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 aBoston marriage withVida Dutton Scudder.
Florence Converse was born inNew Orleans in 1871. She attended Mrs. Charles's School in New Orleans,[1] and graduated fromWellesley 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
Converse gave a series of lectures onPercy 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 Bostonsettlement house.[5] She was a member of the editorial staff ofThe Churchman from 1900 to 1908, when she joined the staff of theAtlantic Monthly.[2][6]
Converse wrote plays, poems, and several novels. These includedLong Will, a novel about thePeasants' Revolt of 1381.[7] She also edited children's books atE. P. Dutton.[8] "Miss Converse is doubtless one of the most interesting of the minor poets," wrote a reviewer in 1937.[9]
Converse was in a lesbian relationship known as aBoston marriage withVida 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]
Converse wrote in various genres, including historical novels, mysteries, religious plays, and poetry. She also translated works from French, includingBirds of a Feather (1919) by Marcel Nadaud.[14]
^Ortenberg, Veronica (1981).In Search of the Holy Grail: the Quest for the Middle Ages. London: Hambledon Continuum. (p.79)ISBN978-1-85285-383-9. (p. 79).
^Lillian Faderman,Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America, Penguin Books Ltd, 1991, (pp. 23-24).ISBN0-231-07488-3
^Nadaud, Marcel; Converse, Florence (1919).Birds of a feather. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company.
^Converse, Florence (1897).Diana Victrix. Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and company.
^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)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Florence Converse".New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.