Mary Haskell (educator)

Mary Elizabeth Haskell, later Minis (December 11, 1873 – October 9, 1964), was an American educator, best known for having been the benefactress of Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist Kahlil Gibran.

Mary Haskell
Kahlil Gibran, Portrait of Mary Haskell, 1910 (Telfair Museums)
Born	Mary Elizabeth Haskell December 11, 1873 Columbia, South Carolina
Died	October 9, 1964(1964-10-09) (aged 90)
Resting place	Laurel Grove Cemetery (North), Savannah, Georgia
Spouse(s)	Jacob Florance Minis ​ ( m. 1926; died 1936)

Life

Haskell was born in Columbia, South Carolina, to Alexander Cheves Haskell and his second wife Alice Van Yeveren (Alexander, sister of Edward Porter Alexander).[1] She was educated at the Presbyterian College for women, Columbia, South Carolina, and Wellesley College, Massachusetts, A.B., 1897.[1]

In 1904, she met Kahlil Gibran at an exhibition of his work at Fred Holland Day's studio.[2] She was then the principal of a private school for girls in Boston,[2] the Haskell School for Girls.

On May 7, 1926, she married Jacob Florance Minis (1852–1936), whose first wife had died in 1921.

References

1. Historical and Genealogical Collections Relating to the Descendants of Rev. James Hillhouse, p. 200.
2. Telfair Museum of Art: Collection Highlights. p. 184.

Sources

• Historical and Genealogical Collections Relating to the Descendants of Rev. James Hillhouse.

Further reading

• Hilu, Virginia, ed. (1972). Beloved Prophet: the Love Letters of Khalil Gibran and Mary Haskell.

External links

• The Kahlil Gibran Collective