Sarah Josepha Buell Hale

author

Sarah Josepha Buell Hale

1788–1879

A pioneering magazine editor, poet, and novelist, she helped shape 19th-century American literary culture and is still widely remembered as the author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Her long campaign for a national Thanksgiving also left a lasting mark on American life.

2 Audiobooks

Mrs. Hale's Receipts for the Million Containing Four Thousand Five Hundred and Forty-five Receipts, Facts, Directions, etc. in the Useful, Ornamental, and Domestic Arts

Mrs. Hale's Receipts for the Million Containing Four Thousand Five Hundred and Forty-five Receipts, Facts, Directions, etc. in the Useful, Ornamental, and Domestic Arts

by Sarah Josepha Buell Hale

The workwoman's guide : containing instructions to the inexperienced in cutting out and completing those articles of wearing apparel, &c. which are ususally made at home : also, explanations on upholstery, straw-platting, bonnet-making, knitting, &c.

The workwoman's guide : containing instructions to the inexperienced in cutting out and completing those articles of wearing apparel, &c. which are ususally made at home : also, explanations on upholstery, straw-platting, bonnet-making, knitting, &c.

by Sarah Josepha Buell Hale

About the author

Born in Newport, New Hampshire, in 1788, she became one of the most influential women in American publishing. After being widowed and left to support five children, she turned seriously to writing and editing, building a career at a time when few women had that kind of public platform.

She edited Ladies' Magazine in Boston and later Godey's Lady's Book, one of the most widely read magazines in the United States before the Civil War. Through that work, she encouraged American literature, supported women's education, and helped shape ideas about domestic life, reading, and culture for a large national audience.

She also wrote poems, novels, and essays, including the verse best known today as "Mary Had a Little Lamb." Beyond literature, she is remembered for persistently urging U.S. leaders to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday, a goal that was realized late in her life. She died in 1879.