Madeline Yale Wynne

Born in 1847, Madeline Yale Wynne was an American writer, artist, teacher, and philanthropist. She was the daughter of Linus Yale Jr., the inventor associated with the Yale lock, and she grew up with hands-on experience in metalworking before going on to study art in Boston and New York.

Wynne became deeply involved in the Arts and Crafts movement. She helped found the Chicago Arts and Crafts Society and later played a leading role in Deerfield, Massachusetts, where she restored an old house known as the Manse and became a central figure in the local arts community.

Readers today most often know her for "The Little Room," a supernatural story first published in the 1890s that has kept her name alive in ghost-story collections. That mix of practical craftsmanship, artistic curiosity, and quiet strangeness gives her work a distinctive charm.