Annie Eliot Trumbull (1857–1949) was an American author of novels, short stories, and plays, associated with
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
's "Golden Age".
Life and career
Annie Eliot Trumbull was born on March 2, 1857, in
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
, to Sarah A. (Robinson) and
James Hammond Trumbull
James Hammond Trumbull (December 20, 1821 – August 5, 1897) was an American historian, philologist, bibliographer, and politician. A scholar of American Indian languages, he served as the first Connecticut State Librarian in 1854 and as Secr ...
, a noted
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
, historian, state librarian, and
Connecticut Secretary of State
The secretary of the State of Connecticut is one of the constitutional officers of the U.S. state of Connecticut. (The definite article is part of the legal job title.) It is an elected position in the state government and has a term length of four ...
. She graduated from the Hartford public high school in 1876.
["TRUMBULL, Annie Eliot."]
''Marquis Who Was Who in America 1607–1984''.
Trumbull's works include seven novels, two plays, and short stories for ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', ''
Lippincott's
''Lippincott's Monthly Magazine'' was a 19th-century literary magazine published in Philadelphia from 1868 to 1915, when it relocated to New York to become '' McBride's Magazine''. It merged with ''Scribner's Magazine'' in 1916.
''Lippincott's'' ...
'', ''
New England Magazine
''The New England Magazine'' was a monthly literary magazine published in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1884 to 1917. It was known as ''The Bay State Monthly'' from 1884 to 1886.
The magazine was published by J. N. McClinctock and Company.
The m ...
'', ''
The Outlook'', and ''
Scribner's
Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan Rawli ...
''. Her first story and novel were published in 1881 and 1889, respectively, and her plays were written for the
Saturday Morning Club before receiving wider distribution. Trumbull's fiction was among the first published by
A. S. Barnes and Company. She was the ''
Hartford Courant
The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...
'' literary editor and a close friend of its editor. She wrote an article that historically established the first witchcraft-related execution in New England, that of
Alse Young
Alse Young (1615 – 26 May 1647) of Windsor, Connecticut — sometimes Achsah Young or Alice Young — was the first recorded instance of execution for witchcraft in the thirteen American colonies. She had one child, Alice Beamon (Young), b ...
. Trumbull was associated with authors of Hartford's literary "Golden Age", including
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
and
Charles Dudley Warner
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...
. As a friend and mentee of Twain, she wrote about her time with him and later helped to preserve his mansion.
The
Edison Film Company created ''
A Christmas Accident'', a silent short film based on Trumbull's story, in 1912.
She also traveled internationally and served in several civic posts in Connecticut, including the Town and Country Club, the Mark Twain Library and Memorial Commission, the Hartford Public Library. She also campaigned for women's suffrage. As a figure in Hartford, she was known to play tennis in her front yard court, to have made
archery
Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...
fashionable, to spend summers in her
Castine, Maine
Castine ( ) is a town in Hancock County in eastern Maine.; John Faragher. ''Great and Nobel Scheme''. 2005. p. 68. The population was 1,320 at the 2020 census. Castine is the home of Maine Maritime Academy, a four-year institution that graduate ...
, home, and winters traveling elsewhere. Trumbull died on December 22, 1949, at her family's homestead.
Selected bibliography
Novels
* ''An Hour's Promise'' (1889)
* ''White Birches'' (1893)
* ''A Christmas Accident, and Other Stories'' (1897)
* ''A Cape Cod Week'' (1898)
* ''Rod's Salvation'' (1898)
* ''Mistress Content Cradock'' (1899)
* ''Life's Common Way'' (1903)
Plays
* ''A Masque of Culture'' (1893)
* ''A Wheel of Progress'' (1897)
Poetry
* ''Impressions'' (1927)
References
External links
Full text worksat
HathiTrust
HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locally ...
Full text worksat the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
*
Annie Eliot Trumbull papers, 1867–1944(archival materials)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trumbull, Annie Eliot
1857 births
1949 deaths
American writers
American women writers
People from Hartford, Connecticut