People

Eslanda Cardozo Goode Robeson was an author and anthropologist who wrote about African decolonization, African American civil rights, and international politics.

Reformer and writer Julia Ward Howe is most famous for writing the words to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" during the American Civil War and the "Mother's Day Proclamation" (1870). She advocated for the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, and peace.

Henry Blake Fuller was a key figure in the Chicago Literary Renaissance, renowned for pioneering social realism in American literature. He is noted for being one of the first American novelists to explore homosexual themes. Fuller had a complicated love-hate relationship with Chicago. He frequently found solace at Indiana Dunes, which served as a retreat from urban life and a source for inspiration.

Rachel Louise Carson was a biologist, writer, and environmental activist. Most of Carson's writing expressed her love of nature and concern for future generations. With language that was both poetic and compelling, she inspired people to become interested in the natural world.

Born December 7, 1873, in Virginia, Willela Sibert Cather grew up on the dusty plains of Red Cloud, Nebraska. Her life took her across the country, and she would become one of the premiere American authors of the 1900s.

Katharine Lee Bates was a professor and writer best remembered as the author of the lyrics to the song “America the Beautiful.” She shared a home for almost three decades with her companion, fellow academic and social reformer Katharine Coman.

Walt Whitman was a poet and bohemian who volunteered as a nurse in Union army hospitals during the American Civil War. His epic poem "Leaves of Grass", which he altered and expanded upon all his life, is one of the most important and impressive achievements of the American literary canon.

Alice Dunbar Nelson was a poet, critic, journalist and activist who was a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana was a preservationist, pacifist, scholar, and labor activist in the first half of the 20th century. He simultaneously navigated the elite world of academia as a gay man, while preserving the legacy of his grandfather, the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This is the story of the man behind the stacks.

Mary Livermore dedicated her life to a variety of social causes, including: temperance, Civil War aid, and women's suffrage.