Olivia Howard Dunbar (1873-1953) was an American short story writer, journalist and biographer, best known today for her ghost fiction. Born in West Bridgeport, Massachusetts, Dunbar graduated from Smith College before starting a career in newspaper journalism. As a short story writer and critic, she was published in many of the popular periodicals of her time, including Harper’s and The Dial. Dunbar wrote several ghost stories, as well as a 1905 essay, “The Decay of the Ghost in Fiction,” defending the subgenre. Dunbar was active in the women’s suffrage movement, and her work has been noted to contain feminist themes. She was a frequent Fellow at MacDowell, residing 13 times between 1914 and 1952. Her work has been anthologized by Dorothy Scarborough and Jessica Amanda Salmonson.
Olivia Howard Dunbar
Studios
New Hampshire
Olivia Howard Dunbar worked in the New Hampshire studio.
New Hampshire Studio, originally named Peterborough Studio, was given to MacDowell by Mr. and Mrs. William Schofield, Mrs. H. A. Chamberlain, Mrs. Andrew Draper, and Miss Ruth Cheney. The studio was renamed in 1943. The Gilbert Verney Foundation established an endowed maintenance fund in 1990, and a bequest in memory of MacDowell Fellow Victor Candell underwrote the…