Jean Webster (1876-1916)
Jean Webster was born Alice Jane Chandler Webster on July 24, 1876, in Fredonia, New York. She came from a literary family, as she was the grand-niece of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), and her father was Mark Twain’s publishing partner. She was named “Jane” after Twain’s mother. Her family was also very interested in social movements, with her great-grandmother active in temperance issues and her grandmother fighting for racial equality and women’s suffrage. These early influences would affect Webster’s interests later in life. (Simpson)
Webster experienced several different school environment and eventually used details from all of them in her writing. She graduated from the Fredonia Normal School in 1894 with a concentration in china painting. Alan Simpson, president of Vassar College from 1964-1977 and co-author of the biography Jean Webster: Storyteller, posits that this early interest in art led to Webster self-illustrating her most popular books, Daddy-Long-Legs and its sequel, Dear Enemy. Webster boarded for two years at the Lady Jane Grey school, where she first began using the name “Jean,” due to a classmate at the school also being named “Alice.” The name “Jean” stuck, and she used it throughout her career. (Flowers)
In 1897, Webster became a student at Vassar College, where she was an active contributor to the school’s publications, including the Vassar Miscellany. She also began writing short stories that were inspired by her school years. These stories were initially published as serials for young readers and then later as the collections When Patty Went to College and Just Patty. Webster's great-uncle Mark Twain praised her first efforts: "I read most of Jean Webster's book today; and the most of what I read greatly pleased me" (Alkalay-Gut 119). Webster also wrote articles and columns for The Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier, a New York newspaper. The topics of her contributions ranged from human interest pieces to first-person humorous essays about life at Vassar. During her junior year at Vassar, she traveled to Italy where she met Ethelyn McKinney, who became a long-term friend and whose brother Webster later married. (Simpson)
At Vassar, she was also close friends with the poet Adelaide Crapsey. Webster was inspired by Crapsey's enthusiasm and humor. One of Crapsey's biographers notes that Webster's friend "probably served as a model for many of Webster's Patty sketches" (Butscher 20). Along with enthusiasm and humor, Webster even drew on such details as Crapsey's diminutive stature in her description of Judy Abbott, her most famous heroine. Crapsey biographer Alkalay-Gut speculates that Adelaide "probably devised the [basketball] system her friend Webster was later to describe . . .'I'm little of course, but terribly quick ad wiry and tough. While the others are hopping about in the air, I can dodge under their feet and grab the ball'" (54).
The author’s time at Vassar also marked the beginning of her political activism. For the presidential election in the year 1900, Webster campaigned for the socialist candidate, Eugene V. Debs. She was also an ardent supporter of suffrage for women, a sentiment echoed by many of her books’ heroines. After graduating from Vassar College, Webster moved to New York City. For the next decade, she worked as a freelance writer for several magazines while also publishing the books When Patty Went to College, Wheat Princess, Jerry Junior, The Four-Pools Mystery, Much Ado About Peter, and Just Patty. During this time, she also traveled a great deal. One eight-month world tour included visits to Egypt, India, Burma, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, and Japan. (Simpson)
Webster experienced several different school environment and eventually used details from all of them in her writing. She graduated from the Fredonia Normal School in 1894 with a concentration in china painting. Alan Simpson, president of Vassar College from 1964-1977 and co-author of the biography Jean Webster: Storyteller, posits that this early interest in art led to Webster self-illustrating her most popular books, Daddy-Long-Legs and its sequel, Dear Enemy. Webster boarded for two years at the Lady Jane Grey school, where she first began using the name “Jean,” due to a classmate at the school also being named “Alice.” The name “Jean” stuck, and she used it throughout her career. (Flowers)
In 1897, Webster became a student at Vassar College, where she was an active contributor to the school’s publications, including the Vassar Miscellany. She also began writing short stories that were inspired by her school years. These stories were initially published as serials for young readers and then later as the collections When Patty Went to College and Just Patty. Webster's great-uncle Mark Twain praised her first efforts: "I read most of Jean Webster's book today; and the most of what I read greatly pleased me" (Alkalay-Gut 119). Webster also wrote articles and columns for The Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier, a New York newspaper. The topics of her contributions ranged from human interest pieces to first-person humorous essays about life at Vassar. During her junior year at Vassar, she traveled to Italy where she met Ethelyn McKinney, who became a long-term friend and whose brother Webster later married. (Simpson)
At Vassar, she was also close friends with the poet Adelaide Crapsey. Webster was inspired by Crapsey's enthusiasm and humor. One of Crapsey's biographers notes that Webster's friend "probably served as a model for many of Webster's Patty sketches" (Butscher 20). Along with enthusiasm and humor, Webster even drew on such details as Crapsey's diminutive stature in her description of Judy Abbott, her most famous heroine. Crapsey biographer Alkalay-Gut speculates that Adelaide "probably devised the [basketball] system her friend Webster was later to describe . . .'I'm little of course, but terribly quick ad wiry and tough. While the others are hopping about in the air, I can dodge under their feet and grab the ball'" (54).
