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Margaret Coit
Margaret Louise Coit (Margaret Louise Elwell) (May 30, 1919 in Norwich, Connecticut - March 15, 2003 in Amesbury, Massachusetts) was a writer of American history books for both adults and children. In 1935 when she was still in high school in Greensboro, North Carolina, Coit—like many people in the South at that time—venerated John C. Calhoun. In her eyes his life was heroic. Calhoun was "a congressman and vice president under two presidents" and "later a symbol of the lost cause of defending slavery." After studying journalism and history for several years at the Woman's College at Greensboro, she worked for many years researching Calhoun's life, resulting in the publication of her Pulitzer Prize-winning book entitled John C. Calhoun, American Portrait.
Coit was born in Connecticut to Grace Trow, the principal of a private day school, and Archa Willoughby Coit, a stockbroker. Two years later, Margaret's sister Grace was born with Down syndrome; caring for Grace would take up much of Coit's adult life.
At the start of the Great Depression, Coit's family moved to Greensboro, North Carolina, where Coit attended Curry School, a training school located on the grounds of Woman's College (now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro). Coit graduated Curry School in 1937 and went on to study history and English at Woman's College, where she edited the college magazine, wrote for the school paper, and studied with professors such as Caroline Tate and Mildred Gould.
Meanwhile, Coit's parents had moved to West Newbury, Massachusetts, and after graduating in 1941, she moved north to work as a reporter for the newspapers of surrounding towns—the Lawrence Daily Eagle, Newburyport Daily News, and Haverhill Gazette.
Over the next nine years, Coit also performed extensive research on South Carolina statesman John C. Calhoun, in whom she had developed an interest while still a school child at Curry. John C. Calhoun, American Portrait was published by Houghton Mifflin to critical acclaim in 1950, winning the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography.
As a result of the critical acclaim for John C. Calhoun, Coit won a staff appointment to the University of New Hampshire Writers Conference, where she met Lloyd Haberly, a poet and the new dean of Fairleigh Dickinson University. Haberly invited Coit to teach at the university's Rutherford branch, where she began as a visiting writer in the English department in 1950, then became a professor of social science. Over the next decade Coit would also teach at the University of Colorado at Boulder and Bread Loaf Writers' Conferences, and write articles and reviews for various national publications including Look, the Saturday Review, The Nation, and American Heritage. In 1959 Woman's College bestowed upon Coit an honorary Doctor of Letters.
In 1970 Coit was recruited to edit Calhoun: Great Lives Observed. In 1977 Phi Alpha Theta conferred membership upon her for "conspicuous attainments and scholarship in the field of history."
Coit's treatment of Calhoun also drew the attention of Bernard Baruch, who requested she write his biography next. Coit spent seven years working closely with Baruch, combing through his personal papers and interviewing his associates, among them top political figures of the day. Unfortunately, Baruch did not agree with the final product, and withdrew permission to quote from his personal papers and friends. However, the attorneys at Houghton Mifflin gave the go-ahead, and Mr. Baruch was published in 1957. It was named a Book of the Month selection by the National Council of Women in 1958. Although Baruch later extended an olive branch to Coit, her negative experience with writing a biography of a living person caused her to refuse to do so ever again; she even turned down an invitation to write the life story of Eleanor Roosevelt, whom she greatly admired.
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Margaret Coit
Margaret Louise Coit (Margaret Louise Elwell) (May 30, 1919 in Norwich, Connecticut - March 15, 2003 in Amesbury, Massachusetts) was a writer of American history books for both adults and children. In 1935 when she was still in high school in Greensboro, North Carolina, Coit—like many people in the South at that time—venerated John C. Calhoun. In her eyes his life was heroic. Calhoun was "a congressman and vice president under two presidents" and "later a symbol of the lost cause of defending slavery." After studying journalism and history for several years at the Woman's College at Greensboro, she worked for many years researching Calhoun's life, resulting in the publication of her Pulitzer Prize-winning book entitled John C. Calhoun, American Portrait.
Coit was born in Connecticut to Grace Trow, the principal of a private day school, and Archa Willoughby Coit, a stockbroker. Two years later, Margaret's sister Grace was born with Down syndrome; caring for Grace would take up much of Coit's adult life.
At the start of the Great Depression, Coit's family moved to Greensboro, North Carolina, where Coit attended Curry School, a training school located on the grounds of Woman's College (now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro). Coit graduated Curry School in 1937 and went on to study history and English at Woman's College, where she edited the college magazine, wrote for the school paper, and studied with professors such as Caroline Tate and Mildred Gould.
Meanwhile, Coit's parents had moved to West Newbury, Massachusetts, and after graduating in 1941, she moved north to work as a reporter for the newspapers of surrounding towns—the Lawrence Daily Eagle, Newburyport Daily News, and Haverhill Gazette.
Over the next nine years, Coit also performed extensive research on South Carolina statesman John C. Calhoun, in whom she had developed an interest while still a school child at Curry. John C. Calhoun, American Portrait was published by Houghton Mifflin to critical acclaim in 1950, winning the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography.
As a result of the critical acclaim for John C. Calhoun, Coit won a staff appointment to the University of New Hampshire Writers Conference, where she met Lloyd Haberly, a poet and the new dean of Fairleigh Dickinson University. Haberly invited Coit to teach at the university's Rutherford branch, where she began as a visiting writer in the English department in 1950, then became a professor of social science. Over the next decade Coit would also teach at the University of Colorado at Boulder and Bread Loaf Writers' Conferences, and write articles and reviews for various national publications including Look, the Saturday Review, The Nation, and American Heritage. In 1959 Woman's College bestowed upon Coit an honorary Doctor of Letters.
In 1970 Coit was recruited to edit Calhoun: Great Lives Observed. In 1977 Phi Alpha Theta conferred membership upon her for "conspicuous attainments and scholarship in the field of history."
Coit's treatment of Calhoun also drew the attention of Bernard Baruch, who requested she write his biography next. Coit spent seven years working closely with Baruch, combing through his personal papers and interviewing his associates, among them top political figures of the day. Unfortunately, Baruch did not agree with the final product, and withdrew permission to quote from his personal papers and friends. However, the attorneys at Houghton Mifflin gave the go-ahead, and Mr. Baruch was published in 1957. It was named a Book of the Month selection by the National Council of Women in 1958. Although Baruch later extended an olive branch to Coit, her negative experience with writing a biography of a living person caused her to refuse to do so ever again; she even turned down an invitation to write the life story of Eleanor Roosevelt, whom she greatly admired.