 – May 24, 1889) was the first deaf-blind American child to gain a significant education in the English language, forty-five years before the more famous Helen Keller; Bridgman’s friend Anne Sulliv ...

. Her mother

Julia Ward Howe Julia Ward Howe ( ; May 27, 1819 – October 17, 1910) was an American author and poet, known for writing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" as new lyrics to an existing song, and the original 1870 pacifist Mothers' Day Proclamation. She w ...

wrote the words to "

The Battle Hymn of the Republic The "Battle Hymn of the Republic" is an American patriotic song written by the abolitionist writer Julia Ward Howe during the American Civil War. Howe adapted her song from the soldiers' song " John Brown's Body" in November 1861, and sold ...

". In 1871, Laura married Henry Richards. He would accept a management position in 1876 at his family's

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt ...

Gardiner, Maine Gardiner is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,961 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Popular with tourists, Gardiner is noted for its culture and old architecture. Gardiner is a nationally accredit ...

, where the couple moved with their three children. In 1917 Laura won a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

for ''Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910'', a

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...

, which she

co-author Collaborative writing is a procedure in which two or more persons work together on a text of some kind (e.g., academic papers, reports, creative writing, projects, and business proposals). It is often the norm, rather than the exception, in many ac ...

ed with her sisters,

Maud Howe Elliott Maud Howe Elliott (November 9, 1854 – March 19, 1948) was an American novelist, most notable for her Pulitzer Prize-winning collaboration with her sisters, Laura E. Richards and Florence Hall, on their mother's biography ''The Life of Julia W ...

and Florence Hall. She died on January 14, 1943, at

, 44 days before her 93rd birthday.

Legacy

A pre-kindergarten-to-fifth-grade elementary school in

, bears her name. Her children's book ''Tirra Lirra'' won the

Lewis Carroll Shelf Award The Lewis Carroll Shelf Award was an American literary award conferred on several books by the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education annually from 1958 to 1979. Award-winning books were deemed to "belong on the same shelf" as ''Al ...

in 1959. Her home in Gardiner, the Laura E. Richards House, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Works

Richards contributed poetry to ''

St. Nicholas Magazine ''St. Nicholas'' was a popular monthly American children's magazine, founded by Scribner's in 1873 and named after the Christian saint. The first editor was Mary Mapes Dodge, who continued her association with the magazine until her death in 1 ...

''.

Biographies

*''Letter and Journals of Samuel Gridley Howe'' (Vol. I: 1906, Vol. II: 1909) *''Florence Nightingale: Angel of the Crimea'' (1909) *''Two Noble Lives: Samuel Gridley Howe and Julia Ward Howe'' (1911) *''Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910'' (1915) *''Elizabeth Fry, the Angel of the Prisons'' (1916) *''Abigail Adams and Her Times'' (1917) *''Joan of Arc'' (1919) *''Laura Bridgman: The Story of an Opened Door'' (1928) *''Stepping Westward'' (1931)

Other books

*''Baby's Rhyme Book'' (1878) *''Babyhood: Rhymes and Stories, Pictures and Silhouettes for Our Little Ones'' (1878) *''Baby's Story Book'' (1878) *''Five Mice in a Mouse Trap'' (1880) *''The Little Tyrant'' (1880) *''Our Baby's Favorite'' (1881) *''Sketches and Scraps'' (1881) *''Baby Ways'' (1881) *''The Joyous Story of Toto'' (1885) *''

Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...

'' (retelling, 1886) *''Four Feet, Two Feet, and No Feet'' (1886) *''

Hop o' My Thumb Hop-o'-My-Thumb (or Hop-on-My-Thumb and similar spellings) also known as Little Thumbling, Little Thumb, or Little Poucet (), is one of the eight fairytales published by Charles Perrault in ''Histoires ou Contes du temps passé'' (1697), now wor ...

'' (retelling, 1886) *''Kaspar Kroak's Kaleidoscope'' (1886) *''L.E.R.'' (privately printed, 1886) *''Tell-Tale from Hill and Dale'' (1886) *''Toto's Merry Winter'' (1887) *''Julia Ward Howe Birthday-Book'' (1889) *''In My Nursery'' (1890) *'' Captain January'' (in 1936 made into a movie with

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple; April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat, who was Hollywood's number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was na ...

