Amanda Minnie Douglas


Amanda Minnie Douglas was an American writer of adult and juvenile fiction. She was probably best remembered by young readers of her day for the Little Girl and Helen Grant series published over the decades flanking the turn of the twentieth century.

Early life

Born in New York City, the eldest daughter of John Douglas and Elizabeth Horton was raised in the city of her birth with the exception of several years spent on a farm near Poughkeepsie, New York. She studied art design at the City Institute of New York City for a time before circumstances forced her to fall back on her greater talent as a writer to help support her family. In 1853, Douglas and her family moved from New York City to Newark, New Jersey, where she would remain a resident for the balance of her life.

Career

Douglas began by submitting short stories and poems to local publications. In time her stories appeared in editions of The New York Ledger, Saturday Evening Post and the Lady’s Friend Magazine. Her first novel, In Trust, was published in 1866 and sold some 20,000 copies. Learning from this first experience, Douglas made sure to retain the copyrights on all of her future works. She would go on to publish at least a novel a year until her retirement in 1913.
A sampling of her works over a near fifty-year career would include: Claudia : Stephen Dane ; Sydnie Adriance ; With Fate Against Him ; Kathie's Stories for Young People ; Lucia: Her Problem ; Santa Claus Land ; The Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe ; Seven Daughters ; Nelly Kinnard's Kingdom ; From Hand to Mouth ; Hope Mills ; Lost in a Great City ; The Heirs of Bradley House ; Osborne of Arrochar ; Whom Kathie Married ; Floyd Grandon's Honor ; Out of the Wreck ; Bertha Wray's New Name ; A Woman's Inheritance ; Foes of Her Household ; In the King's Country ; The Midnight Marriage; or, A Plot to Gain a Fortune Floyd Grandon's Honor ; In Wild Rose Time ; Her Place in the World ; Sherburne Series Little Girl in New York ; Little Girl in Boston ; Little Girl in Philadelphia ; Little Girl in Washington ; A Question of Silence : Almost as Good as a Boy : Little Girl in Old New Orleans ; Little Girl in Old Detroit. 1903: Little Girl in Old Chicago; Little Girl in Old San Francisco; Helen Grant's School Days: Helen Grant's Friends; Helen Grant's Year at Aldred House; Helen Grant in College ; A Little Girl in Old Quebec ; Helen Grant, Graduate; Helen Grant, Teacher and A Little Girl in Old Pittsburg. Her final works, published in 1913, were A Modern Cinderella and The Red House Children at Grafton.

Private life

Douglas cared for Annie, her chronically ill younger sister, for most of her life. She never married. Douglas patented a design of a portable folding mosquito net frame intended for travelers and artists, and had helped others perfect their inventions. Douglas was a friend of Louisa May Alcott and an acquaintance of Edgar Allan Poe. She was an active member of the Ray Palmer Club, a Newark woman's literary group, and the New Jersey Women's Press Club.

Death

Douglas died four days past her 85th birthday at her Newark residence on Summer Avenue. Her funeral services were held at St. James Episcopal Church in Newark and her remains interred beside her sister in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.

Works

  1. Kathie's Three Wishes, 1873, 1883, 1898
  2. Kathie's Aunt Ruth, 1871, 1873, 1883
  3. Kathie's Summer at Cedarwood, 1898
  4. Kathie's Soldiers, 1871, 1877, 2015
  5. In the Ranks, 1872
  6. Kathie's Harvest Days, 1883, 1889, 2009

    Follow up to The Kathie Stories

  1. Sherburne House, 1892, 2015
  2. Lyndell Sherburne, 1893, 2010
  3. Sherburne Cousins, 1894
  4. A Sherburne Romance, 1895
  5. The Mistress of Sherburne, 1896, 2016
  6. The Children at Sherburne House, 1897
  7. Sherburne Girls, 1898, 2016
  8. The Heir of Sherburne, 1899
  9. A Sherburne Inheritance, 1901, 1905
  10. A Sherburne Quest, 1902, 2008
  11. Honor Sherburne, September 1904
  12. In the Sherburne Line, September 1907

    A Little Girl Series

  13. A Little Girl in Old New York, 1896, 2016
  14. A Little Girl of Long Ago; Or, Hannah Ann, 1897, 1898, 1901, 2008, 2009
  15. A Little Girl in Old Boston, 1898, 2016
  16. A Little Girl in Old Philadelphia, 1899
  17. A Little Girl in Old Washington, 1900
  18. A Little Girl in New Orleans, 1901
  19. A Little Girl in Old Detroit, 1902, 2009, 2015
  20. A Little Girl in Old St. Louis, 1903
  21. A Little Girl in Old Chicago, 1904, 2016
  22. A Little Girl in Old San Francisco, 1905
  23. A Little Girl in Old Quebec, 1906, 2015
  24. A Little Girl in Old Baltimore, 1907
  25. A Little Girl in Old Salem, 1908, 2015
  26. A Little Girl in Old Pittsburg, 1909

    The Helen Grant Books

  27. Helen Grant's Schooldays, 1903, 2017
  28. Helen Grant's Friends, 1904
  29. Helen Grant at Aldred House, 1905
  30. Helen Grant in College, 1906
  31. Helen Grant, Senior, 1907
  32. Helen Grant, Graduate, 1908
  33. Helen Grant, Teacher, 1909
  34. Helen Grant's Decision, 1910
  35. Helen Grant's Harvest Year, 1911

    Little Red House Series

  36. The Children in the Little Old Red House, 1912
  37. The Red House Children at Grafton, 1913
  38. The Red House Children's Vacation, 1914
  39. The Red House Children's Year, 1915
  40. The Red House Children Growing Up, 1916

    The Maidenhood Series (various authors)

  41. Seven Daughters, by Amanda Minnie Douglas, 1874, 2015
  42. Our Helen, by Sophie May
  43. The Asbury Twins, by Sophie May
  44. That Queer Girl, by Miss Virginia F. Townsend
  45. Running to Waste, by George M. Baker
  46. Daisy Travers, by Adelaide F. Samuels

    White Black and Gold Series (various authors)

  47. Heroes of the Crusades, by Amanda Minnie Douglas, 1889, 1892
  48. Adventures of a China Man, by Jules Verne
  49. Fighting: The Life of Philip H. Sheridan, by Headley
  50. Perseverence Island or the Robinson Crusoe of the Nineteenth Century, by Douglas Frazar
  51. Our Standard-bearer: Olive Optic's Life of Gen. U.S. Grant, by Oliver Optic
  52. Lives of the Presidents: From Washington to Cleveland, by unknown

    Altemus' Golden Days Series (various authors)

  53. An Easter Lily, by Amanda Minnie Douglas, 1906
  54. Miss Appolina's Choice, by Ellen Douglas Deland
  55. A Boy Lieutenant, by F.S. Bowley
  56. Polly and the Other Girl, by Sophie Swett
  57. Herm, and I, by Myron B. Gibson
  58. Sam, by M.G. McClelland

    Other