Alcott, Louisa May ___ 1832-1888 ___ American ___ writer

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, and spent her childhood in Boston and in Concord, Massachusetts. She was schooled, with three sisters, at home by her father, a New England Transcendentalist. As a youngster she visited Ralph Waldo Emerson's library, and knew Henry David Thoreau. She started writing early, mostly poetry and short stories. 'Flower Fables', her first book, was published when she was just 22. In 1862, Alcott went to Washington to work as a nurse during the Civil War, but nearly died from typhoid. She never recovered full health again. A book of her letters at the time, though, called 'Hospital Letters' brought her a first taste of literary fame. She began writing stories for 'Atlantic Monthly'. Her most famous work, 'Little Women', written in 1868 is still popular today. Alcott published over 30 books and collections of stories. From an early age she kept a secret diary not intended for publication.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - I flied the highest

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1843-1888 ___ literary travel childhood family

WEB TEXT LINKS
etext
googlebooks

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Houghton Library, Harvard University

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Louisa May Alcott: her life, letters, and journals
The Girlhood Diary of Louisa May Alcott
 

May 2005, September 2008, March 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.