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Katharine Lee Bates (August 12, 1859 – March 28, 1929) was an American author and poet, chiefly remembered for her anthem "
America the Beautiful "America the Beautiful" is a patriotic American song. Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey. The two never m ...
", but also for her many books and articles on social reform, on which she was a noted speaker. Bates enjoyed close links with
Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...
, Massachusetts, where she had graduated with a B.A., and later became a professor of English literature, helping to launch American literature as an academic speciality, and writing one of the first-ever college textbooks on it. She never married, possibly because she would have lost tenure if she had. Throughout her long career at Wellesley, she shared a house with her close friend and companion
Katharine Coman Katharine Ellis Coman ( – ) was an American social activist and professor. She was based at the women-only Wellesley College, Massachusetts, where she created new courses in political economy, in line with her personal belief in social change ...
. Some scholars have assumed that this was a lesbian relationship, considering some exchanges of letters sufficient proof, others believe their relationship may have been a platonic ‘
Boston marriage A "Boston marriage" was, historically, the cohabitation of two wealthy women, independent of financial support from a man. The term is said to have been in use in New England in the late 19th/early 20th century. Some of these relationships were r ...
’ in the contemporary phrase.


Life and career

Bates was born in
Falmouth, Massachusetts Falmouth ( ) is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 32,517 at the 2020 census, making Falmouth the second-largest municipality on Cape Cod after Barnstable. The terminal for the Steamship Authority ferri ...
, to the town's
Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...
minister William Bates and Cornelia Frances Lee. Her father died a few weeks after she was born, and she was primarily raised by her mother and a literary aunt, both of whom had graduated from the all-women's
Mount Holyoke Seminary Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...
. She attended
Wellesley High School Wellesley High School is a public high school in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States, educating students on grades 9 through 12. The principal is Jamie Chisum, who took the position in 2014 after the departure of Andrew Keough. As of 2022 ...
(then called Needham High School) in 1872 and then Newton High School until 1876. Bates entered
Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...
, a women's college, as part of its second class in 1876. She graduated with a B.A. in 1880. She taught at
Natick High School Natick High School is an urban/suburban public high school serving students in grades 9 to 12 in Natick, Massachusetts, United States. The school is located on the banks of Dug Pond. Its enrollment was 1,603 students during the 2015–2016 schoo ...
in 1880–81 and at
Dana Hall School Dana Hall School is an independent boarding and day school for girls in grades 5-12 located in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Founded in 1881 by Henry F. Durant, Dana Hall originally served as Wellesley College's preparatory program. Notable alumna ...
from 1881 until 1885. In 1889, Bates's young adult novel ''Rose and Thorn'' won a prize awarded by the Congregational Sunday School and Publishing Society. It incorporated poor and working class women as characters to teach readers about social reform. She popularized the concept of
Mrs. Claus Mrs. Claus (also known as Mrs. Santa Claus or Mrs. Santa) is the legendary wife of Santa Claus, the Christmas gift-bringer in Western Christmas tradition. She is known for making cookies with the elves, caring for the reindeer, and preparing toy ...
in her poem "Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride" from the collection ''Sunshine and other Verses for Children'' (1889). The Mrs. Claus character is the chief organizer of Christmas Eve. Taking advantage of new educational opportunities available to women after the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, Bates used prize money from ''Rose and Thorn'' to travel to England and study at
Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
in 1890–91. She then returned to Wellesley as an associate professor in 1891, earned her M.A. there, and was promoted to a full professor of English literature. Near the end of the
Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...
, she worked as a war correspondent for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', and strove to reduce widely-circulating negative stereotypes about Spaniards. She contributed regularly to periodicals (sometimes under the pseudonym James Lincoln), including ''
The Atlantic Monthly ''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, ...
'', '' The Congregationalist'', ''
