Quick Facts
Biography
Eleanor Maria Easterbrook Ames (nickname, “Nellie”; October 7, 1831 - 1908) better known by her pen name, Eleanor Kirk, was a 19th-century American writer from Rhode Island. She wrote a number of books and published a magazine entitled Eleanor Kirk's Idea. She was also a regular contributor to The Revolution and Packard's Monthly. Kirk died in 1908.
Biography
Eleanor Maria Easterbrook was born in Warren, Rhode Island, October 7, 1831. Later, she moved to Brooklyn, New York. She wrote a number of books, under the pen name "Eleanor Kirk" designed to assist young writers, and she published a magazine entitled Eleanor Kirk's Idea, for the same purpose. Her works included "Up Broadway, and its Sequel" (New York, 1870), "Periodicals that Pay Contributors" (Brooklyn; privately printed), "Information for Authors" (Brooklyn, 1888); and as editor, "Henry Ward Beecher as a Humorist" (New York, 1887), and "The Beecher Book of Days" (New York, 1886), and "Perpetual Youth". She was also a regular contributor to The Revolution and Packard's Monthly, and was a member of Woman's Press Club of New York City. Before the age of 40, she had been twice left a widow and had five children requiring her support. In 1870, the New York Herald stated that she was “the most pronounced of the women’s rights women”. Kirk died in 1908.
Eleanor Kirk's Idea
The promotion of Eleanor Kirk's Idea - from the Ideal to the Actual stated that "... the editor of this journal has worked out some perplexing problems. Because of this, she desires to show others the processes by which she did her sums. In other words, how to be happy instead of wretched, rich instead of poor, well and strong instead of sick and weak, good looking instead of haggard and ugly." The subscription price was US$1.00 per year, and single copies were available at $0.10 each. The publishing address was 696 Green Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.
Selected works
- n.d., Libra : an astrological romance
- 1890, Periodicals that pay contributors, to which is added a list of publishing houses
- 1895, Perpetual Youth
- 1897, Where you are : talks with girls
- 1901, The Christ of the red planet
- 1887, Beecher as a humorist : selections from the published works of Henry Ward Beecher