author
1870–1960
Best known for the widely cited A Short History of the Drama, this American writer helped generations of readers trace how theater developed across centuries and cultures.
Born in 1870 and living until 1960, Martha Idell Fletcher Bellinger is remembered primarily for her writing on theater history. The work most clearly connected to her in reliable book records is A Short History of the Drama, published by Henry Holt in 1927.
That book earned a long life beyond its first publication and has been referenced by later readers and writers studying the stage. Even where detailed biographical information is scarce, her reputation as a clear guide to dramatic literature has endured through the continued circulation of her work.
Because readily available sources on her life are limited, it is safest to remember her as an early 20th-century author whose contribution was educational as well as literary: she made the long story of drama more approachable for students and general readers.