author
Isabel Anderson
1876–1948
Remembered as a globe-trotting writer as well as a prominent hostess and philanthropist, she turned a life of travel, public service, and high society into books, plays, and memoirs. Her story also lives on through the museums and public spaces connected to her legacy.
4 Audiobooks
Polly the Pagan: Her Lost Love Letters
by Isabel Anderson
The Spell of Belgium
by Isabel Anderson
The Spell of the Hawaiian Islands and the Philippines
by Isabel Anderson
The Spell of Japan
by Isabel Anderson
About the author
Born Isabel Weld Perkins in Boston on March 29, 1876, she later became widely known as Isabel Anderson after marrying diplomat Larz Anderson. Reliable biographical sources describe her as a Boston heiress, author, and society hostess, and note that her legacy includes public institutions and parkland associated with the Anderson name.
Her writing grew out of an unusually mobile and public life. Archival records at Boston University note manuscripts and plays among her papers, confirming that she worked across more than one form rather than in a single genre.
Beyond her books, she is remembered for the larger cultural footprint she and her husband left behind. She died on November 3, 1948, but her name remains tied to collections, historic houses, and preserved sites that help keep her work and world in view.