Mary L. (Mary Lillian) Read

Mary L. Read, identified by the Library of Congress as Mary Lillian Read (born 1878), is known for The Mothercraft Manual, published by Little, Brown and Company in 1916.

That book was written as a substantial guide to child care and child development, and its scope suggests a writer interested not just in household advice, but in organizing contemporary knowledge about the care of infants and children into a usable manual for families.

Reliable biographical details beyond her name, birth year, and authorship are hard to confirm from the sources I found, so it is safest to remember her primarily through this influential parenting manual rather than through a fuller personal biography.