Sophie Kerr (August 23, 1880 – February 6, 1965) was a prolific writer of the early 20th century whose stories about smart, ambitious women mirrored her own evolution from small-town girl to successful career woman. At a time when few women were financially self-sufficient, Kerr made her way from Maryland’s Eastern Shore to New York City, where she supported herself as a magazine editor and a writer of more than 500 short stories, 23 novels, several poems and a play that ran on Broadway. Her bequest to

Washington College Washington College is a private liberal arts college in Chestertown, Maryland. Maryland granted Washington College its charter in 1782. George Washington supported the founding of the college by consenting to have the "College at Chester" name ...

on Maryland’s Eastern Shore in 1965 stipulated that the proceeds of the $578,000 endowment be used to fund an annual literary prize and to support literary events and scholarships at the college. Since 1968, the college in Chestertown has awarded more than $1.4 million in prize money to promising young writers and has enabled Washington College to bring a succession of the nation’s literary luminaries to the small liberal arts college located just 30 miles from where she grew up. The childhood home of Sophie Kerr, a circa 1860 farmhouse on the corner of 5th and Kerr Avenues in Denton, Maryland, still stands. She specifically describes the house in her short story, “Coming Home for Christmas.”

Life and career

Born in the Caroline County town of

Denton, Maryland Denton is a town in Caroline County, Maryland, United States. The population of Denton was 4,418 as of the 2010 United States Census, and it is the county seat of Caroline County. History Denton was established in 1781. It was first called Eden T ...

, in 1880, Sophie Kerr graduated from Denton High School in 1895 and went on to earn a bachelor's degree from

Hood College Hood College is a private college in Frederick, Maryland. In fall 2018, Hood enrolled 2,052 students (1,092 undergraduate students; 960 graduate students). Thirty-eight percent of students are either members of under-represented racial or ethnic ...

and a master's degree from the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a public land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is among the oldest universities in the Unite ...

. She married John DeLoss Underwood, a civil engineer, in 1904 and divorced him four years later. In order to support herself, Kerr went into journalism, launching her career in Pittsburgh, Pa. as the women’s page editor at the ''Chronicle Telegraph'' and the '' Pittsburgh Gazette''. Moving to New York, she became managing editor of '' The Woman's Home Companion''. and published her fiction in other popular magazines of the day, including ''Saturday Evening Post'', ''Collier’s Saturday Review of Literature'' and ''McCalls''. From 1920 until her death in 1965 at age 84, Kerr lived in a brownstone residence at 115 East 38th Street, where she created something of a literary salon for her friends in publishing and theater. In 1942, as part of a celebration of the 50th anniversary of co-education at Washington College, she accepted an honorary degree along with Eleanor Roosevelt. While her fiction is largely unknown to contemporary readers and her books are long out of print, her stories dealt with class and gender issues at work in the first half of the 20th century. “Kerr wrote stories about plucky heroines, young women who rose to the challenge and went for the gusto. They had big dreams and lots of charm and tons of blond curls. For the most part, they were smart and unassuming and hopelessly, wonderfully, kind, but they had ambition. Even her seemingly vapid heroines had hearts of gold and wills of iron hidden under all their finery.” In her will, she left the bulk of her estate to Washington College, with the stipulation that half its income would be awarded annually to the senior showing “the most ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor.” The other half funds scholarships, student publications and a series of visits by renowned writers.

The Sophie Kerr Prize

The Sophie Kerr Prize is awarded each year to a graduating senior at

Chestertown, Maryland Chestertown is a town in Kent County, Maryland, United States. The population was 5,252 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Kent County. History Founded in 1706, Chestertown rose in stature when it was named one of the English col ...

who has demonstrated the best ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor. The prize is announced at Washington College just prior to the senior commencement ceremony. Valued at $65,768 in 2016, it is the nation's largest undergraduate literary prize. Indeed, it is among the largest in the world, exceeding the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

, and

National Book Critics Circle The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is an American nonprofit organization (501(c)(3)) with more than 700 members. It is the professional association of American book review editors and critics, known primarily for the National Book Critics C ...

. Applicants submit portfolios of what they deem to be their best writing, which may include critical essays, creative nonfiction, poetry, fiction, journalism, stage plays, screenplays, blogging, graphic novels, or other hybrid forms. In a typical year, between 20 and 30 seniors submit portfolios for consideration. In the past, the prize has been awarded for both creative and critical writing. The 2011 Sophie Kerr Prize was awarded to Lisa Jones, an anthropology major who wrote about her life-changing trip to Tanzania. In a break from tradition, Washington College announced the winner at the Poets House in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

where Sophie Kerr lived for more than 40 years. The first Sophie Kerr Prize, valued at $9,000, was awarded to a Washington College senior in 1968. The exact value varies according to the return on the endowment. Since its inception, the Sophie Kerr Endowment has provided more than $1.4 million in prize money to promising young writers and has brought literary stars such as Toni Morrison, Katherine Ann Porter, Edward Albee, Natasha Trethewey, and Colum McCann to the Washington College campus.

Selected works

* ''Love at Large'', 1916 * ''Blue Envelope'', (*filmed as '' The Blue Envelope Mystery'') * ''The Golden Block'', 1918 * ''The See-Saw'', 1919 * ''Painted Meadows'', 1920 * ''One Thing is Certain'', 1922 * ''Mareea-Maria'', 1929 * ''Tigers Is Only Cats'', 1929 * ''In For a Penny'', 1931 * ''Girl Into Woman'', 1932 * ''Stay Out of My Life'', 1934 * ''Miss J. Looks On'', 1935 * ''There's Only One'', 1936 * ''Fine to Look At'', 1937 * ''Adventure With Women'', 1938 * ''Curtain Going Up'', 1940 * ''The Beautiful Woman'', 1941 * ''Michaels's Girls'', 1942 * ''Jenny Devlin'', 1943 * ''Love Story Incidental'', 1946 * ''Wife's Eye View'', 1947 * ''As Tall As Pride'', 1949 * ''The Man Who Knew the Date'', 1951

References

External links

The Sophie Kerr Legacy
(archived 17 March 2017)
Finding aid to Sophie Kerr papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.The Rose O'Neill Literary House at Washington CollegeWashington College Home Page
*http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2004-05-16/entertainment/0405170337_1_sophie-kerr-saint-sophie-kerr-prize/7 *https://web.archive.org/web/20110227080745/http://ncteamericancollection.org/litmap/kerr_sophie_md.htm *http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1997-05-16/features/1997136029_1_sophie-kerr-writing-alive-washington-college * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Sophie 1880 births 1965 deaths American women novelists American women poets American women short story writers Hood College alumni People from Denton, Maryland Writers from Pittsburgh University of Vermont alumni Washington College people 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American short story writers Novelists from Pennsylvania Novelists from Maryland Women's page journalists American salon-holders