M. E. W. (Mary Elizabeth Wilson) Sherwood

Born in Keene, New Hampshire, in 1826, Mary Elizabeth Wilson Sherwood became known to readers under forms such as M. E. W. Sherwood and Mrs. John Sherwood. She was an American author and social figure who wrote short stories, poetry, books of reminiscence, translations, and especially etiquette manuals.

Sherwood contributed to magazines and gained a wide readership through practical, confident advice on social customs. Her best-known work is Manners and Social Usages, and she also wrote books including The Art of Entertaining, An Epistle to Posterity, and Here & There & Everywhere. Sources also describe her as one of the most recognized etiquette writers of the late 19th century.

She died in New York City in 1903. What still makes her interesting is the range of her work: she was not only a guide to manners, but also a writer of fiction and memoir whose books offer a window into American social life of her era.