Mitchell, Ruth Comfort, 1882-1954

Ruth Comfort Mitchell was born on July 21, 1882 in San Francisco. She spent a good deal of time in Los Gatos, California, where her parents owned a summer home. It was here that her first poem was published in the local newspaper, when she was 14 years old. After she married Sanborn Young in 1914, the couple moved to New York City. Within two years, she had a play opening on Broadway and a published volume of poems, to be followed soon after by her first novel. The Youngs soon returned to Los Gatos. In 1925, Sanborn Young was elected to the California State Senate, where he would serve until 1938. Ruth was active in a number of conservative organizations and twice served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention. Sanborn Young returned to life as a cattle rancher after retiring from the Senate and, as such, he and his wife were upset by Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath, which appeared soon after, in 1939. Ruth was determined to tell their side of the story, the result being her novel Of Human Kindness, in which a gentleman farmer's family must overcome tribulations brought on by migrant workers, union organizers, liberal academics, and Communists. Ruth Comfort Mitchell continued to write throughout the 1940s and died at her home on February 17, 1954 of heart failure.

From the description of Ruth Comfort Mitchell Collection, ca. 1879-1961 (bulk 1930s-1940s) (University of California, Santa Barbara). WorldCat record id: 76707652

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