Sara Cone Bryant (1873May 28, 1956) was an American lecturer, teacher, and writer. She wrote children's books in the early 20th century. She also supported and took a leadership role in
women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
.
Early life and education
Sara Cone Bryant was born in
Melrose, Massachusetts
Melrose is a city located in the Greater Boston metropolitan area in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Its population, per the 2020 United States Census, is 29,817. It is a suburb located approximately seven miles north of Boston. I ...
, in 1873.
[ ] Her parents were Dexter and Dorcas Ann (Hancock) Bryant, and her siblings included brothers Albert and Wallace.
[ ]
She attended the grammar and high schools of the town, being graduated from
Melrose High School in 1891 as valedictorian. The last two years of her course, she was editor of the high school paper.
[ ]
Entering
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
in the fall of 1891, Bryant at once became interested in the college paper, the ''University Beacon'', and became a regular contributor to its pages. In her sophomore year, she was elected associate editor of the paper, and took charge of the department of college verse. At the same time, Bryant contributed largely to the newspapers, and was a frequent speaker at the women's clubs of Boston. For three years, she held leading roles in the annual French plays of the university. She was also elected by her class to the position of poet for the class day exercises. Bryant was awarded the inaugural
Willard scholarship for excellence in modern languages, which gave her a year's study abroad.
She graduated with B.A. in 1895, and was a member of the
Kappa Kappa Gamma
Kappa Kappa Gamma (), also known simply as Kappa or KKG, is a collegiate sorority founded at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois, United States.
It has a membership of more than 260,000 women, with 140 collegiate chapters in the United States a ...
sorority.
Her research abroad supported the study of sociology and modern languages.
In 1896, she was a student of kindergarten methods in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
.
Career
During the period of 1897–1900, and again later in life, Bryant wrote for various newspapers and magazines. Her children's stories included examples of humorous tales, hero stories, fables, construction stories, and fairy tales.
She was the co-founder of the
College Equal Suffrage League The College Equal Suffrage League (CESL) was an American woman suffrage organization founded in 1900 by Maud Wood Park and Inez Haynes Irwin (''nee'' Gillmore), as a way to attract younger Americans to the women's rights movement. The League spurred ...
,
and in 1901, served as its president, contending that every person in the United States should have equal rights, labors and privileges.
[ ]
From 1904 until 1906, she served as instructor in English and lecturer on English poetry in
Simmons College
Institutions of learning called Simmons College or Simmons University include:
* Simmons University, a women's liberal arts college in Boston, Massachusetts
* Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically black college in Louisville, Kentucky
* Har ...
.
In 1907, she was a lecturer on story-telling in the Lucy Wheelock Kindergarten in Boston, 1907.
Personal life and death
On March 9, 1908, she married Theodore Franz Borst,
a horticulturalist, and appears with her husband in the 1940 census.
[United States Census, district 9-450, family no. 191, sheet no. 9A, line no. 29, affiliate publication no. T627, affiliate film no. 1616, digital folder no. 005460888, image no. 00124, accessible at familysearch.org] They had two children. Her brother, Albert Bryant, ran
The Centaur Company and Sterling Products which later became
Sterling Drug
Sterling Drug was an American global pharmaceutical company, also known as Sterling Winthrop, Inc. in its last years (after the merger with Winthrop-Stearns Inc. which itself resulted from the merger of ''Winthrop Chemical Company Inc.'' and '' ...
and his father-in-law was
Charles Henry Fletcher
Charles Henry Fletcher (aka Chas. H. Fletcher in company advertising) organized and led the Centaur Company, makers of "Fletcher's Castoria", serving as president and general manager. Standard Remedies, April 1922.
Early life
He was born Decembe ...
.
Bryant died in
Framingham, Massachusetts
Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The city proper covers with a popu ...
, on May 28, 1956.
Selected works
Books
*''
How to Tell Stories To Children'', 1905
*''
Stories to tell the littlest ones''
*''
Epaminondas and His Auntie
''Epaminondas'' is a children's story that was originally a folk tale that was orally transmitted in the black community of the Southern States of the United States. A little boy who is named Epaminondas makes a series of amusing mistakes which ...
''
*''
I Am an American'', 1918
*''
The Burning Rice Fields
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...
''
*''
Fifty-one Stories to Tell to Children
"Fifty-One" is the fourth episode of the fifth season of the American television crime drama series ''Breaking Bad'', and the 50th overall episode of the series. Written by Sam Catlin and directed by Rian Johnson, it originally aired on AMC in th ...
''
*''
Best Stories to Tell to Children
Best or The Best may refer to:
People
* Best (surname), people with the surname Best
* Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer
Companies and organizations
* Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain
* Best Lock Corporation, ...
'', 1912
*''
Gordon and His Friends
Gordon may refer to:
People
* Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters
* Gordon (surname), the surname
* Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War
* Clan Gordon, ...
'', 1924
: Field Mouse"
:* "The Shoemaker and the Elves
References
Attribution
*
*
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryant, Sara Cone
1873 births
1956 deaths
20th-century American women writers
20th-century American writers
American children's writers
American women academics
Boston University alumni
Educators from Massachusetts
People from Melrose, Massachusetts
Simmons University faculty
Writers from Massachusetts