) (1891) *''Star Bright'' (Captain January sequel, 1927) *The Hildegarde Series **''Queen Hildegarde'' (1889) **''Hildegarde's Holiday'' (1891) **''Hildegarde's Home'' (1892) **''Hildegarde's Neighbors'' (1895) **''Hildegarde's Harvest'' (1897) *The Melody Series **''Melody'' (1893) **''Marie'' (1894) **''Bethsada Pool'' (1895) **''Rosin the Beau'' (1898) *The Margaret Series **''Three Margarets'' (1897) **''Margaret Montfort'' (1898) **''Peggy'' (1899) **''Rita'' (1900) **''Fernley House'' (1901) **''The Merryweathers'' (1904) *''Glimpses of the French Court'' (1893) *''When I Was Your Age'' (1893) *''Narcissa, or the Road to Rome'' (1894) *''Five Minute Stories'' (1895) *''Jim of Hellas, or In Durance Vile'' (1895) *''Nautilus'' (1895) *''Isla Heron'' (1896) *''"Some Say" and Neighbors in Cyrus'' (1896) *''The Social Possibilities of a Country Town'' (1897) *''Love and Rocks'' (1898) *''Chop-Chin and the Golden Dragon'' (1899) *''Quicksilver Sue'' (1899) *''The Golden-Breasted Kootoo'' (1899) *''Sundown Songs'' (1899) *''For Tommy and Other Stories'' (1900) *''Snow-White, or The House in the Wood'' (1900) *''Geoffrey Strong'' (1901) *''Mrs. Tree'' (1902) *''The Hurdy-Gurdy'' (1902) *''More Five Minute Stories'' (1903) *''The Golden Windows'' (1903) illustrated by Arthur E. Becher *''The Green Satin Gown'' (1903) *''The Tree in the City'' (1903) *''Mrs. Tree's Will'' (1905) *''The Armstrongs'' (1905) *''The Piccolo'' (1906) *''The Silver Crown, Another Book of Fables'' (1906) *''At Gregory's House'' (1907) *''Grandmother, the Story of a Life that Never was Lived'' (1907) *''Ten Ghost Stories'' (1907) *''The Pig Brother, and Other Fables and Stories'' (1908) *''The Wooing of Calvin Parks'' (1908) *''A Happy Little Time'' (1910) *''Up to Calvin's'' (1910) *''On Board the Mary Sands'' (1911) *''Jolly Jingles'' (1912) *''Miss Jimmy'' (1913) *''The Little Master'' (1913) *''Three Minute Stories'' (1914) *''The Pig Brother Play-Book'' (1915) *''Fairy Operettas'' (1916) *''Pippin, a Wandering Flame'' (1917) *''A Daughter of Jehu'' (1918) *''To Arms! Songs of the Great War'' (1918) *''Honor Bright: A Story for Girls'' (1920) *''In Blessed Cyrus'' (1921) *''The Squire'' (1923) *''Acting Charades'' (1924) *''Seven Oriental Operettas'' (1924) *''Honor Bright's New Adventure'' (1925) *''Tirra Lirra: Rhymes Old and New'' (1932) *''Merry-Go-Round: New Rhymes and Old'' (1935) *''E. A. R.'' (1936) *''Please! Rhymes of Protest'' (1936) *''Harry in England'' (1937) *''I Have a Song to Sing You'' (1938) *''The Hottentot and Other Ditties'' (1939) *''What Shall the Children Read'' (1939) *''Laura E. Richards and Gardiner'' (a compilation of poems and articles, 1939)

References

Laura E. Richards biography
(readseries.com)

External links

audio poem * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Laura E. American children's writers American children's poets American women poets Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography winners Writers from Maine Writers from Boston 1850 births 1943 deaths People from Gardiner, Maine American women children's writers 19th-century American poets 19th-century American women writers 20th-century American poets 20th-century American biographers 20th-century American women writers Pulitzer Prize winners American women autobiographers American autobiographers