Ken Liss
Two Avid Readers and the Books They Read in 1850s Brookline
Mary Wild (1799-1883) and Adeline Faxon (1834-1853) lived near each other in 1850s Brookline. There were, of course, many differences then – as there are now – between a teenage girl and a woman running a family and a household. One thing they had in common is that both were avid readers who wrote in their diaries about the books they read. Join Brookline Historical Society president Ken Liss for a look at these women, the books they read, and what that tells us about mid-19th century literature, Boston booksellers, and two people who made books such an important part of their lives.
Ken Liss (kenlissbrookline@gmail.com, https://kenliss.com) is a public historian and president of the Brookline Historical Society. A retired librarian who worked at Harvard, Boston College, Boston University, and the Boston Public Library, he leads walking tours of different Brookline neighborhoods and researches and writes on local history, baseball terminology, and word and phrase origins.
