Karle Wilson Baker

Texas boasts an impressive array of contemporary authors, ranging from household names like Larry McMurtry to cult icons such as Cormac McCarthy to lesser-known talents like mystery novelist Joe Lansdale. But one of the earliest, most talented, and most famous Texas writers was Karle Wilson Baker.

Born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1878, Karle Wilson moved with her family to Nacogdoches in September of 1900, but spent relatively little time in Texas for several years thereafter. Instead, she studied and taught at schools throughout the country. Well-educated but lacking any college degrees-she attended, at various times, Little Rock Academy, Ouachita Baptist College, the University of Chicago, and the University of California at Berkeley-Miss Wilson nonetheless taught for four years at Southwest Virginia Institute in Bristol before coming to Texas. She then left again, returning to Little Rock to teach until 1906.

Karle Wilson then returned to Nacogdoches and married local banker Thomas E. Baker. They produced two children, reared while Karle polished her writing skills and published in such journals as Harper's and Atlantic Monthly. In 1919, Yale University Press published her first collection of poetry, Blue Smoke, and by 1924, after another volume of poetry and two novels had appeared, she was widely acclaimed as one of America's greatest living writers.

In the summer of 1924 Karle Wilson Baker began teaching at Stephen F. Austin State Teachers' College, and did so for the next decade. While at SFASTC, she began incorporating Texas into her writing. She wrote a history of Texas for schoolchildren in 1925, a collection of essays about Texas birds in 1930, and another children's reader, Two Little Texans, in 1932. And another poetry collection, Dreamers on Horseback, published in 1931, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. All the while, she remained one of the most popular teachers at the college, remembered fondly by her students even today.

Two novels with a distinctly Texas flavor followed. Family Style (1937) was a story of relationships and change in the boom years of the East Texas oilfield. Star of the Wilderness, set largely in East Texas, was an historical novel of the mid-nineteenth century and was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection in 1942.

Baker's achievements were recognized by her peers. In addition to the Pulitzer nomination, she received an honorary doctorate of letters from Southern Methodist University in 1924. She later was named an honorary vice president of the Poetry Society of Texas, served as president of the Texas Institute of Letters, and was a member of the Poetry Society of America.

Karle Wilson Baker died in Nacogdoches on November 9, 1960, and was buried at Oak Grove Cemetery. To get there, take Main Street to Lanana Street, then go north one block to the cemetery.

For further information see Edwin W. Gaston, Jr., "Karle Wilson Baker: First Woman of Texas Letters," in the East Texas Historical Journal 15 (1977), or "Karle Wilson Baker" in The New Handbook of Texas. A forthcoming biography of Karle Wilson Baker by Sarah R. Jackson, to be published by Texas A&M University Press, will offer a more contemporary interpretation of his important Texas author. To learn more about East Texas history contact the East Texas Historical Association at Stephen F. Austin State University or visit the ETHA web site at http://leonardo.sfasu.edu/etha/.