Linnie Marsh Wolfe (January 8, 1881 – September 15, 1945) was an American librarian. She won the 1946 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for her 1945 biography of

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist ...

titled ''Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir'' (New York: A. A. Knopf, 1945).

Biography

Linnie Marsh was born in

Big Rapids, Michigan Big Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 10,601 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Mecosta County. The city is located within Big Rapids Township, but it is politically independent. Big Rapids is home ...

. She graduated from

Whitman College Whitman College is a private liberal arts college in Walla Walla, Washington. The school offers 53 majors and 33 minors in the liberal arts and sciences, and it has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1. Whitman was the first college in the Pacific ...

with an

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

and Radcliffe College with an A.M. in 1907. She also graduated from the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

library school Education for librarianship, including for paraprofessional library workers, varies around the world, and has changed over time. In recent decades, many institutions offering librarianship education have changed their names to reflect the shift from ...

and was a student at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

and the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

. She worked as a teacher in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

and a librarian in public libraries and high schools in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. In 1924, she married Roy Wolfe. They had no children. While working as a librarian, Wolfe gained an interest in the work of naturalist author

. She organized trips for schoolchildren to Muir's home, spoke about him on the radio, and became secretary of the John Muir Association. Some of Muir's journals had been previously published by William Frederic Bade and Wolfe was asked to edit Muir's unpublished journals and notes. She completed the work, ''John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir'', published by

A. A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers i ...

in 1938, after which

Alfred A. Knopf, Sr. Alfred Abraham Knopf Sr. (September 12, 1892 August 11, 1984) was an American publisher of the 20th century, and co-founder of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. His contemporaries included the likes of Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer, and (of the previous ge ...

asked her to write a biography of Muir. Wolfe interviewed Muir's daughters and other family members and associates ''Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir'' was published by Knopf in May 1945. Reviews were mixed, and Wolfe was criticized for "haphazard" documentation and a lack of critical judgement. The Muir biographer and environmental historian

Donald Worster Donald Worster (born 1941) is an American environmental historian who was, until his retirement, the Hall Distinguished Professor of American History at the University of Kansas. He is one of the founders of, and leading figures in, the field of ...

notes that Wolfe's biography is largely based on her interviews, which were unrecorded and seem "embellished for dramatic effect". Char Miller criticized Wolfe for including a conversation between Muir and

Gifford Pinchot Gifford Pinchot (August 11, 1865October 4, 1946) was an American forester and politician. He served as the fourth chief of the U.S. Division of Forestry, as the first head of the United States Forest Service, and as the 28th governor of Pennsy ...

for which no documentary evidence appears to exist. The book is required reading for rangers and volunteers at the

John Muir National Historic Site The John Muir National Historic Site is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, in Martinez, Contra Costa County, California. It preserves the 14-room Italianate Victorian mansion where the naturalist and writer John Muir lived, as well as a ne ...

. Wolfe died in a

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

, nursing home. She did not live to receive her Pulitzer Prize in May 1946.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfe, Linnie Marsh 1881 births 1945 deaths Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography winners American librarians American women librarians American non-fiction environmental writers People from Big Rapids, Michigan Whitman College alumni Radcliffe College alumni University of Southern California alumni University of Washington alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni