Anna Chapin Ray

Born in Westfield, Massachusetts, in 1865, Anna Chapin Ray grew up to become a remarkably productive writer. She was one of the first three women to take the Yale entrance exam in 1881, then studied at Smith College, earning a B.A. in 1885 and an M.A. in modern European history in 1888.

Ray began publishing in 1889 and went on to write many children's books alongside novels for adults. Much of her work appeared under the pseudonym Sidney Howard, and several of her books are remembered for their lively pictures of school, college, and young adulthood.

She spent summers in New Haven, Connecticut, and winters in Quebec, experiences that also shaped her writing. Later, from 1916 to 1920, she served with the Military Hospitals Commission in Ottawa. She died in New Haven on December 13, 1945.