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Elsie Duncan Yale
1873–1956
A prolific early-20th-century writer of hymns, pageants, and children's programs, she left behind hundreds of devotional texts. Writing sometimes as Grace Gordon, she is remembered for work that blended simple language with a strong sense of faith and community.
4 Audiobooks
When Mother Lets Us Give a Party
by Elsie Duncan Yale
The Two Christmas Boxes: A Play for Girls
by Elsie Duncan Yale
A Day at Camp Killkare; Or, Aunt Jane and the Campfire Girls
by Elsie Duncan Yale
The Inventor. Introducing the Wishing Box. A Christmas Play
by Elsie Duncan Yale
About the author
Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1873, Elsie Duncan Yale was an American author best known for religious verse and hymn texts. Hymnary records her full name as Elsie Duncan Yale, notes the pseudonym Grace Gordon, and lists her birth on October 21, 1873, and her death on January 30, 1956, in San Bernardino County, California.
She appears to have been especially active in church and youth-oriented writing. Sources credit her with hundreds of hymn texts, along with works such as Challenge to Youth and Christmas at Jollyville Junction, suggesting a career centered on devotional writing, pageants, and programs for children and young people.
Although biographical details are limited, the surviving record points to a writer who was remarkably productive and widely used in religious settings. Her work seems to have been valued less for literary display than for clarity, singability, and usefulness in worship and community life.