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*1984, inducted into [[Ohio Women's Hall of Fame]]<ref name=owhof>{{cite web|title=Helen Santmyer|publisher=Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services|url=http://www.odjfs.state.oh.us/women/halloffame/bio.asp?ID=267|accessdate=2014-10-03}}</ref>
*1984, inducted into [[Ohio Women's Hall of Fame]]<ref name=owhof>{{cite web|title=Helen Santmyer|publisher=Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services|url=http://www.odjfs.state.oh.us/women/halloffame/bio.asp?ID=267|accessdate=2014-10-03}}</ref>
*1984, Honorary Degree, Wright State University<ref name=wright>{{cite web|title=Honorary Degree Recipients|publisher=Wright State University|url=http://www.wright.edu/administration/senate/documents/PastHonoraryDegreeRecipients-1_000.pdf|accessdate=2014-10-03}}</ref>
*1984, Honorary Degree, Wright State University<ref name=wright>{{cite web|title=Honorary Degree Recipients|publisher=Wright State University|url=http://www.wright.edu/administration/senate/documents/PastHonoraryDegreeRecipients-1_000.pdf|accessdate=2014-10-03}}</ref>
*1985, [[Central State University]] held a conference on ''Ladies''<ref>{{cite journal|last=Fleissner|first=Robert|title=Review of ''“… And Ladies of the Club,”'' by Helen Hooven Santmyer|work=CLA Journal|volume=29|date=June 1986)|pages=486-89}}</ref>
*1985, Ohio Governor's Award<ref name=awards/>
*1985, Ohio Governor's Award<ref name=awards/>


Revision as of 17:15, 7 October 2014

Helen Hooven Santmyer
1984 publicity photograph, Santmyer autographing a copy of Ladies[1]
1984 publicity photograph, Santmyer autographing a copy of Ladies[1]
Born(1895-11-25)November 25, 1895
Cincinnati, Ohio
Died21 February 1986(1986-02-21) (aged 90)
Xenia, Ohio
OccupationNovelist, Educator, Librarian
NationalityAmerican
Notable works“... And Ladies of the Club”

Helen Hooven Santmyer (November 25, 1895 – February 21, 1986) was an American writer, educator, and librarian. She is known for her best-selling epic “... And Ladies of the Club”, published when she was in her 80s.[2]

Life and career

Santmyer was born on November 25, 1895 in Cincinnati, Ohio, relocating with her family in Xenia, Ohio when she was five years old. She attended Wellesley College in 1918 and was active in the struggle for women's rights. Santmeyer took a job as an editorial secretary with Scribner's publishing in New York City for two years, then returned to Xenia, and taught locally and at Wellesley College. After Wellesley, Santmyer attended Oxford University in England for three years. Following her time in England, she wrote four novels and saw two of them published: Herbs and Apples, The Fierce Dispute. Santmyer also wrote poetry; one sonnet, "The Prairie Town", appeared in The Bookman Anthology of Verse in 1922.

She returned to Xenia in 1935 after accepting positions as Dean of Women and English department head at Cedarville College. Originally chartered as a Reformed Presbyterian college, Santmeyer resigned from the faculty when the school was purchased by the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches. Following her resignation, she took a position as a research librarian. Upon retirement in 1959, Santmeyer returned to full-time writing, publishing Ohio Town, a book containing reminiscences of Xenia, in 1963.

Her novel “... And Ladies of the Club” was published obscurely by Ohio State University Press in 1982. She permanently moved into a nursing home in 1983, nearly blind and weak from emphysema. By chance, the novel found its way to Hollywood people who saw great potential, leading to its republication in 1984, its being the main selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, and a round of media frenzy. The novel became a monumental best-seller in 1984.

Helen Santmyer, who never married, died at the age of 88 on February 26, 1986 at a nursing in Xenia where she had been residing since the mid-1970s.[3]

Bibliography

  • Herbs and Apples (1925)
  • The Fierce Dispute (1929)
  • Ohio Town (1963)
  • “... And Ladies of the Club” (1982)
  • Farewell, Summer (1988)
  • The Hall with Eight Doors (unpublished)[4]

Awards and achievements

  • 1964 Florence Roberts Head Award, for Ohio Town[5]
  • 1983 Ohioana Book Award in the category of fiction, for “... And Ladies of the Club”[6]
  • 1984: 37 consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, seven weeks at number-one (Ladies)[7]
  • 1984, inducted into Ohio Women's Hall of Fame[8]
  • 1984, Honorary Degree, Wright State University[9]
  • 1985, Central State University held a conference on Ladies[10]
  • 1985, Ohio Governor's Award[4]

Legacy

  • The Helen Hooven Santmyer Prize, awarded annually since 1991 in the amount of $2500, was established by the Ohio State University Press for the "best book-length manuscript on the contributions of women, their lives and experiences, and their role in society."[11]
  • The Helen Hooven Santmyer Award for Excellence is a college scholarship.[12]

Notes

  1. ^ "Literary Success at 88". Chicago Tribune. January 13, 1984. p. 11.
  2. ^ Mitgang, Herbert (February 22, 1986). "Helen Hooven Santmyer, 90, Author and Educator, Dies". New York Times.
  3. ^ New York Times, Santmyer obituary, February 23, 1986
  4. ^ a b "Helen Hooven Santmyer". Ohioana Authors. Retrieved October 3, 2014.
  5. ^ "Ohioana Florence Roberts Head Book Award Winners". Ohioana Library. Retrieved October 3, 2014.
  6. ^ "Ohioana Book Award Winners: Fiction". Ohioana Library. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
  7. ^ "Santmyer, Helen Hooven". Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. Retrieved October 3, 2014.
  8. ^ "Helen Santmyer". Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services. Retrieved October 3, 2014.
  9. ^ "Honorary Degree Recipients" (PDF). Wright State University. Retrieved October 3, 2014.
  10. ^ Fleissner, Robert (June 1986)). "Review of "… And Ladies of the Club," by Helen Hooven Santmyer". CLA Journal. 29: 486–89. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ "Professional Notes and Comment". PMLA. 105 (3): 562. May 1990. JSTOR 462905.
  12. ^ "Xenia High School scholarship recipients". Xenia Gazette. June 9, 2014. Retrieved October 3, 2014.

Further reading

  • Joyce Crosby Quay, Early Promise, Late Reward, (Knowledge, Ideas and Trends, 1995)
  • LA Times obituary, 1986
  • Anne Barry, "Helen Hooven Santmyer: 'I Awoke One Morning and Found Myself Famous' (Lord Byron)", Ohioana Quarterly 27 (Autumn 1984): p88-89.
  • "Happy endings...", Chicago Tribun (Jan 19, 1984) p. N24
  • Paul Galloway, "Move over, Jane Austen — Miss Santmyer has finally arrived", Chicago Tribune (June 10, 1984) Sunday Tempo, p. 1.
  • Jane Briggs-Bunting, "At 88, Helen Santmyer Belatedly Joins the Club of Big Best-Selling Novelists", People, (July 16, 1984) Vol. 22 No. 3

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