Boston Evening Transcript The ''Boston Evening Transcript'' was a daily afternoon newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts, published from July 24, 1830, to April 30, 1941. Beginnings ''The Transcript'' was founded in 1830 by Henry Dutton and James Wentworth of the firm of D ...
'', ''
Christian Century ''The Christian Century'' is a Christian magazine based in Chicago, Illinois. Considered the flagship magazine of US mainline Protestantism, the monthly reports on religious news; comments on theological, moral, and cultural issues; and review ...
'', ''
Contemporary Verse Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it i ...
'', ''
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'' ...
,'' and ''
The Delineator ''The Delineator'' was an American women's magazine of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, founded by the Butterick Publishing Company in 1869 under the name ''The Metropolitan Monthly.'' Its name was changed in 1875. The magazine was publis ...
''.Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2009. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale, 2009
Fee
/ref> In 1906, Bates and her brother Arthur signed a mortgage for a Wellesley houselot and house (now 70 Curve St.) to be built on it for the Bates family (Cornelia, Jeanne, and Katharine) and their tenants. Among the latter was
Katharine Coman Katharine Ellis Coman ( – ) was an American social activist and professor. She was based at the women-only Wellesley College, Massachusetts, where she created new courses in political economy, in line with her personal belief in social change ...
, who would eventually rent an attic bedroom and photographic darkroom. While the house was being built, Bates traveled to Egypt and the Holy Land with Wellesley College president
Caroline Hazard Caroline Hazard (June 10, 1856 – March 19, 1945) was an American educator, philanthropist, and author. She served as the fifth president of Wellesley College, from 1899 to 1910. Early life Caroline Hazard was born in Peace Dale, Rhode Island in ...
. Upon returning to Wellesley, Bates named the house "The Scarab," after the sacred Egyptian insect she admired as "always climbing." While working at Wellesley, Bates was elected a member of the newly-formed
Pi Gamma Mu Pi Gamma Mu or (from Πολιτικές Γνώσεως Μάθεται) is the oldest and preeminent honor society in the social sciences. It is also the only interdisciplinary social science honor society. It serves the various social science di ...
honor society for the social sciences because of her interest in history and politics. She retired from Wellesley in 1925 at the age of 66. In retirement, Bates continued to write and to publish poetry, and was in great demand as a writer and speaker. Bates was also a social activist interested in the struggles of women, workers,
people of color The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...
, tenement residents, immigrants, and poor people. She helped organize the Denison House, a college women's settlement house, with other women friends and colleagues in 1892. She wrote and spoke extensively about the need for social reform and was an avid advocate for the global
peace movement A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals, such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world peac ...
that emerged after World War I. She was especially active in attempts to establish the
League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
. Long an active
Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, Bates broke with the party to endorse Democratic presidential candidate
John W. Davis John William Davis (April 13, 1873 – March 24, 1955) was an American politician, diplomat and lawyer. He served under President Woodrow Wilson as the Solicitor General of the United States and the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom ...
in 1924 because of Republican opposition to American participation in the League of Nations. She said: "Though born and bred in the Republican camp, I cannot bear their betrayal of Mr. Wilson and their rejection of the League of Nations, our one hope of peace on earth." Thinking of herself as a "global citizen," Bates decried the American policy of
isolationism Isolationism is a political philosophy advocating a national foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality and opposes entang ...
. Bates died in
Wellesley, Massachusetts Wellesley () is a New England town, town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Wellesley is part of Greater Boston. The population was 29,550 at the time of the 2020 census. Wellesley College, Babson Col ...
, on March 28, 1929, while listening to a friend read poetry to her. She is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery at Falmouth. Most of her papers are housed at the Wellesley College Archives and include "diaries, correspondences, musical scores, publications, scrapbooks, manuscripts, reports, memorials and tributes, memorabilia; concerning "America the Beautiful" and other writings of Katharine Lee Bates, her travels, and her life at Wellesley and in Falmouth, Mass."


"America the Beautiful"

