Eleanor Hallowell Abbott Papers, 1905-1936

Collection number: MC 145
Size: 1 box (0.33 cu.ft.)

About Eleanor Hallowell Abbott

Eleanor Hallowell Abbott (1872-1958) was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As the daughter of clergyman Edward Abbott and granddaughter of Jacob Abbott – a well-known children’s author and friend to Longfellow and Lowell – she grew up in a decidedly religious and scholarly environment. She studied at Radcliffe, worked as a secretary and teacher at Lowell State Normal School, and wrote poems and short stories. In 1908 she married Dr. Fordyce Coburn and moved to Wilton, N.H. At about the same time, Harper's, Collier's, and The Delineator accepted some of her works for publication. She soon acquired national recognition and went on to publish 14 books and more than 75 magazine stories. Her fiction, which was unabashedly romantic and almost exclusively focused on young women, was frequently described as charming and was particularly popular in the 1910s and 1920s. A partial list of Abbott’s books includes:

  • Molly Make-Believe (1910)
  • The Sick-A-Bed Lady (and other tales) (1911)
  • The White Linen Nurse (1913)
  • Little Eve Edgarton (1914)
  • Ne'er Do Much (1918)
  • Love and Mrs. Kendrue (1919)
  • Silver Moon (1923)
  • But Once A Year: Christmas Stories (1928)
  • Being Little In Cambridge When Everyone Else Was Big (1936)

About the Eleanor Hallowell Abbott Papers

The Eleanor Hallowell Abbott collection primarily contains typescripts of a number of Abbott’s short stories, including “Axiom Is That Axiom Does” (n.d.), “Being Little in Cambridge When Everyone Else Was Big” (1936), “Hi-There” (1932), “Proud People Under Old Umbrellas” – later titled “The Last Word” (1932), “The Screaming Girl” (n.d.), “Someone to Sit with Reggie” (n.d.), and an untitled manuscript. The collection also includes a letter from Abbott to a “Mr. Chapman” regarding her Christmas story “Peace on Earth, Good Will to Hogs,” a scrapbook containing her story “The Sick-A-Bed Lady,” which was published in Collier's, and promotional advertisements for her book Molly Make-Believe (1910).

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

This collection is open

Copyright Notice

Contents of this collection are governed by U.S. copyright law. For questions about publication or reproduction rights, contact Special Collections staff

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Eleanor Hallowell Abbott Papers, 1905-1936, MC 145, Milne Special Collections and Archives, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham, NH, USA

Acquisitions Information

Purchased: Howard S. Mott Rare Books, 1980, 1983 (Accession numbers: 7954, 8244)

Collection Contents

Box 1
Box 1, Folder 1Correspondence to Mr. Chapman, Oct. 23, 1933
Box 1, Folder 2Typescript, “Axiom Is That Axiom Does,” n.d.
Box 1, Folder 3Typescript, “Being Little in Cambridge When Everybody Else Was Big,” part I, 1936
Box 1, Folder 4Typescript, “Being Little in Cambridge When Everybody Else Was Big,” part II, 1936
Box 1, Folder 5Typescript, “Being Little in Cambridge When Everybody Else Was Big,” part III, 1936
Box 1, Folder 6Typescript, “Being Little in Cambridge When Everybody Else Was Big,” part IV, 1936
Box 1, Folder 7Typescript, “Hi-There,” Dec. 1932
Box 1, Folder 8 Typescript, “Proud People Under Old Umbrellas” – later changed to “The Last Word,” 1932
Box 1, Folder 9Typescript, “The Screaming Girl,” folder 1 of 4
Box 1, Folder 10Typescript, “The Screaming Girl,” folder 2 of 4
Box 1, Folder 11Typescript, “The Screaming Girl,” folder 3 of 4
Box 1, Folder 12Typescript, “The Screaming Girl,” folder 4 of 4
Box 1, Folder 13Typescript, “Someone to Sit With Reggie,” original script, undated
Box 1, Folder 14Typescript, “Someone to Sit With Reggie,” carbon copy, undated
Box 1, Folder 15Typescript, untitled, undated
Box 1, Folder 16Miscellaneous: scrapbook, “The Sick-A-Bed Lady” from Collier's, 1905 and promotional ads for Molly Make-Believe
Finding Aid Image TEMP
  • "An elderly dame" Illustration by Walter Tittle for Molly Make-Believe, 1910
Collection
"An elderly dame" Illustration by Walter Tittle for Molly Make-Believe, 1910

"An elderly dame"
Illustration by Walter Tittle
for Molly Make-Believe, 1910

Formats

Manuscripts & Typescripts