Katherine Little Bakeless
Katherine Little Bakeless was an American biographer and music educator, born in 1895 in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. She was a descendent of a Mayflower family, which likely influenced her interest in historical biography. After graduating from Bloomsburg State Normal School in 1913, she pursued further studies in music and began her career as a music teacher. In 1920, she married John Bakeless, and the couple lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she continued her music studies and taught at local schools. They later moved to Greenwich Village in New York City, where she held various teaching positions while also offering private music instruction. In 1940, the Bakelesses settled in Seymour, Connecticut, where she began her publishing career, writing about music and historical subjects related to early American history. Katherine Little Bakeless passed away in 1992, leaving behind a legacy of contributions to both music education and historical literature.
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Subject Terms
Katherine Little Bakeless
Writer
- Born: December 5, 1895
- Birthplace: Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania
- Died: July 29, 1992
- Place of death: Seymour, Connecticut
Biography
Katherine Little Bakeless was born Katherine Little in 1895 in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, to Robert Robbins Little and Deborah Tustin Little. Her future interest in historical biography was likely sparked by her own lineage, as she was a direct descendent from one of the original Mayflower families through her father, an attorney and judge.
She graduated in 1913 from the Bloomsburg State Normal School (now Bloomsburg University), and became a music teacher following additional studies in music at Bloomsburg State and the Peabody Conservatory. In the summer of 1919, she became engaged to John Bakeless, a classmate at Bloomsburg State and the son of a college professor. They married on June 16, 1920, following John’s return from military service in World War I.
The couple resided in Cambridge, Massachusett,s during John’s Harvard studies in philosophy and English. While in Cambridge, she pursued further music studies with Heinrich Gebhard in Boston, Massachusetts, and was a music instructor at Belmont Hill School in Belmont, Massachusetts. The couple moved from Cambridge to Greenwich Village in New York City in 1926. For over a decade, she held successive positions as a music instructor at the Child’s Garden Music School in Summit, New Jersey; the Windward School in upstate New York; and the Country Day School in New York City; she also provided private instruction at her own studio.
In 1940, the Bakelesses purchased a historic farmhouse (Elbowroom Farm) in Seymour, Connecticut, near New Haven. Her publishing career commenced at this time with the publication of the first of several works on music and the lives of composers. She also wrote several historical books about people and events during the early years of the United States, collaborating on several projects with her husband, also a historical biographer.
Katherine Little Bakeless died in 1992 in Seymour, Connecticut.