Harriet Huntington Doerr (April 8, 1910 – November 24, 2002) was an American author whose debut novel was published at the age of 74.

Early life

A granddaughter of California railroad magnate and noted collector of art and rare books,

Henry Edwards Huntington Henry Edwards Huntington (February 27, 1850 – May 23, 1927) was an American railroad magnate and collector of art and rare books. Huntington settled in Los Angeles, where he owned the Pacific Electric Railway as well as substantial real estate ...

, Harriet Green Huntington grew up in a

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

, family that encouraged intellectual endeavors. She attended high school at Westridge School, in Pasadena. She then enrolled in

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

in 1927, but transferred to

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

the following year where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. In 1930, after her junior year, she left school and married Albert Doerr, Jr., a Stanford 1930 graduate whom she had known in Pasadena. The Doerrs spent the next 25 years in Pasadena, where they raised a son, Michael (d. 1995), and a daughter, Martha.

Mexico

Albert Doerr's family owned a copper mine in the

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

state of

Aguascalientes Aguascalientes (; ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Aguascalientes ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Aguascalientes), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. At 22°N and ...

. Beginning in 1935, Harriet accompanied Albert on his many business trips there. In the late 1950s, the Doerrs moved to Mexico where Albert was engaged in restoring the mine. They remained until 1972 when Albert died, ten years after being diagnosed with leukemia. The time she spent in this small Mexican mining town would later provide Harriet with both the subject matter and the setting for much of her writing.

Literary career

Following her husband's death, Harriet Doerr returned to California. At the suggestion of her son Michael, a 1953 Stanford graduate, she decided to finish the education which had been interrupted so long before by her marriage. She enrolled, first at

Scripps College Scripps College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Claremont, California. It was founded as a member of the Claremont Colleges in 1 ...

, and then once again at Stanford. In 1977, she took her BA degree in European history. She began writing while at Stanford, earned a

Stegner Fellowship The Stegner Fellowship program is a two-year creative writing fellowship at Stanford University. The award is named after American Wallace Stegner (1909–1993), a historian, novelist, short story writer, environmentalist, and Stanford faculty mem ...

in 1979, and soon began publishing short stories. Her first novel, ''

Stones for Ibarra In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

'', was published in 1984 and won a National Book Award that year, for First Work of Fiction."National Book Awards – 1984"
National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-08. (With essay by Marie Myung-Ok Lee from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.) Her second novel, ''Consider This, Señora'', was published in 1993, and a collection of short stories and essays, ''Tiger in the Grass: Stories and Other Inventions'', followed in 1995. A television adaptation of ''Stones for Ibarra'' was presented by

Hallmark Hall of Fame ''Hallmark Hall of Fame'', originally called ''Hallmark Television Playhouse'', is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City-based greeting card company. The longest-running prime-time series in t ...

in 1988. In the last decade of her life, she was legally blind from glaucoma. Doerr died in Pasadena in 2002.

References

External links

Late Bloomer by Yvonne Daley
''

Stanford Magazine Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

''. Nov-Dec 1997. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
Harriet Doerr Papers, 1976-2003
(33 linear ft.) are housed in th

a
Stanford University Libraries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doerr, Harriet 1910 births 2002 deaths National Book Award winners Writers from Pasadena, California Stanford University alumni Smith College alumni PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners Scripps College alumni American expatriates in Mexico

Early life

Mexico

Literary career

See also

References

External links