About Isabella McDonald Alden

Biography Page

of Isabella

Macdonald Alden

aka "Pansy"

Pansy was Isabella Macdonald Alden. The daughter of well-educated parents, she was born November 3, 1841, in Rochester, New York. She was the sixth of seven children, and was initially home-schooled by her father, who also gave her her nickname. She developed her writing skills early: as a child, she kept a daily journal, which her father critiqued, and had her first story, "Our Old Clock," published in the village paper when she was only ten. Later, she attended school in New York, at the Oneida Seminary, the Seneca Collegiate Institute, and the Young Ladies Institute.

After her marriage, Alden divided her time among writing, participating in church activities, teaching at several of the Chautauqua sessions, and raising her son Raymond, who was born in 1873. From 1865 to 1929, Alden also authored approximately 100 books, coauthored 10 more, and edited or co-edited several others. Most of her works are didactic fiction, heavily salted with religious principles, which concentrate on translating Biblical precepts into acceptable Christian behavior in a modern world. Several of her books, such as Ester Ried (her most popular work), were based on personal experiences; others, such as the Chautauqua Girls series, appear to have been motivated by her interest in the Chautauqua movement. Some elements in the Chautauqua books may also have been semi-autobiographical; for example, one of the girls writes articles for the paper, marries a minister, and works with the primary grades in the Sunday School.

Alden's books were enormously popular during the late nineteenth century; in 1900, sales were estimated at around 100,000 copies annually. Some titles were translated into several languages, including French and Japanese. None too surprisingly, her books were also a staple in many Sunday School libraries.
After the deaths of her husband and son in 1924, Alden moved to Palo Alto, California, where she made her home with her daughter-in-law. She continued writing until shortly before her death on August 5, 1930, leaving an unfinished autobiography, Memories of Yesterday, which was completed and edited by her niece, Grace Livingston Hill.

Quotes about Pansy

"Her stories were out of real life that struck home and showed us
to ourselves as God saw us; and sent us to our knees to talk with Him."
-Grace Livingston Hill
(quote from the foreword Mrs. Hill wrote for her aunt's final book, An Interrupted Night.)

"I understand, I think the reasons for the perennial popularity of the 'Pansy books.' They waken the music of the noble chords of the soul. In their influence, as compared with that of the usual Sunday school books or works of lighter fiction, that the difference that exists between waltz and ___________." S. K. Koltok

"Mrs. Alden's writings are so pure, earnest, and hopeful that a daily absorption of her pithiest thoughts must prove an enriching process. -N. Y. Witness

19th Century Girls Series: Isabella Macdonald Alden (Pansy)
http://readseries.com/pansybio.htm

Isabella Alden ... Britanica.com
American children's author whose books achieved great popularity for the wholesome interest and variety of their situations and characters and the clearly moral but not sombre lessons of their plots.
http://www.britannica.com
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=137655&tocid=0&query=pansy

Non-Web Biographical Resources

Contemporary Authors, volume 120, page 19
National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, volume 10, page 405
Notable American Women, volume 1, pages 31-33
Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 1, pages 19-21
Yesterday's Authors of Books for Children, volume 2, pages 1-7
Dictionary of Literary Biography, volume 42
American Writers for Children before 1900, pages 37-41