Alice Morse Earle (April 27, 1851 – February 16, 1911) was an American historian and author from Worcester, Massachusetts. She was christened Mary Alice by her parents Edwin Morse and Abby Mason Clary. On 15 April, 1874, she married Henry Earle of New York, changing her name from Mary Alice Morse to Alice Morse Earle. Her writings, beginning in 1890, focussed on small sociological details rather than grand details, and thus are invaluable for modern sociologists. She wrote a number of books on Colonial America (and especially the New England region) such as Curious Punishments of Bygone Days. She was a passenger aboard the RMS Republic when, while in a dense fog, that ship collided with the SS Florida. During the transfer of passengers, Alice fell into the water. Her near drowning in 1909 off the coast of Nantucket during this abortive trip to Egypt weakened her health sufficiently that she died two years later, in Hempstead, Long Island.
Partial bibliography
- China Collecting in America (1892)
- Customs and Fashions in Old New England (1893)
- Colonial Dames and Goodwives (1895)
- Colonial Days in Old New York (1896)
- Curious Punishments of Bygone Days (1896)
- In Old Narragansett: Romances and Realities (1898)
- Home Life in Colonial Days (1898)
- Child Life in Colonial Days (1899)
- [1] Stagecoach and Tavern Days (1900)
- Old Time Gardens (1901)
- Sun Dials and Roses of Yesterday (1902)
- Two Centuries of Costume in America, 1620–1820 (2 vols., 1903)
References
- "Earle, Alice Morse" Notable American Women, Vol. 1, 4th ed., The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1975
External links
- Article at Encyclopedia Britannica
- Works by Alice Morse Earle at Project Gutenberg
- Quotes by Earle
- Review of Earle's Home Life in Colonial Days
- Colonial days in old New York by Alice Morse Earle. Cornell University Library New York State Historical Literature Collection. {Reprinted by} Cornell University Library Digital Collections
