Alice Morse Earle (April 27, 1851February 16, 1911) was an American historian and author from
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...
.
She was christened Mary Alice by her parents Edwin Morse and Abby Mason Clary. On April 15, 1874, she married Henry Earle of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
with whom she had four children, including the botanical illustrator
Alice Clary Earle Hyde.
She changed her name from Mary Alice Morse to Alice Morse Earle. Her writings, beginning in 1890, focused on small sociological details rather than grand details, and thus are invaluable for modern
social historians
Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not.
Etymology
The word "social" derives from ...
. She wrote a number of books on
colonial America
The colonial history of the United States covers the history of European colonization of North America from the early 17th century until the incorporation of the Thirteen Colonies into the United States after the Revolutionary War. In the ...
(and especially the
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
region) such as ''
Curious Punishments of Bygone Days''.
She was a passenger aboard the
RMS ''Republic'' when, while in a dense fog, that ship collided with the
SS ''Florida''. During the transfer of passengers, Alice fell into the water. Her near drowning in 1909 off the coast of
Nantucket
Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...
during this abortive trip to
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
weakened her health sufficiently that she died two years later, in
Hempstead, Long Island
The Town of Hempstead (also known historically as South Hempstead) is the largest of the three Administrative divisions of New York#Town, towns in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County (alongside North Hempstead, New York, North Hempstead and Oys ...
.
Partial bibliography
''The Sabbath in Puritan New England''(1891)
*''China Collecting in America'' (1892)
''Home Life in Colonial Days''(1893)
*''Customs and Fashions in Old New England'' (1893)
*''Diary of
Anna Green Winslow
Anna Green Winslow (November 29, 1759 – July 19, 1780), was an American letter writer. A member of the prominent Winslow family of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, she wrote a series of letters to her mother between 1771 and 1773 that portr ...
, A Boston School Girl of 1771'' (1894)
''Costume of Colonial Times''(1894)
''Colonial Dames and Goodwives''(1895)
(1895)
[
*''Colonial Days in Old New York'' (1896)
*'' Curious Punishments of Bygone Days (1896)
*''In Old Narragansett: Romances and Realities'' (1898)]
''Child Life in Colonial Days''
(1899)
at www.quinnipiac.edu ''Stagecoach and Tavern Days'' (1900) or at Internet Archive
*''Old Time Gardens'' (1901)
*''Sun Dials and Roses of Yesterday'' (1902)
Further reading
* "Alice Morse Earle," in ''Notable American Women: Volume 1.'' 4th ed., Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1975.
* Susan Reynolds Williams, ''Alice Morse Earle and the Domestic History of Early America.'' Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 2013.
References
External links
*
*
Article
at Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...
*
*
*
Review
of Earle's ''Home Life in Colonial Days''
Colonial days in old New York
by Alice Morse Earle. Cornell University Library New York State Historical Literature Collection, (reprinted by Cornell University Library Digital Collections)
Showing all quotes that contain 'Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. and Today is a gift'.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Earle, Alice Morse
1851 births
1911 deaths
19th-century American historians
American non-fiction crime writers
American women historians
20th-century American historians
Writers from Worcester, Massachusetts
Women crime writers
20th-century American women writers
19th-century American women writers
Historians from Massachusetts
Daughters of the American Revolution people