Marjorie Allee ( Hill; born June 2, 1890, in

Carthage, Indiana Carthage is a town in Ripley Township, Rush County, Indiana, United States, located along the Big Blue River. The population was 927 at the 2010 census. History Carthage was platted in 1834. The town was named after Carthage, North Carolina. ...

– died April 30, 1945, in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

) was an American author.

Early life

She was born in

to William B. Hill and Anna (Elliott) Hill and grew up on a farm in a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

community. After attending

Earlham College Earlham College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. The college was established in 1847 by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and has a strong focus on Quake ...

, she returned to teach in the one-room school she had attended herself. The next year, she attended the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, intending to become a writer, and graduated in 1911 with a Ph.B. In 1912, she married zoologist

Warder Clyde Allee Warder Clyde "W.C." Allee (June 5, 1885 – March 18, 1955) was an American ecologist. He is recognized to be one of the great pioneers of American ecology. Schmidt, Karl Patterson. "Warder Allee: A Biographical Memoir", National Academy of Scien ...

. Throughout his career, she would assist Allee in the preparation of his scientific publications, occasionally serving as co-author.

Career

Her first book, a collaboration with Warder Allee, was ''Jungle Island'' (1925), a nonfiction children's book describing the flora and fauna of

Barro Colorado Island Barro Colorado Island is located in the man-made Gatun Lake in the middle of the Panama Canal. The island was formed when the waters of the Chagres River were dammed to form the lake in 1913. When the waters rose, they covered a significant part ...

in the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

inspired by their stay at the Barro Colorado Island Laboratory in the winter of 1924. Other, similarly themed books by Allee were '' Jane's Island'' (1931), a novel about scientific exploration at

Woods Hole, Massachusetts Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwestern corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 78 ...

which was a

Newbery Honor The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished contr ...

book, and ''Ann's Surprising Summer'' (1933), a novel about biologists working to preserve the

dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

country of northern Indiana. Allee wrote six historical novels about Quaker families confronting the changes of mid-19th century America. Three of them, ''Judith Lankester'' (1930), ''A House of Her Own'' (1934), and ''Off to Philadelphia'' (1936), were about the struggles of the widow Charity Lankester and her eight daughters. More contemporary works by Allen include ''The Great Tradition'' (1937), a novel about women studying in a biology laboratory at the University of Chicago which was a serious contrast with the frivolous activities usually depicted in college novels, and ''The House'' (1944), a work about relationships between people of different ages, races, and social backgrounds which received the Children's Book Award (now the

Josette Frank Award The Josette Frank Award is an American children's literary award for fiction given annually by the Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education. It "honors a book or books of outstanding literary merit in which children or young p ...

) from the Child Study Association of America.

Bibliography

* ''Jungle Island'' (1925) with Warder Clyde Allee * ''Susanna and Tristam'' (1929) * ''Judith Lankester'' (1930) * '' Jane's Island'' (1931) * ''The Road to Carolina'' (1932) * ''Ann's Surprising Summer'' (1933) * ''A House of Her Own'' (1934) * ''Off to Philadelphia'' (1936) * ''The Great Tradition'' (1937) * ''The Little American Girl'' (1938) * ''Runaway Linda'' (1939) * ''The Camp at Westlands'' (1941) * ''Winter's Mischief'' (1942) * ''The House'' (1944) * ''Smoke Jumper'' (1945)

References

External links

* *
''Jungle Island''
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allee, Marjorie Hill 1890 births 1945 deaths 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers American children's writers American historical novelists Earlham College alumni Newbery Honor winners Novelists from Indiana People from Rush County, Indiana University of Chicago alumni American women historical novelists