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Abby Langdon Alger

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Abby Langdon Alger
BornAugust 3, 1850
Roxbury, Massachusetts
DiedMay 22, 1905
Brookline, Massachusetts
Occupation(s)Writer, translator
FatherWilliam Rounseville Alger
RelativesPhilip Rounseville Alger (brother)

Abby Langdon Alger (August 3, 1850 – May 22, 1905) was an American writer and translator, mainly of religious, literary, or folklore texts.

Early life

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Alger was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, the daughter of Unitarian clergyman William Rounseville Alger and Anna Langdon Lodge Alger.[1][2] Writer Horatio Alger was her father's cousin,[3] and statesman Henry Cabot Lodge was one of her maternal cousins.[4] Her brother Philip Rounseville Alger was a Naval officer; another brother, William E. Alger, was a diplomat who worked at American embassies in Latin America.[5] Her niece and namesake, Abby Langdon Alger Wilder (1889–1978), was a prominent state official in New Hampshire.[6]

Career

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Alger translated religious, literary, and folklore texts from Italian, French, and German, including works by historian Henri Martin, dramatist Ernest Legouvé, Benôit-Constant Conquelin, Judith Gautier, novelist Victor Hugo, Auguste Joseph Alphonse Gratry, philosopher Ernest Renan, Saint Francis of Assisi, scientist Louis Figuier, and dramatist X. B. Saintine. "She was a remarkable linguist and had French, German, Italian, and other tongues at her instant command," noted a 1905 obituary in the Boston Evening Transcript. "Possessing this valuable attainment, she was frequently in demand among publishing houses, for which she did much translating."[4]

Alger also produced a benefit performance of a miracle play, based on Italian traditions, performed with Italian musicians and puppeteers, at Boston's Minot Hall in 1894.[7] "It was my wish," she later explained, "to show the earliest form of dramatic representation. We, of the present, may call it rough and grotesque; but when one remembers that it was a faithful reproduction of what was given hundreds of years ago, and that it was then received with every mark of reverence, I am sure there will be no adverse criticism."[8] She interviewed Passamaquoddy and Penobscot elders to compile In Indian Tents (1897), a collection of folktales.[9]

Publications

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Original works

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Translations

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  • Martin, A popular history of France, from the first Revolution to the present time (1877)[13]
  • Legouvé, Reading as a fine art (1879)[14][15]
  • Coquelin, The actor and his art (1881)[16]
  • Gautier, The usurper: an episode in Japanese history (1884)[17][18]
  • Reissman, The life and works of Robert Schumann (1886)[19][20]
  • Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1888)[21] and Hans of Iceland (1891)[22]
  • Gratry, Guide to the knowledge of God, a study of the chief theodicies (1892)[23][24]
  • Figuier, Joys beyond the threshold: A sequel to The to-morrow of death (1893)[25]
  • Bentzon, The Condition of Woman in the United States: A Traveler's Notes (1895)[26]
  • Renan, My Sister Henriette (1895)[27]
  • La Motte Fouqué, Undine, a Tale (1897)[28]
  • The little flowers of Saint Francis of Assisi (1898)[29][30]
  • Saintine, Picciola (1899)[31]

Personal life

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Alger died after an operation in a Brookline hospital in 1905, at the age of 54, a few months after her father's death.[2][4]

