Anne Weston Whitney was an extremely active Club member from 1892 to 1908. Over the course of her years in the Woman’s Literary Club of Baltimore, she held many roles. She was (at different times) chairman of the committees on fiction, the study of the English language, ethnology, and anthropology, an elected Club director, the longtime corresponding secretary, and, towards the end of her time in the Club, the second Vice President alongside Ellen Duvall under the leadership of Mrs. John C. Wrenshall. As a committee chairman and general member, she was also a frequent presenter of mostly informational pieces, but occasionally also works of fiction. Her membership ended when she moved to New York in 1908.

Anne, or Annie, was born to Milton and Ann Whitney in 1849 in Massachusetts, and moved to Baltimore with her family sometime between 1850 and 1860. Alongside the WLCB, Anne was also the secretary for the American Folklore Society, which was founded in 1888. She is also credited in some news articles as the secretary of the Baltimore Folklore Society, but these may be the same organization. Mrs. Waller Bullock was also a member of the American Folklore society with her, and one Baltimore Sun article describes a presentation they did together on common superstitions. Some of the wisdom they imparted on the society included: “Never walk in the middle of the road, the dead walk there,” “If a horse’s mane gets tangled at night, it’s because the witches have tangled it,” and “A leather shoestring knotted five or nine times and worn around the neck will cure the whooping cough.”

Only one of her publications in the Journal of American Folklore seems to survive today, an article she wrote titled “Items of Maryland Belief and Custom.” It details various superstitions and odd customs of Maryland inhabitants, and is available here. Though this seems to be the only piece penned by her that is accessible, there are also Baltimore Sun articles chronicling her work with the Folklore Society that include excerpts from her research. One such article includes her descriptions of a Maryland estate haunted by a pair of invisible clippers that can be heard snipping away all day and night, and causing cuts and gashes to appear in clothing, curtains, plants, and other materials. She writes that the estate was possessed by an evil spirit, or wizard, and the problem was solved by having a priest exorcise the grounds. Even though a lot of her fiction and other writings seem to be lost, it’s clear that she had a fascination with the supernatural as well as for the literary, and was a respected member of both communities.

During our summer research, the name “Ellen Duvall” began to be tossed around always accompanied by a sort of painful giggle in response to whatever problematic (see: racist) thing she had done in the meeting minutes next. I didn’t know much about her, but I began to hate Ellen Duvall. And when I was assigned to research and read her published works, that same painful giggle came back. I already knew what I’d find: Ellen Duvall writing a lot of problematic things that would be difficult to get through reading. I expected I’d continue to hate her.

I think you can see where this is going. It turns out, I don’t hate Ellen Duvall. I hate the racist things she’s done and said, and this isn’t me giving her a get out of jail free card. I think she’s teaching me, though, that it’s important to see the whole person: not just someone’s flaws. And these women are all deeply flawed, just as we are.

Looking at Duvall’s work, I was surprised at how good some of her stuff is. By some, I do mean some though. I read five pieces and I really only liked two. I found “A Point of Honor” and “Estelle” gripping and actually very wise and relatable. “A Point of Honor” is a short story involving a young woman, Adela, who seeks out the advice of her aunt, Miss Miriam Hatley. Basically Adela likes this dude who she’s been close friends with for ages, and then her friend Ethel comes along and her and the guy end up hitting it off. Adela begins to resent Ethel, and Miriam helps her to look at the situation more rationally, and also simply to not let a man come between a female friendship. Duvall writes,

“I know how prone we all are to think that love in itself constitutes some sort of claim; but it does not. It simply gives the right to stand aside or to serve, as the case may be.”

The story is written really well and touches beautifully on themes of jealousy, pride, and love.

A quote from the beginning of “A Point of Honor” perhaps sheds some light on Duvall’s own thoughts toward her ‘responsibility’ as a writer:  

“For she thinks that the reader has no responsibility toward the author, but the author has every responsibility toward the reader.”

Duvall clearly loved to write. She has countless published works, mostly fictional short stories and the occasional article. She was fond of Shakespeare and wrote about him a lot too, as is mentioned a lot in the meeting minutes.

It was difficult to find Duvall’s birth and death dates, and to my shock I couldn’t find a single short biography about her. I kind of expected her to have a Wikipedia page at the very least, just because of the extent of how much she’s been published. I thought I’d found her on Find a Grave, which is, I think, the source Sydney had originally used to find her age back during our summer research, but it turns out that’s the wrong Ellen Duvall, though they were buried in the same cemetery. It doesn’t help, of course, that she doesn’t have an uncommon name.

A newspapers.com and ancestry.com free trial later, I found out that Ellen Duvall was born in Delaware in (I think) 1854. According to ancestry.com, she died in 1943, but according to her obituary, she died in 1944, so I’m going to go with 1944– which means she was an astounding 90 years old when she passed. 

When I set out searching on newspapers.com, I knew finding an obituary would be key to finding other biographical information. It wasn’t easy though– Ellen Duvall was mentioned in The Baltimore Sun hundreds of times. Usually, it was in conjunction with a mention of the WLCB which was mentioned a lot, or her doing a reading somewhere, or she was even highlighted in a spread of Baltimore women writers, which many of our ladies were showcased in as well.

I couldn’t find her obituary for a while precisely because she was everywhere. And when I did, it was by mere chance because I almost missed it in its sparsity. After years of mentions like those above, here is Duvall’s obituary in the same paper:

Perhaps the highlight is that she’s credited as being one of the founders of WLCB and an ‘associate of’ Cloud and Reese, but wow– no mention of her ‘notable works’ from the mini-biography published in the Sun years prior; no mention of her being a published author even.

Duvall spent most of her life as a single boarder. It’s mentioned in her obituary that she died in the home of her nephew, Philips F. Lee, the son of her younger sister, Laura Duvall. She had five siblings total, and seemingly alternated between living with one of them or her parents over the years. I wonder what her relationship with her family was like– I wonder if she ever longed to live on her own, or if she was content.

As I read and find more of Duvall’s work, I look forward to finding out more about her. Despite her high status in the Club, countless publications, and single status and therefore easily google-able name, even she, it seems, has fallen somewhat through history’s cracks.

Woods, Katharine Pearson (1853–1923)

Katharine Pearson Woods was an American novelist, born Jan 28, 1853, in Wheeling, VA to Alexander Quarrier Woods, a tobacco merchant and Josephine Augusta (McCabe) Woods. She was the oldest of three girls where their parents promoted literature and education. This was a big influence in Miss.Woods works.

In 1874, at the age of twenty-one, she joined the religious organization of the All Saints Sisters of the Poor. Due to illness, she withdrew, but this experience led to her work in charity which encouraged the religious and moral tone of her writings.

In 1889, Miss Woods’s first novel was published. Metzerott, Shoemaker based on the Christian principals who advocated economic reform for the working class. Her other works included; Web of Gold (1890), The Crowning of Candace (1896) The Mark of the Beast: A Romance (1890), The Son of Ingar (1897), and The True Story of Captain John Smith (1901)

Woods’ greatest strength in her writings is evident in her description of natural settings and reflection for the love of nature. This strength landed several of her poems to be published in Harper’s Magazine.

Through the years, Katharine Pearson Woods took part in the WLCB, taught school age girls as well as continued with her good deeds and religious practices until her death , February 19, 1923.