author
Frances Kelley Del Plaine
1889–1958
Known for clear, practical books on education and reading, this early 20th-century writer helped shape how literature and storytelling were taught to students. Her work ranges from school finance research to college anthologies and a guide to narration written with Mary Ellen Chase.
1 Audiobook
The art of narration
by Mary Ellen Chase, Frances Kelley Del Plaine
About the author
Frances Kelley Del Plaine was an American author and educator whose published work shows a strong interest in both public education and the teaching of literature. Library and catalog records connect her with A History of Public-School Support in Minnesota, 1858 to 1917 (published by the University of Minnesota in 1920), as well as later books such as The Art of Narration and College Readings in Poetry: English and American.
Her writing suggests a career that bridged educational research and classroom reading. In the early 1920s she worked on studies of school finance in Minnesota, and by the 1930s she was helping produce books for college students and teachers, including anthologies and instructional texts on reading and storytelling.
Some catalog records also list her under the name Frances Elizabeth Kelley, which appears to reflect an earlier form of her name. Reliable biographical details beyond her publications are limited in the sources I could confirm, but her surviving books show a writer deeply engaged with education, literature, and the craft of presenting stories well.