Sibyl Wilbur O'Brien Stone (May 27, 1871 – July 21, 1946), best known as Sibyl Wilbur, was an American journalist,

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

, and author of a biography of

Mary Baker Eddy Mary Baker Eddy (July 16, 1821 – December 3, 1910) was an American religious leader and author who founded The Church of Christ, Scientist, in New England in 1879. She also founded ''The Christian Science Monitor'', a Pulitzer Prize-winning se ...

. She was a San Diego Branch Member of the

National League of American Pen Women The National League of American Pen Women, Inc. (NLAPW) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) membership organization for women. History The first meeting of the League of American Pen Women was organized in 1897 by Marian Longfellow O'Donoghue, a writer ...

and a member of the

New England Woman's Press Association The New England Woman's Press Association (NEWPA) was founded by six Boston newspaper women in 1885 and incorporated in 1890. By the turn of the century it had over 150 members. NEWPA sought not only to bring female colleagues together and further ...

Biography

Originally from Elmira, New York, Wilbur's parents both died when she young, and by 14 she had moved to Nebraska and begun teaching at a prairie school. Eventually she saved enough money to go to college and start a career in journalism. For over 20 years she wrote for major metropolitan newspapers in New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, and Boston, on topics such as women's rights, labor issues, and culture. She was politically active as an organizer in the Woman Suffrage Party in New York City, and spoke publicly on the topic. She is most known for her writings on

, founder of

The First Church of Christ, Scientist The First Church of Christ, Scientist is the administrative headquarters and mother church of the Church of Christ, Scientist, also known as the Christian Science church. Christian Science was founded in the 19th century in Lynn, Massachusetts ...

, who she met in 1905 while interviewing her for the '' Boston Herald''. From 1906 to 1907, Wilbur wrote a series of thirteen articles about Eddy in the Boston magazine ''Human Life'' which, In 1908, became the basis her book ''The Life of Mary Baker Eddy''. The book became the first church-authorized biography to be sold in Christian Science Reading Rooms. Bates, Ernest Sutherland; Dittemore, John Valentine. (1932). ''Mary Baker Eddy: The Truth and the Tradition''. A. A. Knopf. p. 3 It was reprinted numerous times.Dickson, Carol E. (1998). ''Eddy, Mary Baker 1821–1910''. In Eleanor Amico. ''Reader's Guide to Women's Studies''. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. p. 305. Although Wilbur was not a member of the church, she was friendly towards Eddy, and her articles and book were motivated in part to defend Eddy from a similar series of articles published around the same time by ''

McClure's Magazine ''McClure's'' or ''McClure's Magazine'' (1893–1929) was an American illustrated monthly periodical popular at the turn of the 20th century. The magazine is credited with having started the tradition of muckraking journalism ( investigative, wat ...

'', which attacked Eddy and the church. Eddy later thanked Wilbur and the Concord Publishing Society for publishing the book. The book includes content based on interviews of many people who knew Eddy before she was famous. There have been notable critics of the book over the years however, such as Christian Science critic John V. Dittemore, and Gaius Glenn Atkins, a critic of

new religious movement A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or th ...

s in general, who attacked the book saying that it "touches lightly or omits altogether those passages in Mrs. Eddy's life which do not fit in with the picture which Mrs. Eddy herself and the church desire to be perpetuated." Atkins, Gaius Glenn. (2014 edition, originally published 1924). ''Modern Religious Cults and Movements''. Routledge. p. 121. The

Mary Baker Eddy Library The Mary Baker Eddy Library is a research library, museum, and repository for the papers of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science. The library is located on the Christian Science Center, Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts, a ...

also notes criticism of the book for being "excessively laudatory" of Eddy, but says that "it was also based on factual reporting and helped counter basic misinformation about Eddy and Christian Science that was rampant at the time." After writing her biography of Eddy, Wilbur continued to become even more involved with the women's suffrage movement, especially in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

where she moved in 1918.

Publications

''The Life of Mary Baker Eddy''
(New York: Concord Publishing Co., 1908)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilbur, Sibyl 1871 births 1946 deaths American biographers American women journalists Christian Science writers Hamline University alumni Writers from Elmira, New York Historians from New York (state) American women biographers American suffragists

Biography

Publications

References

Further reading

External links