The first draft of "
America the Beautiful "America the Beautiful" is a patriotic American song. Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey. The two never m ...
" was hastily jotted down in a notebook during the summer of 1893, which Bates spent teaching English at
Colorado College Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory. The college enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduates at its campus. The college offer ...
in
Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...
. Later she remembered:
One day some of the other teachers and I decided to go on a trip to 14,000-foot
Pikes Peak Pikes Peak is the List of mountain ranges of Colorado#Mountain ranges, highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, in North America. The Ultra-prominent peak, ultra-prominent fourteener is located in Pike National Forest ...
. We hired a prairie wagon. Near the top we had to leave the wagon and go the rest of the way on
mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two pos ...
s. I was very tired. But when I saw the view, I felt great joy. All the wonder of America seemed displayed there, with the sea-like expanse.
Bates had personally experienced sexist prejudice and discrimination, had witnessed the ravages of the industrial revolution in both America and Britain, had seen first hand
urban poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little and misery, and keenly wished for equality. It was this desire for an all-inclusive
egalitarian Egalitarianism (), or equalitarianism, is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds from the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hum ...
American community that inspired the poem, which was written during the severe economic depression of 1893. The words to her famous poem first appeared in print in ''The Congregationalist'', a weekly journal, for
Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...
, 1895. The poem reached a wider audience when her revised version was printed in the ''
Boston Evening Transcript The ''Boston Evening Transcript'' was a daily afternoon newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts, published from July 24, 1830, to April 30, 1941. Beginnings ''The Transcript'' was founded in 1830 by Henry Dutton and James Wentworth of the firm of D ...
'' on November 19, 1904. Her final expanded version was written in 1913. When a version appeared in her collection ''America the Beautiful, and Other Poems'' (1912), a reviewer in the ''New York Times'' wrote: "we intend no derogation to Miss Katharine Lee Bates when we say that she is a good minor poet." On November 11, 1918, a battalion of the 26th Infantry Division of the US Army (colloquially known as the Yankee Division) sang "America the Beautiful" upon hearing the announcement of the
Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the La ...
. The hymn has been sung to several tunes, but the familiar one is by
Samuel A. Ward Samuel Augustus Ward (December 28, 1848 – September 28, 1903) was an American organist and composer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of a shoemaker, he studied under several teachers in New York and became an organist at Grace Church (Newar ...
(1847–1903), written for his hymn "Materna" (1882).


Relationship with Katharine Coman

The nature of Bates's relationship with her Wellesley College faculty colleague, friend, occasional traveling companion, and "Scarab House" tenant Katharine Coman has been the subject of scholarly discussion for four decades. In her 2017 biography of Bates, Melinda M. Ponder describes Bates as an independent-minded social activist who set an example for women's intellectualism and independence in the late 1800s. Bates' adult diaries and surviving letters confirm Bates's warm friendships with several female peers, as well as her intense emotional involvement with, and delight in the companionship of, two men: Oscar Triggs (whom she met while at Oxford) and subsequently Theophilus Huntington Root (the brother of one of her Wellesley classmates). But Bates never married. Had she done so, she would have lost her hard-won tenure-track Wellesley faculty position and, of course, at least some of the independence that her childhood in a woman-led household and subsequent life-course had, to one degree or another, accustomed her. That said, the end of her courtship with Theophilus Root precipitated in Bates a period of suicidal depression. Still, Bates destroyed most of the letters she and Coman had written to each other. One of the few to survive was written by Bates to Coman in 1893, just before she left Oxford to return to Wellesley: "You are always in my heart and in my longings... It was the living away from you that made, at first, the prospect of leaving Wellesley so heartachy ... and it seemed least of all possible when I had just found the long-desire way to your dearest heart." Ponder stresses Coman's importance to Bates in showing her how college professors like themselves could "challenge accepted attitudes towards women's social, economic, cultural, and gender roles". In her virtuosic corona of
sonnets A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention, ...
"In Bohemia," Bates celebrates the "vitality, adventurous spirit, and abiding spiritual presence of their love". In earlier commentary, Judith Schwarz interpreted Bates's letters and poems to Coman as evidence of a lesbian relationship, citing as an example Bates's 1891 letter to Coman: "It was never very possible to leave Wellesley or good because so many love-anchors held me there, and it seemed least of all possible when I had just found the long-desired way to your dearest heart... Of course I want to come to you, very much as I want to come to Heaven." And in 1999, historian
Lillian Faderman Lillian Faderman (born July 18, 1940) is an American historian whose books on lesbian history and LGBT history have earned critical praise and awards. ''The New York Times'' named three of her books on its "Notable Books of the Year" list. In addi ...
also concluded that the relationship between Bates and Coman was a "lesbian arrangement," including them among the other women faculty at Wellesley who paired off with each other.Faderman, Lillian. (1999). ''To believe in women: What lesbians have done for America—a history.'' Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company. Other scholars contest the use of the term lesbian to describe what was characterized at the time as a "
Boston marriage A "Boston marriage" was, historically, the cohabitation of two wealthy women, independent of financial support from a man. The term is said to have been in use in New England in the late 19th/early 20th century. Some of these relationships were r ...
". Writes one: "We cannot say with certainty what sexual connotations these relationships conveyed. We do know that these relationships were deeply intellectual; they fostered verbal and physical expressions of love." Certainly, Bates long shared rental housing with various Wellesley faculty members, all of whom thereby economized while earning small salaries. Occasionally, she traveled with her long-time friend, Katharine Coman. And in 1910, when a colleague described "free-flying spinsters" as "fringe on the garment of life", Bates answered: "I always thought the fringe had the best of it. I don't think I mind not being woven in." Bates's and Coman's connection is perhaps destined to be interpreted differently by different readers forever. The facts remain that Coman and Bates met at Wellesley by 1890 when the president of Wellesley College,
Alice Freeman Palmer Alice Freeman Palmer (born Alice Elvira Freeman; February 21, 1855 – December 6, 1902) was an American educator. As Alice Freeman, she was president of Wellesley College from 1881 to 1887, when she left to marry the Harvard professor George He ...
, determined to add women to the college's faculty. Coman served as a history and political economy professor, and founded the Wellesley College Economics Department. During her lifetime, Coman was nearly as well known as Bates. Both colleagues became influential independent women within their fields during their lifetimes; and Bates's work has continued to influence American life and literature to this day. In the days after Coman's death from breast cancer in 1915, Bates wrote a memorial to Coman, which is thought to be the first American narrative about breast cancer. Bates intended that the manuscript be privately circulated among the women's close circle of friends and family, writing on the title page: "For Katharine Coman's family and innermost circle of friends: Not for print nor in any way for general circulation." In 1922, Bates published ''Yellow Clover: A Book of Remembrance'', a collection of poems she had addressed to Coman while alive or since her death. She dedicated the volume to Coman, referred to her as "my Friend ic, and included as a "Prefatory Note" a three-page biography of Coman largely focused on her career as an economist and historian, but written in a tone personal enough to allow a reference to her "vigorous and adventurous personality" and her "undaunted courage" in continuing to work during her final illness.


