Long, Margaret, 1873-

Physician; Travel writer; Historian.

Margaret Long was born in 1873, the daughter of a former governor of Massachusetts. She graduated from Smith College in 1895 and from John Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore in 1903. Among her fellow students at both Smith and Johnms Hopkins were Florence Rena Sabin and Dorothy Reed (Mendenhall). She moved to Colorado in 1905 to recover from tuberculosis and became one of the state's leading fighters of the disease helping to found the Sands House Sanatorium in 1914 on whose board she served for many years. She also did tuberculosis research at several Denver hospitals. After retiring, Long became an authority on Western U.S. history publishing "The Oregon Trail" in 1954, "The Shadows of the Arrow" in 1941, "The Enchanted Desert in 1942, "The Smoky Hill Trail in 1953 and "The Santa Fe Trail" in 1954. She died in 1957.

From the description of Margaret Long Papers, 1873-1954. (Smith College). WorldCat record id: 60326876

Biography / Administrative History

Dr. Long was a Denver, Colorado, medical doctor and author with a strong interest in Death Valley and its early pioneers. Dr. Long was also interested in pioneer trails in the West. On an automobile trip in 1921, Dr. Long and a friend became the first women to enter Death Valley alone. Author of: The Shadow of the Arrow (1941); The Smoky Hill Trail (1943); Automobile Logs of the Smoky Hill and Other Pioneer Trails in Colorado, Oklahoma, and New Mexico...(1943); and The Santa Fe Trail: Following the Old Historic Pioneer Trails on the Modern Highways (1954).

From the guide to the Dr. Margaret Long Papers, 1925-1946, (Autry National Center. Institute for the Study of the American West)