Furniss, Ruth Pine, 1893-1957

Ruth Kellogg Pine Furniss was born on March 2, 1893 to Charles LeRoy and Grace Eddy Kellogg Pine in Lansingburg, New York. She attended the Emma Willard School (Troy, New York) and Miss Porter’s School (Farmington, Connecticut). She studied short story writing with Dr. Blanche Colton Williams at Columbia University and went on to publish a number of short stories and novels.

It is believed Furniss suffered from manic-depression, which was treated through periods of institutionalization, shock-therapy, a topectomy, and ultimately, a lobotomy. Furniss’s writings drew on her struggle with mental illness and her exposure to various medical treatments, as can be seen in her novels Gay (1928) and Snow (1929), and The Dreamland Tree (completed in 1952 after Furniss received a topectomy and shock therapy). Furniss published The Layman Looks at Doctors (1929) under the pseudonyms S.W. and J.T. Pierce, who were a fictional couple.

In 1912 Furniss married Dr. Henry Dawson Furniss (d. 1942), with whom she had five children, three of whom survived childhood (Henry Dawson, Junior; James P.; and W. Todd). The Furniss family lived in Pelham, New York and New York City. During World War II Furniss served as a Gray Lady with the Red Cross. Furniss was hospitalized at several points during her life for what may have been manic-depression. At the end of her life she was hospitalized at Pilgrim State and Central Islip (Long Island). Furniss died of a heart attack in December 1957 at the age of 64.

From the guide to the Ruth Pine Furniss papers, 1919-1960, (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)