Biography:

Artist, poet, educator. Born– July 26, 1889, Tuscumbia, Ala. Parents– James T. and Ella Pearsall (Rather) Kirk. Education– Agnes Scott College, A.B., 1911, Phi Beta Kappa. Served on the Board of Trustees of Agnes Scott College for 61 years, the first woman in the South to be elected to the board of a ranking women’s college; president, 2 terms, general alumnae association of Agnes Scott, and was instrumental in the erection of its club house, the first alumnae club house on a college campus. Member; National Board, Young Women’s Christian Association; president, Alabama Poetry Society; member, Southern State League; Alabama Art League; Southern Print Makers. Received a silver loving cup from the Poetry Society of Alabama. Her etchings received prizes from Southern State Art League and the Laguna Beach, California Art Association. Her antebellum home, Locust Hill, provided the background for some of her writings, and her art work illustrated it. Died January 30, 1978.

Source:

Contemporary Authors online; files at the Birmingham Public Library.

Publication(s):

Cabins and Characters. Birmingham, Ala.; Southern University Press, 1969.

Locust Hill; This House Was Full of People. Tuscaloosa, Ala.; University of Alabama Press, 1975.

Of Days and Seasons at Locust Hill. S.l.; s.n., 1977.

The Sum of Living; a Collection of Poems. S.l.; s.n., 1973.

Papers;

The Hoole Special Collections Library at the University of Alabama holds papers of Mary Wallace Kirk.