Grace Gallatin Seton Thompson Explained

Grace Gallatin Seton Thompson
Birth Date:January 28, 1872
Nationality:American
Occupation:Writer, Suffragist
Spouse:[1]
Children:Anya Seton

Grace Gallatin Seton Thompson (28 January 1872 – 19 March 1959) was an American writer and suffragist.[2] [3]

Early life and education

Grace Gallatin was born in Sacramento, California on January 28, 1872. In 1888 she began writing articles for San Francisco newspapers under the pen name of Dorothy Dodge, and in 1892 graduated from Packer Collegiate Institute, in Brooklyn, NY.

Career

Writing

In 1900, Seton published her first book, A Woman Tenderfoot, which described her trip on horseback through the Rocky Mountains. In 1907 she published the book Nimrod's Wife, a true hunting and travel book set in the Western United States.[4] [5] She later organized and directed a women's motor unit to aid soldiers in France during the first World War. During the 1920s and 1930s she visited China, Egypt, Hawaii, India, Indochina, Japan, and South America, and she wrote four books about her travels: A Woman Tenderfoot in Egypt (1923), Chinese Lanterns (1924), Yes, Lady Saheb (1925), and Poison Arrows (1938).[6] She also wrote The Singing Traveler (1947), a collection of poems about mysticism and eastern religions.

Activism

As a suffragist, she served as vice-president and later president of the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association, from 1910 to 1920. She also worked for women's causes by serving as president of the National League of American Pen Women (1926-1928 and 1930-1932), during which time the number of branches of that organization doubled, and serving as chair of letters of the National Council of Women of the United States (1933-1938). As chair she established the Biblioteca Femina, a collection of volumes by women from all over the world, which was later donated to the Northwestern University Library. She also helped organize an international conference of women writers at the Century of Progress Exposition held in Chicago in 1933, and was a member of the International Council of Women, the Society of Woman Geographers, and the Women's National Republican Club. Seton also belonged to Pen and Brush. She served as president of Pen and Brush from 1898 to 1939.

Marriage

She was married to Ernest Thompson Seton, one of the founding pioneers of the Boy Scouts of America, and conflicts arose with the Boy Scouts about her suffrage activities and his British citizenship. The citizenship issue arose partly because of his high position within BSA, and because the federal charter James E. West was attempting to obtain for the BSA required its board members to be United States citizens. Ernest drafted his written resignation on January 29, 1915, but he did not send it to BSA until May.[7]

Grace had married Ernest in 1896; she separated from him by the late 1920s, and they divorced in 1935. Her daughter Anya Seton, also an author, was born in 1904.[8]

Death

Seton died in Palm Beach, Florida on March 19, 1959.

Legacy

Some of her papers are held in the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, and some are held at Smith College in the Sophia Smith Collection.[3] [2]

Works

Source:[9]

Books

Books with Ernest Thompson Seton

Musical scores

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Johnstone . Tiffany . Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson: Frontier Adventure Literature and the Dawn of Suffrage . Women Suffrage and Beyond . 2019-06-30.
  2. Web site: Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson Papers, 1903-1940: Biographical and Historical Note . Asteria.fivecolleges.edu . 1959-03-19 . 2015-03-23 . 2015-04-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150402092711/http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/findaids/sophiasmith/mnsss113_bioghist.html . dead .
  3. Web site: Seton-Thompson, Grace Gallatin. Papers of Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson, 1860s-1993: A Finding Aid . Oasis.lib.harvard.edu . 2015-03-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150402144051/http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~sch00900 . 2015-04-02 . dead .
  4. Web site: Details - Nimrod's wife, by Grace Gallatin Seton ... pictures by Walter King Stone and Ernest Thompson Seton. - Biodiversity Heritage Library . Biodiversitylibrary.org . 2015-03-23.
  5. Book: Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson. Nimrod's Wife. 1907. Doubleday, Page & company. 5–.
  6. Web site: Seton-Thompson, Grace Gallatin Alternative names . Seton-Thompson, Grace Gallatin . Socialarchive.iath.virginia.edu . 2015-03-23.
  7. Scott. David C.. Ernest Thompson Seton and BSA — The Partnership Collapse of 1915. International Scouting Collectors Association. 6. 2. June 2006. 10–16.
  8. Web site: Moser . Margaret . Love in the Time of 'Green Darkness': Don't judge Anya Seton's reissued biofics by their romance and bad covers - Books . The Austin Chronicle . 2006-09-29 . 2015-03-23.
  9. Web site: Results for 'au:Seton-Thompson, Grace Gallatin.' [WorldCat.org]]. 2020-07-27. www.worldcat.org. en.