Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward Autographs, Memorabilia & Collectibles

Author Elizabeth Stuart Phelps was born Mary Phelps in 1844. She adopted her mother's name, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, when her mother died in 1852, and it was as Elizabeth Stuart Phelps that she published her first book, one of her popular children's stories, in 1864. In 1888 she married Herbert Dickinson Ward, a journalist 23 years her junior, and they collaborated on some of her later books. Phelps Ward wrote many children's books - often dealing with mature subjects like coping with death. She was among the first to popularize "tomboy" female characters. Her adult novels, beginning with The Gates Ajar (1868), were also popular. Her books included feminist and also religious themes. She died in Newton, Massachusetts in 1911.