Smith College. All rights reserved.
© 2006 Smith College. All rights reserved.
Marian Isabel Storm was born in Stormville, New York on January 30, 1892. She graduated from Smith College in 1913 and attended the Miller Business School for one year. She spent several years working in secretarial positions, including secretary to the Argentine Ambassador in Washington, D.C. from 1917 to 1918. She was also assistant editor for The Countryside Magazine from 1915 to 1917 and worked as a reporter and freelance writer for the New York Evening Post, 1918 to 1924, and later for the New York Tribune.
In the mid 1930s, she moved to Mexico where she spent the rest of her life, writing about Mexican plant life, animal life, and the human poverty she saw around her. She was the author of several books and articles, both fiction and non-fiction including Prologue to Mexico, The Life of Saint Rose, Hoofways into Hot Country, True Stories from Tarascan (1941), and Rights of Animals (1951). A conservationist, she single-handedly saved a Mexican flowering shrub, the Ayuque, from extinction and was made an honorary member of the Sociedad de Mexico in recognition of her efforts. She died in Guadalajara, Mexico on August 20, 1975.
The Marian Storm Papers include biographical information, correspondence, writings (in English and Spanish), drafts and research notes; photographs; memorabilia; correspondence and journals about her writings; and fifteen scrapbooks of clippings, essays and other writings. Storm's published and unpublished works include magazine and newspaper articles, poems, songs, short stories and a novel. Her prolific writings (in English and Spanish) cover such topics as Mexican society, culture, history, and natural history; animal welfare; nature and plant conservation; and travels in Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Europe. The collection includes original artwork by Mexican artist Silviano Rodriguez and a small amount of writings and correspondence of archeologist and historian of Ancient Mexico, Zelia Nuttall. Other correspondents include Lazaro Cardenas, former Mexican president.
This collection is organized as follows:
The papers are open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection.
NOTE: This collection has not been fully processed and therefore may be difficult to use.
Permission to cite the papers for quotations or for publication beyond "fair use" must be obtained from the Sophia Smith Collection as owners of the physical property.
Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:
Marian Storm Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass.
Marian Storm donated her papers to the Sophia Smith Collection between 1964 and 1976.
Revised by Jennifer Smar, 2005