author
Elizabeth A. (Elizabeth Armstrong) Reed
1842–1915
A pioneering American scholar of Asian religions and literature, she helped bring subjects like Hinduism, Buddhism, Persia, and China to a wider English-speaking audience. Her books were used as college texts at a time when very few women were recognized in the field.
1 Audiobook
Persian Literature, Ancient and Modern
by Elizabeth A. (Elizabeth Armstrong) Reed
About the author
Born in Winthrop, Maine, in 1842, Elizabeth A. Reed was an American author and Oriental scholar who wrote on the religions, histories, and literatures of Asia. She published works on India, Persia, China, Buddhism, and Hinduism, aiming to make these subjects accessible to general readers and students alike.
Her writing reached a wide audience in the late 19th century, and several of her books were used as textbooks in universities. Contemporary accounts also note that her work was accepted by the Philosophical Society of Great Britain, a notable achievement for a woman scholar of her era.
Reed was also active in literary and intellectual circles, including serving as chair of the Woman's Congress of Philology in Chicago in 1893 and later contributing editorial work to a course on world literature. She died in 1915, leaving behind a body of work that reflects both the curiosity and the scholarly ambitions of her time.