Elinor Rice Hays (1902–1994)

Elinor Rice Hays was born in New York City, and graduated from Barnard College in 1923. She began her literary career as a novelist, publishing several successful works beginning with The Best Butter (1938), a bestseller. It was followed by Action in Havana (1940) and Mirror, Mirror (1946). She later turned to biography, specializing in women. These included Morning Star: A Biography of Lucy Stone, 1818-1893 (1961) and Those Extraordinary Blackwells (1967). In 1949, she married Paul R. Hays, a judge. Mrs. Hays also contributed articles to national magazines, including The New Yorker, Seventeen, and Glamour.