![]() Cape Cod's own Marion Vuilleumier videotaped an interview with Gladys Taber for her Books on the World television series.Įven now, Taber fans continue to comb used bookstores, flea markets, yard sales, and online booksellers to complete their collection of Taber. She was also interviewed numerous times by radio, print, and television journalists. Gladys appears in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Women, Through a Woman's I: An Annotated Bibliography of American Women's Autobiographical Writing, 1946-1976, and Contemporary Authors. Gladys created a comfortable, lyrical voice of country living, a persona her readers would come to identify with, respect, trust, and love. The columns were simultaneously being molded into her best-selling books, which are collections of essays about country life. ![]() These books developed from her monthly column, "Diary of Domesticity" in the Ladies Home Journal magazine, 1937 to 1958, and"Butternut Wisdom", published in Family Circle, 1959 to 1967. Her most popular success, though, results from the 21 Stillmeadow/Still Cove books. In her literary life, which spanned over half a century, she composed in a variety of genres, including four cookbooks, two books on flower arranging, three children's books, several volumes devoted specifically to her animals, 12 novels, three collections of short stories, a book of poetry, two dramatic plays, and an autobiographical work chronicling her life before Stillmeadow. Gladys worked as an assistant editor at the Ladies' Home Journal from 1936 to 1958 however, the bulk of her writing career was spent as a freelance writer from 1932 to 1980. She taught English at Randolph Macon Woman's College, 1925 to 1926, and at Columbia University, 1936 to 1943. She began doctoral studies at Columbia University in 1931. from Wellesley College in 1920 and an M.A. It is clear from her education and early jobs that she loved literature. There does not seem to have been any question in Gladys's mind about a career. She was the daughter of Rufus Mather Bagg, a geologist who often moved his family around the country to be near his work, and Grace Sibyl (Raybold) Bagg, who was a homemaker. Gladys (Bagg) Taber was born on Apin Colorado Springs, Colorado and died on Main Hyannis, Massachusetts. ![]() My Own Cape Cod tells the stories of the Cape from Nantucket whaling to the Blessing of the Fleet in Provincetown, as well as the charm of everyday Cape living in a small town. And, just once, out of the corner of my eye, I believe I glimpsed Gladys's unicorn…Īt Still Cove, which Gladys describes as "exactly my piece of Heaven," 1 I have looked out over Mill Pond, "the inlet that leads to the ocean where Nauset lies jeweled against the vastness of sky." 2 I can see the circle of beach Gladys describes around the pond alive with fishermen, dogs, children, and gulls. I have walked through the Quiet Garden and known the peace that grows there. She has spoken to me many times about her love of Keats and Shakespeare, about her frustration with appliances and the growing tensions in the world. I have watched her children grow and dogs win ribbons. Through Gladys's delightful descriptions, I have seen her collection of milk glass and tried many of her country cooking recipes. ![]() When I went to graduate school, I wrote my masters' thesis about Gladys Taber's place in American literature for her domestic nature writing. I was searching for something soft and sweet to read when Gladys appeared in Stillmeadow Daybook.Īs I introduced myself to the lovely, and often funny, words of this everyday woman, I knew Gladys and I were beginning a life-long friendship even though Gladys had passed away six years before. I met my friend Gladys while roaming the dusty shelves of my local public library in 1985. They have been the settings for My Own Cape Cod and the Stillmeadow book series. I travel to both of these magical places through the writing of Gladys Taber. Nor have we sat together over tea and hashed out a problem.īut I have been to her homes: a beach cottage called Still Cove in Orleans and a lovely, old farm called Stillmeadow in Southbury, Connecticut. No, Gladys and I have never exchanged birthday presents.
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