Honors

The Bates family home on Falmouth's Main Street is preserved by the Falmouth Historical Society. There is also a street named in her honor, "Katharine Lee Bates Road" in Falmouth. The
Shining Sea Bikeway The Shining Sea Bikeway is a rail trail on Cape Cod in Falmouth, Massachusetts, United States. The path runs for from the Steamship Authority ferry terminal in Woods Hole to North Falmouth. History The trail was built on the right-of-way o ...
, named in honor of Bates, extends 11 miles from North Falmouth to Woods Hole, passing just a block from the Bates home. A plaque marks the site of the home where she lived as an adult on Centre Street in
Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...
. The historic home and birthplace of Bates in Falmouth, was sold to Ruth P. Clark in November 2013 for $1,200,000. The Katharine Lee Bates Elementary School on Elmwood Road in
Wellesley, Massachusetts Wellesley () is a New England town, town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Wellesley is part of Greater Boston. The population was 29,550 at the time of the 2020 census. Wellesley College, Babson Col ...
, and the Katharine Lee Bates Elementary School, founded in 1957 in
Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...
, and Bates Hall dormitory at Wellesley College are named for her. The Katharine Lee Bates Chair in English Composition and Literature was established at Wellesley shortly after her death. Bates was inducted into the
Songwriters Hall of Fame The Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) is an American institution founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer, music publisher/songwriter Abe Olman, and publisher/executive Howie Richmond to honor those whose work, represent, and maintain, the her ...
in 1970. Collections of Bates's manuscripts are housed at the
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America is a research library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University. According to Nancy F. Cott, the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director, ...
,
Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...
; Falmouth Historical Society;
Houghton Library Houghton Library, on the south side of Harvard Yard adjacent to Widener Library, is Harvard University's primary repository for rare books and manuscripts. It is part of the Harvard College Library, the library system of Harvard's Faculty of Art ...
,
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
; Wellesley College Archives. In 2012, she was named by
Equality Forum Malcolm L. Lazin (born December 5, 1943) is an American social activist, prosecutor, entrepreneur and educator. His endeavors include Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) civil rights, federal and state law enforcement, developing Phila ...
as one of their 31 Icons of the 2015
LGBT History Month LGBT History Month is an annual month-long observance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history, and the history of the List of LGBT rights by region, gay rights and related civil rights movements. It was founded in 1994 by Missouri high- ...
.


