Almira Lincoln Phelps

Almira Lincoln Phelps
Phelps by Sarah Josepha Hale, 1853
Born
Almira Hart

(1793-07-15)July 15, 1793
Berlin, Connecticut, U.S.
DiedJuly 15, 1884(1884-07-15) (aged 91)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Other namesAlmira Hart Lincoln
(1817–1831)
Occupation(s)Educator, author, editor, scientist
Known forAuthor:
  • nature writing
  • novels
  • essays
  • memoirs
  • text books
scientist:
Spouses
Simeon Lincoln
​
​
(m. 1817; died 1823)​
John Phelps
​
(m. 1831)​
Children3, including Charles E. Phelps
RelativesEmma Hart Willard (sister)

Almira Lincoln Phelps (née Hart; July 15, 1793 – July 15, 1884) was an American scientist, educator, author, and editor. Her botany writings influenced more early American women to be botanists, including Eunice Newton Foote and her daughter, Augusta Newton Foote Arnold. Though she primarily wrote regarding nature, she also was a writer of novels, essays, and memoir.[1] The standard author abbreviation A.Phelps is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[2]

Phelps was a native of Connecticut. Her long and active life was devoted to the education of young women. She published several popular[3] science textbooks in the fields of botany, chemistry, and geology.[4][3] Some of her works worthy of special commemoration include, The Blue Ribbon Society; The School Girls Rebellion; Christian Households; Familiar Lectures on Botany; Our Country and its Relation to the Present, Past and Future; and The Fireside Friend.[5] Her views on topics ranging from elocution to corsets are contained in Lectures to Young Ladies, Comprising Outlines and Applications of the Different Branches of Female Education for the User of Female Schools, and Private Libraries.[6]

  1. ^ Patterson, Daniel; Thompson, Roger; Bryson, J. Scott, eds. (2008). Early American nature writers : a biographical encyclopedia. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-34681-1. OCLC 191846328.
  2. ^ International Plant Names Index.  A.Phelps.
  3. ^ a b Rudolph, Emanuel D. (1984). "Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps (1793–1884) and the Spread of Botany in Nineteenth Century America". American Journal of Botany. 71 (8): 1161–1167. doi:10.2307/2443392. JSTOR 2443392.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :02 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Shepherd 1911, p. 116.
  6. ^ Gold & Hobbs 2013, p. 100.