The author’s time at Vassar also marked the beginning of her political activism. For the presidential election in the year 1900, Webster campaigned for the socialist candidate, Eugene V. Debs. She was also an ardent supporter of suffrage for women, a sentiment echoed by many of her books’ heroines. After graduating from Vassar College, Webster moved to New York City. For the next decade, she worked as a freelance writer for several magazines while also publishing the books When Patty Went to College, Wheat Princess, Jerry Junior, The Four-Pools Mystery, Much Ado About Peter, and Just Patty. During this time, she also traveled a great deal. One eight-month world tour included visits to Egypt, India, Burma, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, and Japan. (Simpson)
Although this was a happy and productive time for Webster, the height of her success was yet to come, and the impetus for that success was inspired by social activism. As a student as Vassar, Webster had studied English and economics. During a course on welfare and penal reform, she visited several charitable institutions. She was very affected by these visits and became involved with the College Settlement House. Through the remainder of her life, Webster was devoted to several social causes, including women’s suffrage, the welfare and advancement of underprivileged children, and prison reform. Many of these interests are evident in her most famous work, Daddy-Long-Legs. The novel concerns the life and education of Jerusha ("Judy") Abbott, an orphan whose college education is financed by an unknown benefactor.
After Webster's early moderate success with several other books, Daddy-Long-Legs was published in 1912 by the Century Company to popular and critical acclaim and has since been adapted many times for stage and screen. Webster herself wrote a four-act play adaptation that toured in several cities in 1914 and ran in New York City from that fall until the following summer. The story of a bright but lonely orphan finding happiness and success in the world was a popular one and helped give voice to the author’s belief that every child should be given the chance to succeed. Not only did the story itself support this cause, but so did the publicity for it. Proceeds from Daddy-Long-Legs dolls went toward placing orphans with families. The sequel to Daddy-Long-Legs, Dear Enemy, was published in 1915, the same year that the dramatic adaptation of the first book was playing in New York City. Webster self-illustrated both of her epistolary novels, Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy, in the “voices” of her first-person characters. Judy in Daddy-Long-Legs and Sallie in Dear Enemy pepper their letters with pen-and-ink sketches that are imbued with the same sense of humor that makes the texts so lively (see below).
After Webster's early moderate success with several other books, Daddy-Long-Legs was published in 1912 by the Century Company to popular and critical acclaim and has since been adapted many times for stage and screen. Webster herself wrote a four-act play adaptation that toured in several cities in 1914 and ran in New York City from that fall until the following summer. The story of a bright but lonely orphan finding happiness and success in the world was a popular one and helped give voice to the author’s belief that every child should be given the chance to succeed. Not only did the story itself support this cause, but so did the publicity for it. Proceeds from Daddy-Long-Legs dolls went toward placing orphans with families. The sequel to Daddy-Long-Legs, Dear Enemy, was published in 1915, the same year that the dramatic adaptation of the first book was playing in New York City. Webster self-illustrated both of her epistolary novels, Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy, in the “voices” of her first-person characters. Judy in Daddy-Long-Legs and Sallie in Dear Enemy pepper their letters with pen-and-ink sketches that are imbued with the same sense of humor that makes the texts so lively (see below).
In 1915, Webster married Glenn Ford McKinney. Certain aspects of their relationship found their way into Webster’s novels. Like the mysterious benefactor in Daddy-Long-Legs, McKinney was the relative of one of Webster’s friends. Like the Scottish doctor in Dear Enemy, McKinney had previously been married to a mentally unstable woman who was often hospitalized. After their marriage, Webster and McKinney divided their time between a New York City apartment, which overlooked Central Park, and a farmhouse in Massachusetts, where they raised ducks and pheasants. Webster died in New York on June 11, 1916, following the birth of her first child, a daughter named Jean. She was 39. A room in the Girls’ Service League and a bed at a branch of the New York Orthopedic Hospital were both endowed in her memory. ("Jean")
Resources
[Web sources current as of 12/9/12.]