Works


Author

* ''The College Beautiful, and Other Poems'', Houghton (Cambridge, Massachusetts), 1887. * ''Rose and Thorn'', Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society (Boston, MA), 1889. * ''Hermit Island'', Lothrop (Boston, MA), 1890. * ''Sunshine, and Other Verses for Children'', Wellesley Alumnae (Boston, MA), 1890. * ''The English Religious Drama'', Macmillan (New York, NY), 1893, reprinted, Kennikat Press (Port Washington, NY), 1966. * ''American Literature'', Chautauqua Press (New York, NY), 1897. * ''Spanish Highways and Byways'', Macmillan (New York, NY), 1900. * (As James Lincoln) ''Relishes of Rhyme'', Richard G. Badger (Boston, MA), 1903. * ''From Gretna Green to Land's End: A Literary Journey in England'', photographs by Katharine Coman, Crowell (New York, NY), 1907. * ''The Story of Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrims'', Rand, McNally (Chicago, IL), 1909. * ''America the Beautiful, and Other Poems'', Crowell (New York, NY), 1911. * ''In Sunny Spain with Pilarica and Rafael'', Dutton (New York, NY), 1913. * ''Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrims, Retold'' by Katharine Lee Bates, illustrated by Angus MacDonall, color plates by
Milo Winter Milo Winter (August 7, 1888 – August 15, 1956) was an American book illustrator. He created editions of ''Aesop's Fables'', '' Arabian Nights'', '' Alice in Wonderland'', ''A Christmas Carol'', ''Gulliver's Travels'', ''Tanglewood Tales'' (1913) ...
, Rand, McNally (Chicago, IL), 1914. * ''Fairy Gold'', Dutton, (New York, NY), 1916. * ''The Retinue, and Other Poems'', Dutton (New York, NY), 1918. * ''Sigurd Our Golden Collie, and Other Comrades of the Road'', Dutton (New York, NY), 1919. * ''Yellow Clover, A Book of Remembrance'', Dutton (New York, NY), 1922. * ''Little Robin Stay-Behind, and Other Plays in Verse for Children'', Woman's Press (New York, NY), 1923. * ''The Pilgrim Ship'', Woman's Press (New York, NY), 1926. * ''America the Dream'', Crowell (New York, NY), 1930. * ''An Autobiography, in Brief, of Katharine Lee Bates'', Enterprise Press (Falmouth, MA), 1930. * ''Selected Poems of Katharine Lee Bates'', edited by Marion Pelton Guild, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1930.


Compiler

*''Browning Studies: Bibliography'', Robinson (Boston, MA), 1896. * ''English Drama: A Working Basis'', Robinson(Boston, MA), 1896, enlarged as ''Shakespeare: Selective Bibliography and Biographical Notes'', compiled by Bates and Lilla Weed, Wellesley College (Wellesley, MA), 1913. Compiled with Lydia Boker Godfrey. *''English History Told by English Poets'', Macmillan (New York, NY), 1902. Compiled with Katharine Coman.


Contributor

*''Historic Towns of New England'', edited by Lyman P. Powell, Putnam (New York, NY), 1898.


Editor

*''The Wedding Day Book'', Lothrop (Boston, MA), 1882, published as ''The Wedding-Day Book, with the Congratulations of the Poets'', Lothrop (Boston, MA), 1895. *Coleridge's ''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Ancient Mariner'', Leach, Shewell & Sanborn (Boston, MA), 1889. *''Ballad Book'', Leach, Shewell & Sanborn (Boston, MA), 1890, reprinted, Books for Libraries Press (Freeport, NY), 1969. *''Shakespeare's Comedy of The Merchant of Venice'', Leach, Shewell & Sanborn (Boston, MA), 1894. *''Shakespeare's Comedy of A Midsummer Night's Dream'', Leach, Shewell & Sanborn (Boston, MA), 1895. *''Shakespeare's Comedy of As You Like It'', Leach, Shewell & Sanborn (Boston, MA), 1896. *''Stories from the Chap-Book'', Stone (Chicago, IL), 1896. *''Keats's The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems'', Silver, Burdett, (New York, NY), 1902. *''The Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne'', fourteen volumes, Crowell (New York, NY), 1902. *Hamilton Wright Mabie, ''Norse Stories Retold from the Eddas'', Rand, McNally, Chicago, 1902. *''The Poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary'', Crowell (New York, NY), 1903. * John Ruskin, ''
The King of the Golden River ''The King of the Golden River or The Black Brothers: A Legend of Stiria'' is a fantasy story originally written in 1841 by John Ruskin for the twelve-year-old Effie (Euphemia) Gray, whom Ruskin later married. It was published in book form in ...
; or, the Black Brothers: A Legend of Stiria'', illustrated by John C. Johansen, Rand, McNally (Chicago, IL), 1903. *''
Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
's The Princess'', American Book Co. (New York, NY), 1904. *''Tennyson's Gareth and Lynette, Lancelot and Elaine, The Passing of Arthur'', Sibley (Boston, MA), 1905. *''The New Irish Drama'', Drama League of America (Chicago, IL), 1911. *Thomas Heywood, ''A Woman Killed with Kindness, and the Faire Maide of the West'', Heath (Boston, MA), 1917. *''Once Upon a Time; A Book of Old-Time Fairy Tales'', illustrated by Margaret Evans Price, Rand, McNally (Chicago, IL), 1921. *''Tom Thumb and Other Old-Time Fairy Tales'', illustrated by Price, Rand, McNally (Chicago, IL), 1926. *''Jack the Giant-Killer'', Rand, McNally (Chicago, IL), 1937. *''Jack and the Beanstalk; also Toads and Diamonds'', Rand, McNally (Chicago, IL), 1937.


