Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps

Life & Legacy

Almira Lincoln Phelps (née Hart; July 15, 1793 – July 15, 1884) was an American scientist, educator, writer, and editor. Her botany writings influenced more early American women to be botanists, including Eunice Newton Foote and her daughter, Augusta Newton Foote Arnold. Though she primarily wrote about nature, she also wrote novels, essays, and memoirs. The standard author abbreviation A.Phelps is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.
Phelps was a native of Connecticut. Her long and active life was devoted to the education of young women. She published several popular science textbooks in the fields of botany, chemistry, and geology. Some of her works worthy of special commemoration include, The Blue Ribbon Society; The School Girls Rebellion; Christian Households; Familiar Lectures on Botany; Our Country and its Relation to the Present, Past and Future; and The Fireside Friend. Her views on topics ranging from elocution to corsets are contained in Lectures to Young Ladies, Comprising Outlines and Applications of the Different Branches of Female Education for the User of Female Schools, and Private Libraries.