Jones, Susan Wilbur, 1893-....

Susan Wilbur Jones, daughter of George W. Wilbur and Ellen Rice Wilbur of Chicago, attended Wellesley, became an author and translator, married the author and editor Llewellyn Jones and moved to Cambridge, Mass. in the 1940s. She had three children: Llewellyn, born in 1919, Cornelia, born in 1920, and George, born in 1930.

From the description of Susan Wilbur Jones papers, 1906-1970. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 80239677

From the description of Susan Wilbur Jones papers, 1873-1970. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702162748

Susan Wilbur Jones, daughter of George W. Wilbur (1851-1931) and Ellen Rice Wilbur (d. 1932) of Chicago, was born in Oak Park, Illinois on January 6, 1893. She attended the public schools in Oak Park and Wellesley College from 1909 to 1913, where she boarded with Katharine Lee Bates, majored in Greek and English Literature, and was elected Phi Beta Kappa.

Upon graduation, she returned to Chicago and attended the University of Chicago, receiving a Master of Arts in English Literature in 1914. She began her career in literature by reviewing books for Llewellyn Jones, literary editor of the Chicago Evening Post .

In March 1917, Susan Wilbur married Llewellyn Jones. They had three children: Llewellyn, born in 1919; Cornelia, born in 1920; and George, born in 1930. Susan's sons both attended Harvard; her daughter Cornelia was mentally ill and was institutionalized at any early age.

From 1917 to 1922 Susan was assistant editor of Poetry, literary editor of the Continent, and staff editor of Comptons' Pictured Encyclopedia's volume on the ancient Mediterranean world. From 1923 to 1933 she joined her husband at the Chicago Evening Post as associate literary editor of the newly established book supplement. During this time she also served as literary editor for Child Life, and for the Chicagoan .

Susan Wilbur Jones had been a supervisor of the Illinois WPA Writer's Project for three years in 1938 when her husband accepted the editorship of the Christian Register in Boston. She moved her household and returned to school to pursue a masters in Slavic Languages from Radcliffe College. She received her degree in 1944.

Susan wrote several short works, as well as a history entitled Egypt and the Suez Canal (Chicago, 1925). She began a career in translation with the Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter in 1927. A Rockefeller grant obtained upon receiving her degree enabled her to translate Gudzy's History of Early Literature in 1949, which she followed with a translation of Romanov's Russia in Manchuria (Ann Arbor, 1952). She switched to Japanese in the 1950s and translated Ages Ago: Thirty-seven Tales from the Konjaku Monogatari Collection (Cambridge, 1959).

In her later years, Susan kept house in Cambridge for her youngest son George, and dabbled in translating. She died November 25, 1969.

From the guide to the Susan Wilbur Jones papers, 1873-1970, (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)