Introduction

*Nathaniel Hawthorne, ''Our Old Home: A Series of English Sketches'', Crowell (New York, NY), 1906. *Helen Sanborn, ''Anne of Brittany'', Lothrop, Lee & Shepard (Boston, MA), 1917. *Helen Corke, ''The World's Family'', Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1930.


Translator

*Gustavo Adolfo Becquer, ''Romantic Legends of Spain'', Crowell (New York). With Cornelia Frances Bates.


See also

*


References

Notes Further reading *Melinda M. Ponder, ''Katharine Lee Bates: From Sea to Shining Sea'' (Chicago: Windy City Publishers, 2017) *Melinda M. Ponder, "Gender and the Religious Vision: Katharine Lee Bates and Poetic Elegy," p. 171- 194 in ''Seeing into the Life of Things: Essays on Literature and Religious Experience'', edited by John L. Mahoney (New York: Fordham University Press, 1998) *Dorothy Burgess, ''Dream and Deed: The Story of Katharine Lee Bates'' (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1952) *"Katharine Lee Bates" in ''Notable American Women: The Modern Period, A Biographical Dictionary'', edited by Barbara Sicherman, Carol Hurd Green with Ilene Kantrov, Harriette Walker (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980) * ''Almanac of Famous People'', sixth edition, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1998. * ''Dictionary of Literary Biography'', Volume 71: American Literary Critics and Scholars, 1880–1900, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1988. * ''Encyclopedia of World Biography'', Volume 2, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1998. * ''Gay and Lesbian Literature'', St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1998. *
Vida Dutton Scudder Julia Vida Dutton Scudder (1861–1954) was an American educator, writer, and welfare activist in the social gospel movement. Early life She was born in Madurai, India, on December 15, 1861, the only child of David Coit Scudder (of the Scudder f ...
, ''On Journey'', E.P. Dutton (New York, NY), 1937. * Drury, Michael, "Why She Wrote America's Favorite Song," ''
Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...
'', July 1993, pp. 90–93. * Price, Deb. ''The Bellingham Herald'', July 4, 1998: "Two women's love made 'America' Beautiful". * ''
Christian Science Monitor Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
'', July 19, 1930. * ''
The Dial ''The Dial'' was an American magazine published intermittently from 1840 to 1929. In its first form, from 1840 to 1844, it served as the chief publication of the Transcendentalists. From the 1880s to 1919 it was revived as a political review and ...
'', January 16, 1912. * ''International Book Review'', June 24, 1924. * ''
The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
'', November 30, 1918. * ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', July 14, 1918; August 17, 1930.


External links

* *
The Origin of American Christmas Myth and Customs
* (A site devoted to Miss Bates and Falmouth, Massachusetts)

* * *
Biography and Poetry
of Bates, part of a Series poet's biographies. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, Katharine Lee 1859 births 1929 deaths 19th-century American poets 19th-century American women writers 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers American women poets People from Falmouth, Massachusetts Songwriters from Massachusetts Wellesley College alumni Wellesley College faculty Writers from Massachusetts Massachusetts Republicans Newton North High School alumni American women travel writers American travel writers American women academics Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century