author
Rachel Baker Gale
1858–1923
Best known for lively parlor plays written for amateur performance, this American playwright found a wide audience in the late 19th century. Her work also reveals a strong and sometimes surprising resistance to women's suffrage and other public roles for women.
1 Audiobook
After Taps
by Rachel Baker Gale, George M. (George Melville) Baker
About the author
Born in Massachusetts in March 1858, Rachel E. Baker Gale was an American playwright who wrote popular parlor comedies and dramas for home and community stages. She was part of a literary family: her father was playwright George Melville Baker, and she was the sister of novelist Emilie Loring.
Gale wrote at least a dozen plays, including The Chaperon, A King's Daughter, Her Picture, and After Taps. Much of her work was created for amateur performers, especially women and girls, which helped make her plays practical and appealing for schools and local groups.
Her career also stands out for its politics. Several of her plays expressed opposition to women's suffrage and to women taking larger public roles, making her an unusual and revealing figure in the cultural debates of her time. She later became the second wife of Haverhill, Massachusetts, businessman John E. Gale, and she died in 1923.