S. D. (Susan Dunning) Power

Writing as S. D. Power, Susan Dunning Power was an American author active in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Project Gutenberg identifies her as the author of The Ugly-Girl Papers, and library and bookseller records tie her name to works such as Anna Maria's House-Keeping, Household Notes and Queries, and books on children's etiquette.

The introduction to The Ugly-Girl Papers explains that the series began as articles for Harper's Bazar and was continued by request, showing that she built a readership through magazine writing before her advice was gathered into book form. Antiquarian book descriptions also describe her as a writer for Chicago newspapers and date her life as about 1843 to 1922.

Much about her life is still hard to confirm in detail, but her books make her interests clear: beauty, manners, domestic work, and the social rules shaping women's lives. Today, she is remembered less as a household authority than as a fascinating voice from the Victorian period, whose writing preserves the tone and concerns of popular advice literature of her time.