author
Alice Wellington Rollins
1847–1897
Known for vivid reporting on New York tenement life and for writing that ranged from fiction to children's verse, this late-19th-century American author brought curiosity and social concern to everything she published.
1 Audiobook
The Ring of Amethyst
by Alice Wellington Rollins
About the author
Born in Boston on June 12, 1847, Alice Wellington Rollins grew into a versatile American writer whose work included essays, novels, short stories, and poetry for children. Contemporary biographical sources say she was educated first at home, later studied in Boston schools, and spent a year in Europe before beginning a literary career.
She became especially noted for a series of articles about harsh conditions in New York tenements in the 1880s, writing with a reporter's eye for detail and a reformer's sense that readers should pay attention. She also published travel writing about the American West, showing a wide curiosity about places, people, and public life.
Rollins died on December 5, 1897. Though not as widely remembered today as some of her contemporaries, her work still stands out for its range and for the way it connected literary writing with social observation.