Maud Howe Elliott

Born in Boston in 1854, she was the daughter of Julia Ward Howe and Samuel Gridley Howe, a background that placed her close to some of the major reform movements of the 19th century. She became a novelist, travel writer, and biographer, and is best remembered for collaborating with her sisters Laura E. Richards and Florence Hall on The Life of Julia Ward Howe, which won the 1917 Pulitzer Prize for Biography.

Her writing ranged widely, including fiction, memoir, and books shaped by her travels in Europe. Titles such as A Newport Aquarelle, Roma Beata, Sun and Shadow in Spain, and This Was My Newport show her lasting interest in places, people, and the social world around her.

She was also connected to the arts through her husband, the artist John Elliott, and sources describe her as an advocate for art and public life as well as a writer. She died in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1948, leaving behind a body of work that blends personal insight, cultural history, and a vivid feel for the worlds she knew.