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Rachel Louise Carson (1907-1964)
Silent Spring
Background
- Born in 1907 in Springfield, Pennsylvania.
- Educated at Pennsylvania College for Women (A.B., 1929) and Johns Hopkins University
(A.M., 1932); further graduate study at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA.
- Died of cancer in 1964 at Silver Spring, Maryland.
Career
- Taught zoology at University of Maryland, 1931-36, then worked as an acquatic biologist
for the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. Became a full-time writer beginning in 1952.
- Received numerous awards for her work, including the National Book Award (1951) for The
Sea Around Us; the John Burroughs, Henry G. Bryant, and Frances K. Hutchinson Medals
in 1952; the Schwietzer medal from Animal Welfare Institute (1962); the Women's National
Book Association Constance Lindsay Skinner Award (1963); and the Conservationist of the
Year Award from the National Wildlife Federation (1963).
- Was awarded honorary doctorates from Oberlin College (1952), Pennsylvania College for
Women (1952), Drexel Institute of Technology (1952), and Smith College (1953).
Major Writings
Under the Sea-Wind: A Naturalist's Picture of Ocean Live (1941)
The Sea Around Us (1951)
The Edge of the Sea (1955)
Silent Spring (1962)
The Sense of Wonder (1965)
The Rocky Coast (1971)
Always, Rachel: The Letters of Rachel Carson and Dorothy Freeman, 1952-64
Critical Sources and Reviews
- Biographical and critical information in Contemporary Literary Criticism.
Gale Literary Databases can be accessed online through a subscribing library at www.galenet.com.
- Other printed resources include:
Anticaglia, Elizabeth, Twelve American Women
Brooks, Paul, editor, House of Life: Rachel Carson at Work
Sterling, Philip, Sea and Earth: The Life of Rachel Carson
- New York Times review of Always, Rachel: The Lertters of Rachel Carson and
Dorothy Freeman, March 19, 1995. (New
York Times Books Archive)
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Retired Discussion Series
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