Sarton, May ___ 1912-1995 ___ American (born Belgium) ___ writer

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Sarton was born in Wondelgem, Belgium, the daughter of an academic father and artistic mother. The family fled Europe in 1915, and went to Boston, Massachusetts. For eight years she studied at the Shady Hill School in Cambridge, one of the country's first progressive schools, but, while still a teenager, went to work as an apprentice in the Civic Repertory Theatre in New York. In 1931, she travelled to Europe and lived in Paris for a year while her parents were in Lebanon. Thereafter, she went on annual visits to Europe, eventually meeting many literary and theatre personalities. In the mid-1930s, Sarton founded the Associated Actors Theatre, which did not last very long, and published her first books, a volume of poetry and a novel 'The Single House'. In 1945, she met Judith Matlack, a professor of English at Simmons College, who became her lover and companion for more than a decade. Sarton moved to Nelson, New Hampshire, after her father's death, and then went to York, Maine, where she spent the rest of her life. Apart from writing much poetry and many autobiographical works (her 'Journal of Solitude' is particularly well respected, especially by feminists), she taught at several colleges and universities, including Harvard.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1973-1992 ___ domestic literary self nature education

WEB TEXT LINKS
a few pages
etext

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
New York Public Library

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Journal of a Solitude: Reflections During One Year
At Seventy: A Journal
After the Stroke
 

May 2005, August 2008
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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.