Constance Lindsay Skinner
Constance Lindsay Skinner was a Canadian-born writer, known for her diverse contributions to literature, including historical texts, novels, and plays. Born into a family with ties to the Hudson's Bay Company, she spent her early years in British Columbia before moving to Vancouver and later relocating to California for health reasons. In California, Skinner honed her writing skills, publishing articles and reviews in prominent newspapers like the San Francisco Examiner and the Los Angeles Times. Her first play, "David," was produced in 1910, marking the start of her theatrical career.
Skinner eventually settled in New York City, where she gained recognition for her book reviews and poetry in various literary periodicals. She is perhaps best known for her historical works, including "Pioneers of the Old Southwest" and "Adventurers of Oregon," written for Yale's Chronicles of America series. In addition to writing for young audiences, she authored novels for adults and initiated a series of historical books about major American rivers. Although she embraced life in the U.S., Skinner maintained a deep connection to her Canadian roots, often featuring Canadian settings and characters in her works. Her literary legacy reflects a rich blend of her experiences across North America.
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Subject Terms
Constance Lindsay Skinner
Writer
- Born: December 7, 1877
- Birthplace: Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada
- Died: March 27, 1939
- Place of death: New York, New York
Biography
Constance Lindsay Skinner was the daughter of Robert Skinner, a Hudson’s Bay Company agent, and Annie Lindsay Skinner. She spent the first part of her childhood at the Peace River trading post in British Columbia. The Skinners moved to Vancouver when Constance was fourteen, and two years later, Constance relocated to California for health reasons and moved in with an aunt. Having discovered an interest in writing at an early age and having already published stories in newspapers, Constance Skinner continued the practice her art in California, writing music and theater reviews for the San Francisco Examiner and the Los Angeles Times. The Forest Theater of Carmel, California, produced Skinner’s first play, David, in 1910.
Skinner moved in her late twenties to New York City, where her book reviews appeared in the Herald Tribune and her articles and poems were regular features of the Bookman, the North American Review, Poetry, and other periodicals. In 1917, her novel Good Morning, Rosamund! was adapted to the stage as a three-act comedy produced by the Shubert Theatrical Corporation at New York’s Forty-Eighth Street Theater.
She is remembered, however, perhaps more for her historical texts—two of which, Pioneers of the Old Southwest in 1919 and Adventurers of Oregon in 1920, were written for Yale University’s Chronicles of America series—as well as her fiction. She first began writing in the latter genre for young readers, composing adventure stories set amidst frontier life, but she also produced novels for adults. In 1935, she began editing work on a series of historical books about America’s major rivers, an idea of Skinner’s own creation. The first in the series, Kennebec: Cradle of Americans by Robert P. Tristram Coffin, was published by Farrar and Rinehart in 1937. The series itself continued to include more than forty volumes, but Skinner died before the series had finished.
Although Skinner spent substantial time in California and about thirty years in New York, she still remained a Canadian at heart, and many of her publications are set in Canada’s Northwest, with native Canadian characters.