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Anne Maria Mitchell Payne: Her Life and Literature
This is part of a series of articles about obscure 19th century authors. I hope to revise and expand them over time. This post was first published on June 21, 2026 and updated on…
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What’s in a Name? A Brief Biography of William Forster and William Forster Mitchell.
This is part of a series of short biographies. I hope to continue to revise and expand them. This article was initially posted on June 18, 2026 and last edited on June 23, 2026.…
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Helen E. Brown, a Brief Introduction
Content note: this article mentions the death of a child and includes an illustration of a grave from 1862. This is the first in a series of articles about obscure 19th century authors and…
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Paul Kent, the Choir Boy — and other Episcopalian books.
For the past few years, I’ve been deeply interested in the literary career of Anne Maria Mitchell Payne (1847-1929). I’m primarily focused on her books for freed people, but I have explored all of…
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My Sundays in England
I recently returned from a two week trip to England. I was mostly there to visit family, but I also managed to carve out a little time for my research. You may recall that…
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Teaching the Contrabands!
Some years ago, I stumbled across this article from 1862. It describes a picture that hung in the window of the American Sunday School Union’s building in Chicago. “A novel and somewhat amusing picture…
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Where in the World is… The British Workman?
As you may have already surmised, I have been almost completely consumed by my attempts to trace the reuse of illustrations around the world between 1860 and 1880. This post will explore a unique…
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The Adventure of the Old Children’s Magazine
I realize that Christian children’s periodicals from the 19th century is not the most riveting topic of all time. But I have accidentally fallen down a deep and fascinating rabbit hole. Frequent readers will…
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Death and Dying in 19th Century Children’s Literature
In the 19th century, most families had a very different relationship to death than we do today. Children encountered death on a regular basis; it was impractical to conceal it from them. Death was…
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