Florence Converse
A middle-aged white woman wearing eyeglasses
Florence Converse, from a 1937 newspaper photo
BornApril 30, 1871
New Orleans, Louisiana
DiedFebruary 13, 1967
OccupationWriter
PartnerVida Dutton Scudder

Florence Converse (April 30, 1871 – February 13, 1967) was an American author. Throughout her career, she wrote a variety of pieces spanning many genres, including historical novels, mysteries, religious plays, and poetry. Converse had a Boston marriage with Vida Dutton Scudder.

Early life and education

Florence Converse was born in New Orleans in 1871. She attended Mrs. Charles's School in New Orleans,[1] and graduated from Wellesley College in 1893, and completed a master's degree at Wellesley in 1903.[2]

Wellesley College Archives. Shakespeare Society members performing A Midsummer Night's Dream in the woods. Florence Converse, 1893 (Puck); Mabel Wells 1896 (Oberon); Caroline Newman, 1893 (Bottom), 1893

Career

Converse gave a series of lectures on Percy Bysshe Shelley in New Orleans in 1896.[3] She taught English at Wellesley after graduating from the college,[4] and lived in Denison House, a Boston settlement house.[5] She was a member of the editorial staff of The Churchman from 1900 to 1908, when she joined the staff of the Atlantic Monthly.[2][6]

Converse wrote plays, poems, and several novels. These included Long Will, a novel about the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.[7] She also edited children's books at E. P. Dutton.[8] "Miss Converse is doubtless one of the most interesting of the minor poets," wrote a reviewer in 1937.[9]

Personal life and legacy

Converse was in a lesbian relationship known as a Boston marriage with Vida Dutton Scudder.[10][11] The couple lived together from 1912 until Scudder died in 1954.[12] Converse died in 1967, at the age of 95. Scudder and Converse are buried alongside each other at Newton Cemetery, Newton, Massachusetts.[13]

Publications

Converse wrote in various genres, including historical novels, mysteries, religious plays, and poetry. She also translated works from French, including Birds of a Feather (1919) by Marcel Nadaud.[14]

  • Diana Victrix (1897)[10][15]
  • The Burden of Christopher (1900)[16]
  • Long Will, A Romance (1903)[17]
  • The House of Prayer (1908)
  • A Masque of Sibyls (1910)[18]
  • The Children of Light (1912)[19]
  • The Story of Wellesley (1915)[20]
  • The Blessed Birthday (1917)[21]
  • Garments of Praise (1921)[22]
  • The Holy Night (1922)[23]
  • The Happy Swan (1925)
  • Into the Void (1926)[24]
  • Sphinx (1931)[25][26]
  • Efficiency Expert (1934)[27]
  • Collected poems of Florence Converse (1937)[28]
  • The Madman and the Wrecking Crew (Crux Ave, Spes Unica) (1939)
  • Wellesley College, a chronicle of the years 1875-1938 (1939)
  • Prologue to Peace: the Poems of Two Wars (1949)
  • "Pasquale's Easter Moon" (1956)[29]

References

  1. ↑ "Mrs. Charles's School; Annual Commencement and Graduation Exercises". The Times-Picayune. 1883-05-30. p. 8. Retrieved 2023-06-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 "Mrs. Friedewald Here Next Saturday". The Citizen. 1913-11-14. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Shelley as Interpreted by Miss Florence Converse". The Times-Picayune. 1896-02-25. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-06-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Labor Problem Presented in Play at Hull House". Chicago Tribune. 1906-02-08. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-06-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ Winslow, Helen M. (Helen Maria) (1902). Literary Boston of to-day. Internet Archive. Boston : L.C. Page & Company. pp. 353–354.
  6. ↑ "Wellesley in the World of Letters, Part 1" Wellesley Magazine 20 (): 19.
  7. ↑ Ortenberg, Veronica (1981). In Search of the Holy Grail: the Quest for the Middle Ages. London: Hambledon Continuum. (p.79) ISBN 978-1-85285-383-9. (p. 79).
  8. ↑ "Save This List for Christmas Shopping (advertisement)". The New York Times. 1915-11-28. p. 72. Retrieved 2023-06-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ Rochelle, W. R. (1937-04-25). "Collected Poems of Miss Converse Fit Into Trends". Nashville Banner. p. 54. Retrieved 2023-06-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. 1 2 McCullough, Kate (1997). "The Boston Marriage as the Future of the Nation: Queerly Regional Sexuality in Diana Victrix". American Literature. 69 (1): 67–103. doi:10.2307/2928169. ISSN 0002-9831. JSTOR 2928169.
  11. ↑ Bosmajian, Haig A. (2010). Anita Whitney, Louis Brandeis, and the First Amendment. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-8386-4267-2.
  12. ↑ "Wellesley Friend is Left $90,000 by Vida Scudder". The Boston Globe. 1954-12-03. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-06-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ Lillian Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America, Penguin Books Ltd, 1991, (pp. 23-24). ISBN 0-231-07488-3
  14. ↑ Nadaud, Marcel; Converse, Florence (1919). Birds of a feather. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company.
  15. ↑ Converse, Florence (1897). Diana Victrix. Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and company.
  16. ↑ Converse, Florence (1900). The burden of Christopher. Boston: Houghton.
  17. ↑ Converse, Florence (1903). Long Will, a romance. Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and company.
  18. ↑ Converse, Florence (1910). A masque of sibyls. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
  19. ↑ Converse, Florence, b. 1871 (1912). The Children of Light. London: J. M. Dent & Sons.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  20. ↑ Converse, Florence (1919). The story of Wellesley. Boston: Little, Brown.
  21. ↑ Converse, Florence (1917). The blessed birthday, a Christmas miracle play. New York: E. P. Dutton & company.
  22. ↑ Converse, Florence (1921). Garments of praise; a miracle cycle. New York: E.P. Dutton & Company.
  23. ↑ Converse, Florence (1922). The Holy night. Boston: The Atlantic Monthly Press, Inc.
  24. ↑ Converse, Florence (1926). Into the void: a bookshop mystery. Boston: Little, Brown & Company.
  25. ↑ "New Books at the Library". The Honolulu Advertiser. 1931-06-21. p. 17. Retrieved 2023-06-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ↑ Sherwood, Margaret (1931-03-07). "Lost--a Sphinx; Florence Converse Writes a Mystery without Blood and Thunder". The Morning Post. p. 14. Retrieved 2023-06-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ↑ Converse, Florence (1934). Efficiency expert: a poem. New York: J. Day.
  28. ↑ Converse, Florence (1937). Collected poems of Florence Converse. New York: E.P. Dutton & co., inc.
  29. ↑ Converse, Florence (1956-04-01). "Pasquale's Easter Moon". The Boston Globe. p. 123. Retrieved 2023-06-12 – via Newspapers.com.

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