Maud Howe Elliott | |
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| Born | Maud Howe (1854-11-09)November 9, 1854 |
| Died | March 19, 1948(1948-03-19) (aged 93) |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Notable awards | 1917 Pulitzer Prize |
| Spouse | John Elliott |
Maud Howe Elliott (November 9, 1854 – March 19, 1948) was an American novelist, most notable for herPulitzer Prize-winning collaboration with her sisters,Laura E. Richards andFlorence Hall, on their mother's biographyThe Life of Julia Ward Howe (1916). Her other works includedA Newport Aquarelle (1883);Phillida (1891);Kasper Craig (1892);Mammon, later published asHonor: A Novel (1893);Roma Beata, Letters from the Eternal City (1903);Sun and Shadow in Spain (1908);[1]The Eleventh Hour in the Life of Julia Ward Howe (1911);Three Generations (1923);Lord Byron's Helmet (1927);John Elliott, The Story of an Artist (1930);My Cousin, F. Marion Crawford (1934); andThis Was My Newport (1944).[2]
Maud Howe was born on November 9, 1854, at thePerkins School for the Blind in Boston, founded by her father,Samuel Gridley Howe. Her mother was the author and abolitionistJulia Ward Howe. In 1887, she married English artistJohn Elliott. A socialite, Elliott was one of the founding members of theSociety of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, Florida[3] She was the honorary president of the organization until her death.
After her marriage, she lived in Chicago (1892–93) and Italy (1894-1900/1906-1910), before moving to Newport, where she spent the rest of her life. She was a founding member of theNewport Art Association, and served as its secretary from 1912 to 1942.[2] Howe was also a founder of the Progressive Party and took part in thesuffrage movement.[4] In 1920, when women gained the right to vote, Maud Howe Elliott was unable to vote because a Congressional Act revoked her citizenship. This act specifically targeted American-born women who had married foreigners, stripping them of their citizenship rights. Notably, this legislation only affected women, as men who were married to foreign citizens retained their citizenship.[5] Maud was greatly influenced by her mother's ideas and convictions about women's role in society and particularly so in terms of women's suffrage.[6] She fought passionately for women to be liberated from the societal expectations and roles determined to them by male dominated society. In 1940, she was attributed with an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from Brown University.[7]
She wrote a travel book about Spain,Sun and Shadow in Spain (1908), which served, among many other author-travellers' works such as Gaston Vullier, Dorothy and Mortimer Menpes, as a fundamental milestone in the promotion of Spanish tourism amongst middle classes of America and Europe.[8]
She died on March 19, 1948, inNewport, Rhode Island.
Previously the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography from 1917–2022 | ||
| 1917–1925 |
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| 1926–1950 |
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| 1951–1975 |
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| 1976–2000 |
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| 2001–2025 |
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