Lilian Garis Explained
Lilian Garis |
Birth Name: | Lilian C. McNamara |
Birth Date: | 20 October 1873 |
Occupation: | novelist, juvenile fiction writer |
Genre: | juvenile fiction |
Notableworks: | Melody Lane series Girl Scouts series |
Children: | Roger Garis, Cleo F. Garis |
Lilian C. Garis, born Lilian C. McNamara (20 October 1873 – 19 April 1954), was an American author who wrote hundreds of books of juvenile fiction between around 1915 and the early 1940s. Prior to this, she was the first female reporter for the Newark Evening News in New Jersey.[1] Garis and her husband, Howard R. Garis, were possibly the most prolific children's authors of the early 20th century.
Biography
Lilian McNamara was born in 1872 in Cleveland, Ohio. Her parents were Irish immigrants Edward[2] and Winifred.[3] Lillian wrote her own "Woman's Page" for a city paper as a teenager. She attended private schools including Dunkirk Union School.[4] In 1893 her poem "Peace" was featured in the New Jersey Scrapbook of Women Writers created for the World's Columbian Exposition.[5] At this point she uses an alternate name "Lillian Mack" and lives in Newark.[5]
Lilian was in charge of "Woman's Work" in the Newark Evening News from 1895 to 1900 and was known as "Miss Mack" or "Lilian Mack".[6] [7] [8] Lillian was also a suffragette.[9]
Lilian met Howard Garis at the Newark Evening News and the couple married in 1899. In 1951, they moved from East Orange, New Jersey to Amherst, Massachusetts.[9] They had two children Roger and Cleo.[10]
For the Stratemeyer Syndicate Garis wrote under the pseudonym Margaret Penrose and Laura Lee Hope, with her works including some of the earliest books in the Bobbsey Twins series[11] as well as the Dorothy Dale series.[12] But Mrs. Garis also wrote some books under her own name.[13]
Lilian died April 19, 1954.[14]
Bibliography of titles written under Garis' name
Sources:[15]
Let's Make Believe series
First published by R. F. Fenno; also by Donohue
- Let's Make Believe We're Keeping House
- Let's Play Circus
- Let's Make Believe We're Soldiers
The Girl Scouts series
- The Girl Scout Pioneers
- The Girl Scouts at Bellaire
- The Girl Scouts at Sea Crest
- The Girl Scouts at Camp Comalong
- The Girl Scouts at Rocky Ledge
Nancy Brandon set
Originally printed by Milton Bradley, then by Grosset & Dunlap and Whitman.
- Nancy Brandon, Enthusiast (Milton Bradley's original title; renamed Nancy Brandon by Grosset & Dunlap)
- Nancy Brandon's Mystery
Barbara Hale set
- Barbara Hale (subtitled Barbara Hale: A Doctor's Daughter)
- Barbara Hale's Mystery Friend (subtitled, then later completely retitled, as "[or,] Barbara Hale and Cozette")
Ted set
- A Girl Named Ted
- Ted and Tony
Cleo set
- Cleo's Conquest
- Cleo's Misty Rainbow
Connie Loring set
- Connie Loring's Dilemma (retitled later)
- Connie Loring's Ambition (retitled later)
Judy Jordon set
- Judy Jordon
- Judy Jordon's Discovery
Sally set
- Sally for Short
- Sally Found Out
Gloria set
- Gloria at Boarding School
- Gloria: A Girl and Her Dad
Joan set
- Joan: Just a Girl
- Joan's Garden of Adventure
Melody Lane series
Two versions were printed of the first six books, one with cover art by Ruth King and one by Pelagie Doane (best known for her work on the Judy Bolton series). The series follows Carol Duncan and her sister and friends as they solve mysteries around Melody Lane. The events they encounter are standard series book fare of the time period; and are often criticized for their dated writing style and slow moving plots.
- The Ghost of Melody Lane (1933)
- The Forbidden Trail (1933)
- The Tower Secret (1934)
- The Wild Warning (1934)
- Terror at Moaning Cliff (1935)
- The Dragon Of The Hills (1936)
- The Mystery Of Stingman's Alley (1938)
- The Secret of the Kashmir Shawl (1939)
- The Hermit of Proud Hill (1940)
- The Clue of the Crooked Key Listed as the next title in the series in "The Hermit of Proud Hill". Never published and unknown if this book was ever written.
The Riverton Mystery
- The Riverton Mystery (1944) The unreleased manuscript was never published until 2023, after the New York Public Library gave permission for its release.[16]
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: The Once Great Newark Evening News: A Remembrance & Obituary. 2022-01-07. newarkmemories.com.
- Web site: Ancestry.com -- Family tree and censuses. Ancestry.com.
- Book: Scannell's New Jersey's First Citizens and State Guide ...: Genealogies and Biographies of Citizens of New Jersey with Informing Glimpses Into the State's History, Affairs, Officialism and Institutions .... 1917. J. J. Scannell.. en.
- Web site: 3 Jun 1890, Page 4 - Dunkirk Evening Observer at Newspapers.com. 2022-01-07. Newspapers.com. en.
- Book: Yardley. Margaret Tufts. The New Jersey scrap book of women writers.. New Jersey. World's Columbian Exposition. 1893. Advertiser Printing House. Newark, N.J..
- News: 1949-09-19. Questions and Answers. 23. The Times Dispatch. 2022-01-07.
- Book: Dizer, John T.. Tom Swift, the Bobbsey Twins, and Other Heroes of American Juvenile Literature. 1997. Edwin Mellen Press. 978-0-7734-8641-6. en.
- Web site: Archives Editor and Publisher. 2022-01-07. www.editorandpublisher.com. en.
- Web site: Marquardt. Janet. Howard and Lilian Garis House - 97 Spring Street. 2022-01-07. Amherst Historic. en.
- News: 1998-07-01. Paid Notice: Deaths CLANCY, CLEO GARIS. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-01-07. 0362-4331.
- Grimes, William. "Down the Halls of a Wonder House, the Mirrors Cracked", The New York Times, July 18, 2007. Accessed November 6, 2007. "They made a mighty team: Howard and Lilian Garis, who met as journalists in the early years of the century, turned out hundreds of Tom Swift and Bobbsey Twins titles for the Stratemeyer syndicate before Howard struck it rich with Uncle Wiggily."
- Web site: Dorothy Dale. 2022-01-07. Edward Stratemeyer & the Stratemeyer Syndicate. en-US.
- Web site: Worldcat - Lilian Garis.
- Web site: Lillian C. McNamara Garis (1873-1954) - Find A.... 2022-01-07. www.findagrave.com. en.
- Web site: The Lilian Garis Books By Lilian Garis. 2022-01-07. c.web.umkc.edu.
- https://www.amazon.com/Riverton-Mystery-Unreleased-1944-Manuscript/dp/B0C9SNQH4Q/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3JRG44PFKGDDU&keywords=the+riverton+mystery+lilian+garis&qid=1702175798&sprefix=the+riverton+mystery+lilian+garis%2Caps%2C92&sr=8-4