Mary M. (Mary Martha) Mears

Born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Mary Martha Mears was an American fiction writer, screenwriter, and photographer. She grew up in a creative family—her mother published poetry, one sister became the sculptor Helen Farnsworth Mears, and another was illustrator Louise Mears Fargo. She attended Oshkosh public schools and graduated from Oshkosh Normal School.

Mears began writing young. She wrote Emma Lou: Her Book while still in her teens and went on to publish novels including The Breath of Runners, The Bird in the Box, and Rosamond the Second. Her shorter fiction appeared in major magazines such as Harper's, Forum, and McClure's, and she also contributed frequently to The Christian Science Monitor. Her creative career extended beyond books to playwriting and screenwriting, including work on the 1920 silent film The Forbidden Thing.

In 1900 she moved to New York and later became one of the early fellows at MacDowell, returning for several residencies. She was also a photographer, and many surviving images of Helen Farnsworth Mears's sculpture were made by her. After her sister's death in 1916, she worked hard to preserve and promote Helen's artistic legacy until her own death in Boston in 1943.