Mabel Osgood Wright
Mabel Osgood Wright | |
---|---|
Born | New York City, U.S. | January 26, 1859
Died | July 16, 1934 Fairfield, Connecticut, U.S. | (aged 75)
Resting place | Oak Lawn Cemetery Fairfield, Connecticut, U.S. |
Pen name | Barbara |
Nationality | American |
Subject | nature, gardening |
Notable works | Birdcraft: A Field Book of Two Hundred Song, Game, and Water Birds |
Mabel Osgood Wright (January 26, 1859 – July 16, 1934) was an American writer and conservationist. She was an early leader in the Audubon movement who wrote extensively about nature and birds.
Early years and education
Mabel Osgood was the daughter of Samuel and Ellen Haswell (Murdock) Osgood. She was born in New York City on January 26, 1859, one of three daughters, and was educated at home and in private schools.[1][2] Samuel Osgood was a Harvard-educated Unitarian minister and published author, who was associated with writers and businessmen including George Bancroft, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and J. P. Morgan.[3][4] Osgood frequently accompanied her father to lectures at the New York Historical Society and other cultural events.[3]
Career
On September 25, 1884, she was married to James Osborne Wright, an Englishman; after an extended visit to England, the couple moved to Fairfield, Connecticut.[1][5]
Although Wright wished to attend medical school at
Adler helped organize the
From her beginnings as a writer about children, nature, and outdoor life, Wright's reception from the public was cordial. However, when she began to publish works of fiction, she concealed her identity as their author until they had won recognition independently, taking the pseudonym of "Barbara". Much of the material to which she gave attractive literary expression she found in the large garden at her home in Fairfield.[11] Although Wright is remembered more for her nature writing, some aspects of her fiction are notable. Some of these romances were unconventional in form, combining passages of fictional narrative with letters, diary entries, and nonfictional pieces of autobiography, social criticism, and gardening lore. It is true that her fictional range was narrow, limited demographically to the upper classes of Manhattan and New England and emotionally to scenes of domestic piety and sentimentality. But her observations of changing social patterns (the "new magnates" of the new century and increased suburbanization) and of the growth of feminism are worthwhile. Her ambivalence toward the changing role of women is interesting, with sympathy on the one hand and shrill attacks on careerism on the other.[1]
On July 16, 1934, she succumbed to hypertensive myocardial disease with angina, and died in Fairfield. She is buried in Oak Lawn Cemetery in that town.[1]
In 1998, Wright was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame.[5]
Selected works
- Wright, Mabel Osgood (1894). The Friendship of Nature:A New England Chronicle of Birds and Flowers. New York, NY: Macmillan.
- Wright, Mabel Osgood (1895). Birdcraft: A Field Book of Two Hundred Song, Game, and Water Birds. New York, NY: Macmillan.
- Wright, Mabel Osgood; Coues, Elliott (1897). Citizen Bird: Scenes from Bird-life in Plain English for Beginners. New York, NY: Macmillan.
- Wright, Mabel Osgood (1898). Four-footed Americans and Their Kin. New York, NY: Macmillan.
- Wright, Mabel Osgood (1901). Flowers and Ferns in Their Haunts. New York, NY: Macmillan.
- Wright, Mabel Osgood (1901). The Garden of a Commuter's Wife, Recorded by the Gardener. New York, NY: Macmillan. In the 1911 reprint edition, no name appears on the title page save "The Gardener."
- Wright, Mabel Osgood (1903). Aunt Jimmy's Will. New York, NY: Macmillan.
- Wright, Mabel Osgood (1903). People of the Whirlpool, From the Experience Book of a Commuter's Wife.
- Wright, Mabel Osgood (1906). The Garden, You, and I. New York, NY: Macmillan. Under the pseudonym "Barbara."
- Wright, Mabel Osgood (1906). The Heart of Nature. New York, NY: Macmillan.
- Wright, Mabel Osgood (1907). Gray Lady and the Birds: Stories of the Bird Year for Home and School. New York, NY: Macmillan.
- Wright, Mabel Osgood (1909). Poppea of the Post Office. New York, NY: Macmillan. Title page has "By Mabel Osgood Wright (Barbara)".
- Wright, Mabel Osgood (1922). The Making of Birdcraft Sanctuary. South Norwalk, CT: Gorham Press.
Mabel Osgood Wright's work also includes the following. Several of the works of fiction first appeared under the pseudonym of "Barbara".
- Tommy-Anne and the Three Hearts: A Nature Story (1896)
- Wabeno, the Magician (1899), a sequel to Tommy-Anne
- The Dream Fox Story Book (1900)
- Dogtown (1902)
- The Woman Errant (1904)
- The Open Window (1908)
- The Love that Lives (1911)
- The Stranger at the Gate (1913)
- My New York (1926)
- Eudora's Men (1931)
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-674-62731-4.
- ^ a b c d e f Van Der Aue, Kathleen (2023-03-08). "Mabel Osgood Wright: A lifelong commitment to birds". Connecticut Audubon Society. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
- ^ ISSN 0276-7643.
- ^ Landrigan, Leslie (2014-01-26). "Mabel Osgood Wright: The Bird Woman of Fairfield, Connecticut". New England Historical Society. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
- ^ a b c "Mabel Osgood Wright". CT Women’s Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
- ^ a b Griswold, Wick (September 2019). "Mabel Osgood Wright: The Mother of Birding in Connecticut". Estuary Magazine. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-973459-7.
- ^ ISSN 1086-0266.
- ISBN 978-0-691-04402-6.
- JSTOR 4069208. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
- ^ Gilman, D.C.; Thurston, H.T.; Moore, F., eds. (1916). "Wright, Mabel Osgood". New International Encyclopædia (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Dodd, Mead. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
External links
- Works by Mabel Osgood Wright at Project Gutenberg
- Works by Mabel Osgood Wright at Faded Page (Canada)
- Works by or about Mabel Osgood Wright at Internet Archive
- Works by Mabel Osgood Wright at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)