The series has remained wildly popular, and Maud's childhood home is now a museum dedicated to her life and the characters that she created. In 1961, the American Association of University Women sponsored 'Betsy-Tacy Day' and brought Maud and her two childhood friends back to Mankato for a week of activities-including a guided walking tour, a book signing, and readings. The local fame of Mankato and Deep Valley was a welcomed tribute to the city. Although the series ended with Betsy's Wedding in 1955, there are three other books that were written in the early 1950s that feature Betsy and Tacy as marginal figures.

She wrote three more novels and collaborated with husband Delos on several stories and books before the first Betsy-Tacy book was published in 1940. Maud's first book, The Black Angels, was published in 1926. The Lovelaces relocated to New York in 1928. She met and married writer Delos Lovelace in 1917, and they had one daughter, Merian. She began working at The Minnesota Daily after returning to Minneapolis. While convalescing at her grandmother's home in California after an appendectomy, she sold her first story to the Los Angeles Times Magazine. Maud attended the University of Minnesota after high school, but she never graduated. Later stories of Betsy, and then Carney, in high school were based on daily diary entries that Maud maintained throughout her youth. As the series progressed, the characters grew up just like real people. Her Betsy stories were based on memories of her own childhood, and her two friends Tacy and Tib were based on childhood friends Frances ('Bick') and Marjorie ('Midge'). Her best-known stories are the ones that make up the Betsy-Tacy series, which are set in fictional Deep Valley (based on the town of Mankato). Maud began writing from a very young age, and modeled most of her stories on actual events and people in her life. Her father, Thomas, owned a shoe store and her mother, Stella (nee Palmer), raised the family-which included Maud's older sister Kathleen and younger sister Helen. Maud Hart Lovelace was born Apin Mankato, Minnesota. Reproductions can be made only if they are to be used for 'private study, scholarship, or research.' It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and to obtain all necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials, other than that noted above. Provenance : Materials received by the de Grummond Collection in 1971 by Maude Hart LovelaceĬopyright: The collection is protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. University of Southern Mississippi - de Grummond Children's Literature CollectionĬontributor List & Finding Aid Index| Special CollectionsĬollection Title: Maude Hart Lovelace Papers

Maud hart lovelace society