Mary Taylor Cornish

Mary Taylor Cornish was an American children’s author active in the early 1900s. The dates commonly attached to her name are 1877–1940, and surviving catalog records link her to children’s titles including Tommy’s Thanksgiving Dinner and Three Little Runaway Trees.

The work that is easiest to confirm today shows a writer creating brief, accessible pieces for young audiences. Tommy’s Thanksgiving Dinner, published in 1925, is a short play for children, and its presentation points to the kind of educational and festive reading that schools and families used at the time.

Very little biographical detail about her life appears to be readily documented in the sources available here, so her legacy is best seen through the books themselves. Even from that limited record, she stands out as part of the tradition of early children’s literature written for reading aloud, classroom use, and seasonal performance.