"Adelaide Crapsey." Vassar College Encyclopedia. Vassar College, 2006. Web. <http://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/alumni/adelaide-crapsey.html>.
Alkalay-Gut, Karen. Alone in the Dawn: The Life of Adelaide Crapsey. London: The University of Georgia Press.
"Alice Jane Chandler Webster." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web.
"Alice (Jane Chandler) Webster (1876-1916)." Something about the Author. Ed. Anne Commire. Vol. 17. Detroit: Gale Research, 1979. 241-242. Something About The Author Online.
Bain News Service. Jean Webster. Photograph. between 1910 and 1915. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
Butscher, Edward. Adelaide Crapsey. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1979.
Flowers, Ann A. Introduction. Dear Enemy. By Jean Webster. Boston: Gregg, 1980.
Greenwald, Sheila. "Afterword." Daddy-Long-Legs. By Jean Webster. New York: Dell Pub., 1987. 188-190. Print.
"Jean Webster." Vassar College Encyclopedia. Vassar College, 2005. Web. <http://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/alumni/jean-webster.html>.
Simpson, Alan, Mary Simpson, and Ralph Connor. Jean Webster, Storyteller. [Poughkeepsie, N.Y.]: Tymor Associates, 1984.
"Webster, Jean (1876-1916)." Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature. George B. Perkins, Barbara Perkins, and Phillip Leininger. Vol. 1. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. 1111. Literature Resource Center. Web.
"Webster, Jean [Alice Jane Chandler Webster] 1876-1916." The Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Credo Reference. Web. 02 December 2012.
"Adelaide Crapsey." Vassar College Encyclopedia. Vassar College, 2006. Web. <http://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/alumni/adelaide-crapsey.html>.
Alkalay-Gut, Karen. Alone in the Dawn: The Life of Adelaide Crapsey. London: The University of Georgia Press.
"Alice Jane Chandler Webster." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web.
"Alice (Jane Chandler) Webster (1876-1916)." Something about the Author. Ed. Anne Commire. Vol. 17. Detroit: Gale Research, 1979. 241-242. Something About The Author Online.
Bain News Service. Jean Webster. Photograph. between 1910 and 1915. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
Butscher, Edward. Adelaide Crapsey. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1979.
Flowers, Ann A. Introduction. Dear Enemy. By Jean Webster. Boston: Gregg, 1980.
Greenwald, Sheila. "Afterword." Daddy-Long-Legs. By Jean Webster. New York: Dell Pub., 1987. 188-190. Print.
"Jean Webster." Vassar College Encyclopedia. Vassar College, 2005. Web. <http://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/alumni/jean-webster.html>.
Simpson, Alan, Mary Simpson, and Ralph Connor. Jean Webster, Storyteller. [Poughkeepsie, N.Y.]: Tymor Associates, 1984.
"Webster, Jean (1876-1916)." Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature. George B. Perkins, Barbara Perkins, and Phillip Leininger. Vol. 1. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. 1111. Literature Resource Center. Web.
"Webster, Jean [Alice Jane Chandler Webster] 1876-1916." The Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Credo Reference. Web. 02 December 2012.
For further information, see:
“Guide to the McKinney Family Papers, 1823-1964.” Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries. Vassar College, 26 Feb. 2009. Web. <http://specialcollections.vassar.edu/findingaids/mckinney_mickinney_familly.html>.
“Guide to the Samuel L. Clemens Papers, 1796-1984.” Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries. Vassar College, June 2007. Web. <http://specialcollections.vassar.edu/findingaids/mckinney_clemens.html>.
Simpson, Alan, Mary Simpson, and Ralph Connor. Jean Webster, Storyteller. [Poughkeepsie, N.Y.]: Tymor Associates, 1984.
“Guide to the Samuel L. Clemens Papers, 1796-1984.” Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries. Vassar College, June 2007. Web. <http://specialcollections.vassar.edu/findingaids/mckinney_clemens.html>.
Simpson, Alan, Mary Simpson, and Ralph Connor. Jean Webster, Storyteller. [Poughkeepsie, N.Y.]: Tymor Associates, 1984.