References

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  1. ^ Perkins Institute and Massachusetts School for the Blind (August 31, 1905). "In Memoriam". Annual Report: 29–30.
  2. ^ a b "Obituary: Death of Rev. Dr. W. R. Alger, a Native of Freetown". Fall River Daily Evening News. 1905-02-08. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-02-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Scharnhorst, Gary (1990). A literary biography of William Rounseville Alger (1822-1905), a neglected member of the Concord circle. Lewiston, N.Y.: E. Mellen Press. ISBN 0-88946-576-2. OCLC 20098082.
  4. ^ a b c "Recent Deaths: Miss Abby L. Alger". Boston Evening Transcript. 1905-05-26. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-02-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "William E. Alger Dead". The Boston Globe. 1917-03-22. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-02-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Krause, Lydia (1951-04-22). "Only Woman State Employment Director in U.S. Asks No Special Privileges". The Daily Advertiser. p. 18. Retrieved 2023-02-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Worked by Wires; Miss Alger's 'Miracle Play' Set for Today; Characters by Puppets". Boston Post. 1894-03-15. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-02-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "The 'Miracle Play'; Miss Alger Pleased with its Reception; Her Wish in Giving It". Boston Post. 1894-03-17. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-02-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Indians and Thunder". Chase County Courant. 1897-12-16. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-02-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Alger, Abby L. "A collection of words and phrases taken from the Passamaquoddy tongue" (1885, paper presented at the American Philosophical Society; via Hathi Trust
  11. ^ Alger, Abby Langdon. In Indian Tents: Stories Told by Penobscot, Passamaquoddy and Mimac Indians (Boston: Roberts Brothers 1897). via Project Gutenberg.
  12. ^ "New Books". The Inter Ocean. 1897-09-18. p. 16. Retrieved 2023-02-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Martin, Henri, A popular history of France, from the first Revolution to the present time (Boston: Colonial Press 1877), translated by Abby Langdon Alger and Mary L. Booth, via Hathi Trust.
  14. ^ Legouvé, Ernest. Reading as a fine art (Boston: Roberts Brothers 1879), translated by Abby Langdon Alger; via Hathi Trust
  15. ^ "Review of Legouvé, 'L'Art de la Lecture'". The Catholic World. 30 (177): 428. December 1879.
  16. ^ Coquelin, C., The actor and his art (Boston: Roberts Brothers 1881), translated by Abby Langdon Alger; via Hathi Trust
  17. ^ Gautier, Judith. The usurper: an episode in Japanese history (Boston: Roberts Brothers 1884), translated by Abby Langdon Alger; via Hathi Trust
  18. ^ "New Books: The Usurper: A Tale of Japan". Boston Evening Transcript. 1884-08-22. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-02-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ Reissman, August, The life and works of Robert Schumann (London: G. Bell and Sons 1886), translated by Abby Langdon Alger; via Hathi Trust
  20. ^ "Reissmann's 'Life of Schumann'". Boston Evening Transcript. 1886-04-10. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-02-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ Hugo, Victor (1888). The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Translated by Alger, Abby Langdon.
  22. ^ Hugo, Victor (1891). Hans of Iceland. Translated by Alger, Abby Langdon. Boston: Estes & Lauriat.
  23. ^ Gratry, A., Guide to the knowledge of God, a study of the chief theodicies (Boston: Roberts Brothers 1892), translated by Abby Langdon Alger; via Hathi Trust
  24. ^ "Review of Gratry, Guide to the Knowledge of God". The Methodist Review. 75: 835–836. September 1893.
  25. ^ Figuier, Louis, Joys beyond the threshold: A sequel to The to-morrow of death (Boston: Roberts Brothers 1893), translated by Abby Langdon Alger; via Hathi Trust
  26. ^ Madame Blanc (Th. Bentzon), The Condition of Woman in the United States: A Traveler's Notes (Boston: Roberts Brothers 1895), translated by Abby Langdon Alger; via Hathi Trust
  27. ^ Renan, Ernest (1895). "My sister Henrietta". WorldCat. Abby Langdon Alger, translator. Boston: Roberts Brothers. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  28. ^ Frederick, baron De La Motte Fouqué, Undine, a Tale (Boston: Ginn & Company 1897), translated by Abby Langdon Alger; via Hathi Trust
  29. ^ Saint Francis Assisi, The little flowers of Saint Francis of Assisi (Boston: Little, 1898), translated by Abby Langdon Alger; via Hathi Trust
  30. ^ "Saint Francis of Assisi". The Saint Paul Globe. 1898-10-30. p. 19. Retrieved 2023-02-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. ^ Saintine, X.-B. (1899). Picciola. Translated by Alger, Abby Langdon. Boston: Ginn & Co.
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