Jeannette Augustus Marks

Black and white portrait of Jeannette Marks circa 1895-1905

Biography

Jeannette Augustus Marks was born on August 16th, 1875 in Chattanooga Tennessee. Her parents, William Dennis Marks and Jeannette Colwell, sent Marks to various boarding schools in Europe and the United States. From there she went on to attend Dana Hall and then Wellesley College where she earned her bachelor’s degree in 1900. While at Wellesley, Marks met her partner, Mary Emma Woolley. Marks was hired by Woolley at Mount Holyoke College one year after earning her B.A. as a professor of English Literature. During her time there, Marks founded both the Play and Poetry Shop Talks lecture series as well as the Laboratory Theatre. Jeanette Marks was a member of the National Women’s Party and a self-proclaimed socialist. Although Marks was the author of many works, her most notable works are: A biography of the family of Elizabeth Barrett Browning entitled The Family of the Barrett: A Colonial Romance and The Life and Letters of Mary Emma Woolley. She remained a professor at Mount Holyoke until 1941. Marks moved to Westport, New York with Woolley and they spent their summers in Fleur De Lys, on Lake Champlain after retiring. Jeanette Marks died on March 15th, 1964 in Westport, New York.

Recommended Reading

From the collection The Life and Letters of Mary Emma Woolley: “Darling, you must realize that I am with you, that my love is about you, that I am thinking of you, that I love you as no one else in the world can love you, that you are my love, the sweetest woman in the world.” – Excerpt from this letter, sent by Mary Woolley to Jeannette Marks on July 9, 1900.

List of Selected Works

  • A Brief Historical Outline of English literature; From the Origins to the Close of the Eighteenth Century (1902)
  • The Cheerful Cricket (1907)
  • The English Pastoral Drama (1908)
  • Through Welsh Doorways (1909)Little Busybodies (1910)
  • Holiday with the Birds (1911)
  • The End of a Song (1911)
  • Girl’s Student Days and After (1911)
  • Vacation Camping for Girls (1913)
  • Gallant Little Wales (1912)
  • Leviathan (1913)
  • Yellow Curtains (1913)
  • Pandy Post (1914)
  • The Doctor (1915)
  • Early English Hero Tales (1915)
  • Baronet and the Baby (1916)
  • Glow Man (1916)
  • Three Welsh Plays (1917)
  • Children in the Wood Stories (1919)
  • Courage (1919)
  • Madame France (1919)
  • Goeffrey’s Window (1921)
  • Widow Pollen (1921)
  • The Sun Chaser (1922)
  • Genius and Disaster (1926)
  • The Merry Merry Cuckoo, and Other Welsh Plays (1927)
  • Thirteen Days (1929)
  • The Family of the Barrett (1938)
  • The Life and Letters of Mary Emma Woolley (1955)

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