Josephine Scribner Gates

Josephine Scribner Gates (September 12, 1859 – August 22, 1930) was an American children's writer.

Josephine Scribner was born on September 12, 1859, in Mount Vernon, Ohio, to Mary E. (Morehouse) and Charles H. Scribner.[1][2] She married Charles H. Gates on October 12, 1881.[2]

She wrote an 11-book series about "live dolls", published between 1901 and 1912.[3] A 1911 newspaper profile described Gates' writing as "a new literature for children which, perhaps, may be best described as modern fairy tales. They are better, by far, than any of the fairy tales which have come down to us through the ages, because there are no wicked fairies in them, no evil sprites of any kind, 'no nothing,' except naturalness and happiness".[4]

The first book of the series, Story of the Live Dolls (1901), features Dinah, a caricature of the mammy stereotype of Black American women.[5] Immediately after Dinah comes to life, she begins to act as a servant for the live white dolls as if by instinct. This conceit was common in American children's literature of the period.[6]

Gates died on August 22, 1930, in Toledo, Ohio.[7]

Books

  • The Live Dolls' Play Days (1909)[8]
  • The Story of the Mince Pie (1917)[9]
  • The Book of Live Dolls[10]

References

  1. ^ Burke, W. J.; Howe, Will D. (1972). "Gates, Josephine Scribner". American Authors and Books. Gramercy. p. 238.
  2. ^ a b Leonardo, John William, ed. (1914). "Gates, Josephine Scribner". Woman's Who's Who of America. p. 318.
  3. ^ Young, Philip H. (1997). Children's Fiction Series: A Bibliography, 1850–1950. McFarland & Company. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-7864-0321-9.
  4. ^ "Real-Life Glimpses". Toledo Weekly Blade. May 19, 1910. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Kuznets, Lois R. (1994). When Toys Come Alive: Narratives of Animation, Metamorphosis, and Development. Yale University Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-300-05645-7.
  6. ^ Bernstein, Robin (2011). Racial Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights. New York University Press. pp. 204, 286 n. 27. ISBN 978-0-8147-8707-6. JSTOR j.ctt9qgj4w. OCLC 756634886.
  7. ^ United Press International (August 22, 1930). "Writer Is Dead". The Dayton Herald – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "The Live Dolls' Play Days". The San Francisco Call Bulletin. March 7, 1909. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "The Story of the Mince Pie". Columbia Record. February 24, 1917. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Rogers, Joan (December 27, 1936). "Kids' Book of Live Dolls Is Reviewed". The Register-Guard. p. 20 – via Newspapers.com.
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