Papers of Ruth Burr Sanborn, 1922-1942

Ruth Burr Sanborn, author, was born in Woodville, New Hampshire on July 13, 1894, the daughter of Wilbur J. and Julia E. (Hobart) Sanborn. Her family moved to Framingham in 1900, and Sanborn attended the public schools and was graduated from Framingham High School in 1914. She received both her A.B., magna cum laude in 1918, and her A.M., in 1922, from Radcliffe. She took further graduate courses from 1926-1927 and 1928-1929. Sanborn concentrated in English; she belonged to the English Club, was a reporter, 1915-1916, then Associate Editor, 1916-1917, for the Radcliffe News, and was on the editorial staff of the Radcliffe Magazine, 1917-1918. While at college she wrote The Cuss Club (1917) and was joint author of Augusta Wind (1918).

Sanborn was first employed as an advertising copy writer, 1919-1920, and began her writing career in 1922 as editor of Memoirs of the Harvard Dead in the War against Germany and Harvard Africa Studies. Her short story, "Professional Pride," was published in the O. Henry Memorial Award prize stories (1929). Sanborn wrote more than 100 short stories that were published in the leading magazines both nationally and abroad. She wrote mysteries and romantic novels, such as Murder by Jury (1932) and Murder on the Aphrodite (1935). She reviewed books for the San Diego Union and the New York Herald Tribune. She served as a trustee of the Southern Pines (North Carolina) Library and was a member of the Authors' League of America. Sanborn died on June 29, 1942 in Southern Pines, North Carolina, where she had moved with her family in 1932.