Helen Fiske, born in Amherst, Mass., took her two last names from her husbands. She married Edward Bissell Hunt first, was widowed young, in 1865, and shortly afterwards had lost both sons from that marriage as well. Ten years later, she married a quaker, William Sharpless Jackson and lived in Colorado Springs with him. Helen was a long-time friend of Emily Dickinson and, besides becoming much more famous than her friend as a poet, produced many novels, including Ramona (1884). It dealt with the white man's subjugation of the native American indian, whose cause she energetically championed for much of the later part of her life. See her A Century of Dishonor: A Sketch of the United States Government's Dealings with some of the Indian Tribes (New York: Harper, 1881; HUS. J127c Robarts Library), and Report of Mrs. Helen Hunt Jackson and Abbot Kinney on the Mission Indians in 1883 (Boston: Stanley and Usher, 1887; Pam E 78 15 J3 Victoria College Archives).

| Top | Primary Works

Ah-wah-ne days; a visit to the Yosemite Valley in 1872. San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1971. Case / F868.Y6 J3

Glimpses of California and the missions. With illustrations by Henry Sandham. Boston: Little, Brown, & company, 1923. F867 .J13

A century of dishonor; a sketch of the United States Government's dealings with some of the Indian tribes. Minneapolis: Ross & Haines 1964. E93 .J13 1885a

Ramona; a story (1884). Boston, Little, Brown, and company, 1913. PS2107 .R5

| Top | Selected Bibliography

Banning, Evelyn I. Helen Hunt Jackson. NY: Vanguard, 1973.

Byers, John R., Jr. "The Indian Matter of Helen Hunt Jackson's Ramona: From Fact to Fiction." American Indian Quarterly 2 (1975): 331-46.

- - -. "Helen Hunt Jackson (1830 1885)." American Literary Realism 2 (1969: 143-48.

- - -, and Elizabeth S. Byers. "Helen Hunt Jackson (1830 1885): A Critical Bibliography of Secondary Comment." American Literary Realism 6 (1973): 197-241.

Davis, Carlyle C., and William A. Alderson. The true story of "Ramona"; its facts and fictions, inspiration and purpose. NY: Dodge Pub. Co. 1914. PS2107.R5 D3

Hamblen, Abigail A. "Ramona: A Story of Passion." Western Review 8.1 (1971): 21-25.

James, George W. Through Ramona's country. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1909. F867 .J35

Keller, Karl. "Helen Hunt Jackson: Pioneer Activist of Southern California." Seacoast 2 (Mar 1981): 60-65.

Kime, Wayne R. "Helen Hunt Jackson." American Literary Realism 8 (1975): 291-92.

Luis-Brown, David. "'White Slaves' and the 'Arrogrant Mestiza': Reconfiguring Whiteness in The Squatter and the Don and Ramona." American Literature 69.4 (Dec 1997): 813-39.

Marsden, Michael T. "Helen Hunt Jackson: Docudramatist of the American Indian." Markham Review 10 (Fall 1981): 15-19.

| Top | Mathes, Valerie S. Helen Hunt Jackson and her Indian reform legacy. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990. PS 2108 .M37

- - -. ed. The Indian reform Letters of Helen Hunt Jackson, 1879-1885. U of Oklahoma P, 1998.

May, Antoinette. Helen Hunt Jackson: a lonely voice of conscience. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1987. PS2108 .M39

Moylan, Michele. "Materiality as Performance: The Forming of Helen Hunt Jackson's Ramona." Reading Books: Essays on the Material Text and Literature in America. Eds. Michele Moylan and Lane Stiles. Amherst, MA: U of Massachustts P, 1996. 223-27.

Odell, Ruth. Helen Hunt Jackson. NY: London, D. Appleton-Century, 1939. PS2108 .O3

Olson, Kelli. "Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)." Nineteenth Century American Women Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Eds. Denise D. Knight and Emmanuel S. Nelson. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1997. 253-61.

Schmudde, Carol E. "Sincerity, Secrecy, and Lies: Helen Hunt Jackson's No Name Novels." Studies in American Fiction 21.1 (Sprg 1993): 51-66.

Sewall, Richard B. "Emily Dickinson's Perfect Audience: Helen Hunt Jackson." Dickinson and Audience. Eds. Martin Orzeck and Robert Weisbuch. Ann Arbor, MI: U of Michigan P, 1996. 201-13.

Staub, Michael E. "White Moth and Ox: The Friendship of ED with H. H. Jackson." Dickinson Studies 68 (1888): 17-25.

Wardrop, Daneen. "The Jouissant Politics of Helen Hunt Jackson's Ramona: The Ground That Is 'Mother's Lap'." Speaking the Other Self: American Women Writers. Ed. Jeanne Reesman. Athens, GA: U of Georgia P, 1997. 27-38.

Whitaker, Rosemary. "Legacy Profile: Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)." Legacy 3.1 (sprg 1986): 56-62.

- - -. Helen Hunt Jackson. Boise: Boise State Univ., 1987. Whitaker, Rosemary. Helen Hunt Jackson. Boise, Idaho: Boise SU, 1987. PS2108 .W45

MLA Style Citation of this Web Page

Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 5: Late Nineteenth Century - Helen Hunt Jackson." PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. URL:http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap5/jackson.html (provide page date or date of your login).  

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