HALL, Florence (Marion) Howe 1845-1922

PERSONAL: Born August 25, 1845, in Boston, MA; died April 10, 1922, in High Bridge, NJ; daughter of Samuel Gridley (a philanthropist) and Julia Ward (an author who wrote "The Battle Hymn of the Republic") Howe; married David Prescott Hall (an attorney), November 15, 1871 (died 1907); children: Samuel P., Caroline M., Henry M., John H. Education: Attended private schools in Boston, MA; studied music with Otto Dresel in Boston, MA.

CAREER: Writer and lecturer. Woman Suffrage Party, leader of 12th Assembly District, New York, NY, 1914-16. Lecturer.

MEMBER: Daughters of the American Revolution (regent of Continental Chapter, 1902-04, 1905-10; honorary vice president, 1914), General Federation of Women's Clubs (first chairman of correspondence for New Jersey), New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs (vice president, 1911-13), New Jersey Woman Suffrage Association (president, 1893-1900; honorary president), Plainfield Alliance of Unitarian Women (president, 1903-04, 1905-10), Monday Afternoon Club (president), Women's Republican Club (president of Newport County, RI, chapter).

AWARDS, HONORS: Pulitzer Prize (with sisters Laura E. Richards and Maude Howe Elliott), 1917, for Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910.

WRITINGS:

Social Customs, Estes (Boston, MA), 1887.

The Correct Thing in Good Society, Estes (Boston, MA), 1888, revised edition, 1902.

Little Lads and Lassies: Stories in Prose and Verse about and for Them, Lothrop (Boston, MA), 1898.

(With sister, Maud Howe Elliott) Laura Bridgman, Dr. Howe's Famous Pupil and What He Taught Her, Little, Brown, 1903.

Flossy's Play-Days, Estes (Boston, MA), 1906.

Social Usages at Washington, Harper (New York, NY), 1906.

A Handbook of Hospitality for Town and Country, Estes (Boston, MA), 1909.

Boys, Girls, and Manners, Estes (Boston, MA), 1913.

(Editor and author of introduction) Laura E. Richards and Maude Howe Elliott, Julia Ward Howe and the Woman Suffrage Movement: A Selection from Her Speeches and Essays, Estes (Boston, MA), 1913, reprinted, Arno (New York, NY), 1969.

Good Form for All Occasions: A Manual of Manners, Dress, and Entertainment for Both Men and Women, Harper (New York, NY), 1914.

(With Laura E. Richards and Maude Howe Elliot) Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910, Houghton (New York, NY), 1915, reprinted, Cherokee Publishing (Atlanta, GA), 1990.

ABC of Correct Speech and the Art of Conversation, Harper (New York, NY), 1916.

The Story of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," Harper (New York, NY), 1916, reprinted, Books for Libraries Press (Freeport, NY), 1971.

Memories Grave and Gay (autobiography), Harper (New York, NY), 1918.

Manners for Boys and Girls, Page Company (Boston, MA), 1920.

SIDELIGHTS: As a child of a well-known philanthropist and a prominent author, Florence Howe Hall was greatly influenced by her parents' prestige. In addition to her success as a writer, she was also known for her work for the public good. She was active in many clubs and involved in the women's suffrage movement. Hall married in 1871, but when her husband's legal practice could not provide the family financial security, she decided to find work. She started lecturing and writing for magazines and gradually began writing books. Her career as a writer of children's stories was short lived, however, because her books failed to sell well. Having grown up surrounded by wealthy and prominent people, Hall decided to concentrate her writings in two genres with which she was familiar—etiquette books and memoirs of the famous people she knew, including her parents.

Using her expertise gained from growing up in high society, Hall wrote a series of popular etiquette books. To distinguish her work from other etiquette books, she took a different direction and covered a broad range of issues, taking a tongue-in-cheek approach by dispensing advice using humor and wit. Her success established her place in this genre. Hall continued to write a number of books about manners, including The Correct Thing in Good Society, Boys, Girls, and Manners, and Good Form for All Occasions: A Manual of Manners, Dress, and Entertainment for Both Men and Women. Despite the popularity of her etiquette books, her advice was only pertinent to those in the upper-middle class and sometimes impractical for ethnic groups or the working-class.

Hall also wrote numerous books about her family and their connections. For example, she edited a biography of her mother written by her sisters, Laura E. Richards and Maude Howe Elliott. The result, Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1917. Another biography, which she wrote with her sister Maude, Laura Bridgman, Howe's Most Famous Pupil and What He Taught He, is about their father's blind, deaf, and mute pupil. Although Hall and her sisters provided some background information as well as personal anecdotes, for the most part, both biographies contain extensive quotes from family letters and diaries. Hall also produced a book on her mother's famous poem, The Story of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," and on the role her mother played in the suffrage movement, Julia Ward Howe and the Woman Suffrage Movement: A Selection from Her Speeches and Essays.

In 1918 Hall published her autobiography, Memories Grave and Gay. Unlike her biographical novels, Hall took a direct approach and avoided quoting letters and diaries in this popular book. As an essayist for American Women Writers commented, "Her simple, direct, and anecdotal style of writing, combined with glimpses into her own personal and professional life, explain the wide appeal of this book of reminiscences."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

American Women Writers, Volume 2, Ungar, 1982, pp. 218-220.

PERIODICALS

Boston Transcript, November 15, 1916, review of The Story of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," p. 8; December 24, 1918, review of Memories Grave and Gay, p. 9.

New York Times, November 13, 1909; December 4, 1909; September 6, 1914.*