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Elizabeth Moorhead

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Elizabeth Moorhead Vermorcken (c. 1865 – June 2, 1955)[1] was an American writer from Pittsburgh. She is best known for her novels set in Pittsburgh.[2] She generally wrote under her maiden name, Elizabeth Moorhead.[1] During her lifetime, she was considered Pittsburgh's foremost female author.[3]

Early life

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Moorhead was born in Pittsburgh. Her exact birthdate is not known, but was just after the end of the American Civil War in 1865.[1] Moorhead's father, William J. Moorhead, owned a steel mill, and her grandfather, James Kennedy Moorhead, was a congressman.[1][4][5] Moorhead was educated at a private boarding school in Philadelphia. After graduation, she learned to speak French after a winter in Paris.[1] She married the Belgian artist Frederick Vermorcken in 1891, but the marriage ended sometime between 1894 and 1895, at which point Moorhead returned to America.[1] Between her marriage in 1891 and her return to Pittsburgh in 1910, she lived in Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco, and Paris.[4]

From 1910 to 1928, she taught English at Carnegie Technical Schools (now known as Carnegie Mellon University).[1][2] Not much is known about her personal life during these years. She is known to have published a number of articles and short stories in various magazines, including Harper's, Scribner's, and Century.[1][5] She was a well-regarded speaker on literary subjects.[6] She retired from teaching in 1928.[7]

Writing career

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After her retirement, Moorhead transitioned from short stories to novels. In 1929, she published her first novel, Clouded Hills.[5] A reviewer for The New York Times wrote that "Miss Moorhouse has done well for her first novel. Perhaps with time she will strengthen her hand."[8] Her second novel, Answer Before Dark, was published in 1930. A review in The Washington Post described her writing in Answer Before Dark and in Clouded Hills, as having, "a delicacy of diction which is very charming."[9][10] Her third novel, The Forbidden Tree, was published in 1933.[2] All three stories are set in Pittsburgh and although they were not autobiographical, often drew inspiration from Moorhead's life.[2]

Moorhead moved to Florence, Italy, in 1933, after the onset of the Great Depression.[7][11] During her time in Italy, she began to write a history of Pittsburgh based on her family records.[1][11] She fled back to Pittsburgh in November 1940 after Italy joined World War II, leaving the majority of her possessions behind.[11] In Pittsburgh, she continued work on the book, eventually published in 1942 by the University of Philadelphia Press as Whirling Spindle.[7]

Her final book, These Too Were Here: Louise Homer and Willa Cather, was published in 1950, also by the University of Philadelphia Press.[12] It was a short reminisce about the early life of Pittsburgh novelist Willa Cather.[12][12] Although it became the basis of many biographies of Cather, later reviewers have described it as "highly romanticized" and have questioned its accuracy.[1]

Moorhead died in Pittsburgh on June 2, 1955.[1]

Bibliography

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  • Clouded Hills (1929, Bobbs Merrill)[5]
  • Answer Before Dark (1930, Bobbs Merrill)[10]
  • The Forbidden Tree (1933, Bobbs Merrill)[2]
  • Whirling Spindle (1942, University of Philadelphia Press)[7]
  • These Too Were Here: Louise Homer and Willa Cather (1950, University of Philadelphia Press)[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Bohlke, L. Brent; Hoover, Sharon (2002). Willa Cather Remembered. U of Nebraska Press. p. 157. ISBN 0803223951.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Mrs. Vermorcken's New Novel". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. March 11, 1933. Retrieved 2018-12-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Burke, Evelyn (Mar 29, 1933). "Dictator's Dictates Can't Make Women of Italy Grow Fat". The Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved 2018-12-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b "Local Author Interprets Pittsburgh in First Novel". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Sep 11, 1929. Retrieved 2018-12-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b c d "News of the New Books". Harrisburg Sunday Courier. Dec 8, 1929. Retrieved 2018-12-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "The Books of the Year". Pittsburgh Daily Post. Apr 17, 1904. Retrieved 2018-12-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b c d Bohlke & Hoover 2002, p. 158.
  8. ^ ""Tide House" and Some Other Recent Works of Fiction". The New York Times. 29 September 1929. ProQuest 104908573.
  9. ^ "Answer Before Dark (brief review)". The Washington Post. 18 May 1930. ProQuest 150092704.
  10. ^ a b "A Group of Recent Books: Answer Before Dark". The Los Angeles Times. March 16, 1930. Retrieved 2018-12-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ a b c Humphrey, Constance (Mar 3, 1941). "Pittsburgh Author Leaves Picturesque Home in Italy". The Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved 2018-12-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ a b c Bohlke & Hoover 2002, p. 156.
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