Carrie Stevens Walter
Carrie Stevens Walter (27 April 1846 - 1907) was an American educator and poet who was a co-founder of the Sempervirens Club, a California environmental organization.
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Early years and education
Carrie Stevens was born in Savannah, Missouri, the oldest of six children.[1] She moved to the Pacific coast with her parents ten years later and lived in California thereafter.[1] She inherited poetic talent from her father, Josiah E. Stevens, and showed early leaning toward literary pursuits.[1] She was educated at the Oakland Female Seminary and was valedictorian of the first graduating class of that institution.[1] Some of her poems had already found their way into leading periodicals of the West Coast.[1]
Walter made her home in Santa Clara County.[1]
Career
Walter was a teacher for two decades before turning her attention to literature.[1] In 1886, her book An Idyl of Santa Barbara was published.[1] She also wrote newspapers and magazine articles, advertisements, commercials, short stories, and serials.[2]
In the late 19th century, California's ancient redwood forests were being logged heavily.[3] A group including Stanford University President David Starr Jordan determined to protect the remaining redwoods, and at their initial meeting, Walter was appointed to a committee tasked with surveying the extent of the problem.[3] This group became the Sempervirens Club, and one result of their lobbying efforts was California Redwood Park, later renamed Big Basin Redwoods State Park.[3]
Selected works
- An Idyl of Santa Barbara (1886)
- The Early California Missions (1890)
- Rose-ashes, and Other Poems (1890)
- Souvenir of Leland Stanford Jr. University (1893)
- Hotel Vendome, San Jose, California (1894)
- In California's Garden: Santa Clara Valley (1897)
- Santa Clara Valley (1897)
- Santa Clara County, California (1904)
References
- Willard 1893, p. 743-44.
- Cummins 1893, p. 289.
- "Sempervirens Fund History & Legacy". Sempervirens Fund website.
Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: E. S. Cummins' The Story of the Files: A Review of California Writers and Literature (1893) This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: F. E. Willard's A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life (1893)
Bibliography
- Cummins, Ella Sterling (1893). The Story of the Files: A Review of California Writers and Literature (Public domain ed.). Cooperative Printing Company.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Willard, Frances Elizabeth (1893). A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life (Public domain ed.). Moulton.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)