Sangster, Margaret E. (Margaret Elizabeth), 1894-1981

Margaret Elizabeth Sangster, Jr. was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1894 and died in Valatie, New York, October 1981. Ms.Sangster was a writer who began as a columnist and journalist, became an editor and novelist, and wrote poems, articles, short fiction stories, in addition to numerous radio and television scripts. Margaret Elizabeth Sangster was born to George Munson and Ida May (Demerest) Sangster and was educated at Miss. Townsend's School in Newark, New Jersey. She would marry Mr. Gerrit Van Deth. Ms. Sangster was named for her prominent grandmother, Margaret Elizabeth (Munson) Sangster (1838-1912), an inpsirational writer and poet in the Victorian era. She was an important part of her granddaughter's life. Grandmother Sangster sold her first story to a Presbyterian publication at seventeen; her granddaughter followed suit and became a member of the editorial staff at The Christian Herald at fifteen. The granddaughter gives an account of an early event when a young Margaret was permitted to attend one of her grandmother's afternoon tea parties. "I watched my grandmother pour tea from a silver pot as the great and near great of the tuning century talked, plotted stories, and gossiped of literary folk and their foilbles." When Margaret became old enough to read, she spend many hours reading aloud to her grandmother who, by then, was almost totally blind. A significant part of Ms.Sangster's life was her writing. At fifteen she was a staff writer for The Christian Herald and, at various times, a contributor, a war correspondent, and columnist for the magazine. As a war correspondent during World War I, the youngest in history, she was sent overseas for The Christian Herald. Margaret Sangster continued her close association with the magazine by writing (as had her grandmother) for The Herald for the next twenty-five years. George H. Sandison, editor of The Christian Herald wrote in the forward of Ms. Sangster's Real People and Dreams, "...her book struck a chord which evoked the admiration of all who were familiar with the literary work of her famous predecessor...her poems and stories deal with many phases of human life...". Ms. Sangster was a women of many talents. She was editor (from 1929-1931) of a magazine for young women, Smart Set. Later she became the editor of two religious juvenile weeklies. Once radio became a popular medium, she began writing serials. For three years in the mid-1930s she wrote Hope Alden's Romance which was sponsored by Tasty Bread, after that she penned Armold Grimm's Daughter sponsored by General Mills for eight years, and then Ellen Randolph for Colgate-Palmolive-Peet. She wrote about six average-size novels a year, in addition to verse and volumes of essays. Mararet Sangster also wrote a poem a day for a newspaper syndicate for sixteen years, as well as thousands of short stories for national magazines such as Redbook and True Confessions, and contributed to numerous other magazines as well. Ms. Sangster was viewed as an outstanding writer of daytime serials. Her episodes of My True Story ran from 1943 through the 1950s. Whispering Streets, a continuing saga, on ABC and CBS from 1952-1960, was a 30 minute daily drama featuring romantic stories narrated by Hope Winslow, a fictitious novelist performed by Gertrude Warner. Later narrators included Bette Davis and Anne Seymour. Margaret Sangster had more than two dozen books published Friends o' Mine (1913), Real People and Dreams (1914), Cross Roads (1919), The Island of Faith (novel, 1921), Margaret Sangster's Scrap Book (1930), Love Lightly (novel, 1932), God and My Garden (1933), The Littlest Orphan and Other Christmas Stories (1935), Singing on the Road ((1936), The Stars Come Close (novel, 1936), Surgical Call (novel, 1937) Reluctant Star (novel, 1940), Out of my Need (1942) and Bible Quiz Book (1944).

From the description of Margaret E. Sangster, Jr. Collection: Papers, 194?-196? (Brooklyn College). WorldCat record id: 425958048

Margaret E. Sangster was a popular American author, writing short stories, novels, poems, and television and radio plays. She contributed to Christian Herald magazine, including time as a war correspondent, and was editor of Smart Set. She was influenced by her grandmother, a journalist and Christian writer, also named Margaret E. Sangster.

From the description of Margaret E. Sangster letter to Walter M. Lutsch, 1929 Apr. 8. (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 56194022