1993/09/01 by Mary Kelley, Catharine Maria Sedgwick · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #Art #Art history #Biography #Daughter #History #Law #Negotiation #Nephew and niece #Performance art #Political science #Religion, Gender, and Enlightenment #Social science #Sociology
paper · doi:10.2307/366002
openalex publication_date 1993/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
IN a letter written on 5 October 1851, Catharine Maria Sedgwick responded to a proposal made by William Minot, the husband of her beloved niece and namesake, Kate. William had suggested that Sedgwick, a nationally acclaimed author of novels, tales, and sketches, undertake her autobiography. Had William appealed to her on the basis of her literary achievements, this inveterately modest woman almost certainly would have declined. Not surprisingly, then, William asked that the autobiography be written for his and Kate's daughter Alice, a child to whom Sedgwick was devoted. Nonetheless, the project seemed daunting. A woman who had remained unmarried despite the protestations of suitors, Sedgwick told' William she had 'boarded round' much, had my home in many houses and-so many hearts, indeed had her life so woven into the fabric of others that I seem to have had no