Harriet Lummis Smith

Harriet Lummis Smith
Born(1866-11-29)November 29, 1866
DiedMay 9, 1947(1947-05-09) (aged 80)
OccupationWriter (novelist)
NationalityAmerican
Period20th century
GenreRomance, Pollyanna
Spouse
William M. Smith
(m. 1905)

Harriet Lummis Smith (November 29, 1866 – May 9, 1947) was an American novelist.

Early life and education

Harriet Lummis was born in Auburndale, Massachusetts, on November 29, 1866. Her father, Henry Lummis, was a clergyman. Her mother was Jennie Brewster.[1] Smith had a half-brother, Charles Fletcher Lummis, by a previous marriage of her father. Her parents moved to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where her father accepted a teaching post at Lawrence College. She attended the University of Wisconsin and graduated in 1889.

Career

Lummis Smith began her career as a high school teacher. She published her first short story, "Matilda's Good Impression," in Youth's Companion in 1906 and began writing full time after a publisher said she was "wasting her time teaching."[2] Her stories were published in national magazines and widely distributed through newspaper syndicates.[3] Her first novel, Peggy Raymond's Success; or the Girls of Friendly Terrace (1912) became a popular series and led to her being tapped to continue the Pollyanna series by Eleanor Porter after Porter's death in 1920.

She was a member of the Woman's Literary Club of Baltimore and was made president in 1915.[2] She married William M. Smith in 1905. She lived in Chicago, Baltimore and eventually Philadelphia, where she died in 1947.[4]

Works

  • Peggy Raymond's Success; or, The Girls Of Friendly Terrace (1912)[5]
  • Peggy Raymond's Vacation; or, Friendly Terrace Transplanted (1913)[6]
  • Polly and the Milk Route (1913)[6]
  • Peggy Raymond's School Days; or, Old Girls And New (1916)[6]
  • Other People's Business: The Romantic Career of the Practical Miss Dale (1916)[5]
  • Peggy Raymond At 'The Poplars' (1920)[5]
  • The Friendly Terrace Quartette (1920)[6]
  • Agatha's Aunt (1920)[5]
  • Peggy Raymond's Way; or, Blossom Time At Friendly Terrace (1922)[5]
  • Pollyanna Of The Orange Blossoms (1924)[6]
  • Pollyanna's Jewels (1925)[6]
  • The Uncertain Glory (1926)[6]
  • Pollyanna's Debt Of Honor (1927)[6]
  • Pat And Pal (1928)[6]
  • Pollyanna's Western Adventure (1929)[6]

References

  1. ^ "Massachusetts Births, 1841–1915". Massachusetts Archives, Boston. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Flink, Jonathan (February 25, 2018). "Harriet L. Smith: A "Conspicuous Woman Writer"". The Aperio log: Reading Women, Writing Women in Baltimore, 1890-1920.
  3. ^ Cole, Jean Lee. "Browse". The Woman's Literary Club of Baltimore Archive. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  4. ^ Who Was Who in America. Vol. 2. Chicago, U.S.: The A. N. Marquis Co. 1950. p. 495.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Harriet L. Smith (Smith, Harriet L. (Harriet Lummis)) | The Online Books Page". onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Author – Harriet Lummis SMITH". Author and Book Info.