Gertrude Van Duyn Southworth

Born in Syracuse in 1874, she went on to write a long list of educational and historical books, including A First Book in American History with European Beginnings, The Story of the Empire State, and volumes in the Builders of Our Country series. Library records and book catalogs consistently identify her as Gertrude Van Duyn Southworth, born in 1874.

Available biographical notices describe her as a graduate of Kedle School who attended Evelyn College in New Jersey. She was the widow of Edward Franklin Southworth, founder of the Iroquois Publishing Company in Syracuse, and after his death in 1946 she became president of the company.

An obituary notice reports that she died in 1966 at age 92. While detailed personal information seems limited online, the record that does survive shows a writer deeply involved in educational publishing and especially interested in making history readable for students.