Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson

Who was Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson?

Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson was an American author, journalist and teacher.

She was born Eleanor Stackhouse in Rensselaer, Indiana, and later married Francis Blake Atkinson, himself also an author—the couple had children Dorothy Blake and Frances Eleanor. She taught in schools in both Indianapolis and Chicago. She wrote for the Chicago Tribune under the pseudonym "Nora Marks" during the late 1890s, and later became publisher of the Little Chronicle Publishing Company, Chicago; this published several of her own works, along with other educational books and the Little Chronicle, an illustrated newspaper intended for young children.

Whilst she wrote both fiction and non-fiction, the former mostly romances and the latter mostly educational books, she is best known for her 1912 novel Greyfriars Bobby.

This popular work recounted the famous story of the eponymous dog; most of the modern versions of the story seem to stem from her form of the tale. Many details of the book, especially those regarding the dog's master are inaccurate; until recently it was assumed that she had no opportunity for original research of her setting. It seems likely that she worked from the basic story and embellished it from her own imagination. The story, however, is lovingly detailed; the descriptions of the geography may be somewhat confused, but effort was clearly made to get names correct, and to get across the atmosphere of the city. Unusually for someone with no connection to the country, her portrayal of the local accent was convincing and strongly phrased; this suggests it is possible she picked up the story directly from Scottish immigrants to the Midwest.