Mollie Evelyn Moore Davis
April 12, 1844–January 1, 1909
Born in 1844, Mollie Evelyn Moore Davis was one of the most important Texas writers of the nineteenth century.
Davis's family moved to Texas from Alabama when she was eleven. Just five years later, the Tyler Reporter published one of her poems.
In the 1870s, Davis began writing for national audiences about postbellum Texas and Louisiana. Her short fiction appeared in such magazines as Harper's and the Atlantic. She also wrote children's stories, plays, and novels.
While Davis's Louisiana tales enjoyed great popularity, critics praise her Texas fiction for its vivid and detailed depiction of life in the state.
Her 1896 novel Under the Man-Fig portrays events along the Texas Gulf Coast during and after the Civil War. Four years later, Davis published The Wire-Cutters, a novel set during the Texas fence-cutting wars of the 1880s, when ranchers began restricting access to large sections of the previously open range. The Wire-Cutters is now recognized as one of the first "westerns" in American literary history.
Davis lived principally in New Orleans from 1879 to her death in 1909. But she maintained a lifelong fascination with her former home state. Texas history, she once wrote, "is a story of knightly romance which calls the poet, even as, in earlier days, the Land of Tehas called across its borders the dreamers of dreams."
For More about Mollie Evelyn Moore Davis
The Mary Evelyn Moore Davis Papers (Davis's first name at birth) are held at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at The University of Texas at Austin. The collection includes papers relating to her literary career and social and family life.
The Mary (Mollie) Evelyn Moore Davis Scrapbook is available at Stephen F. Austin State University's East Texas Research Center and contains newspaper articles written by Davis about her life in New Orleans.
Davis published under the name M. E. M. Davis. Many early editions of her works, including The Wire-Cutters and her history of Texas titled Under Six Flags, are available online.
Davis is buried alongside her husband Thomas E. Davis in the Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.
Selected Bibliography
Anderson, John Q. "Notes on Mollie Moore Davis." Louisiana Studies. 1 (1962).
Brady, Patricia, "Mollie Moore Davis: A Literary Life." In Louisiana Women Writers: New Essays and A Comprehensive Bibliography. Edited by Barbara Ewell and Dorothy Brown. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1992.
Brady, Patricia, "Mollie Moore Davis." In KnowLA Encyclopedia of Louisiana, edited by David Johnson. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, 2010–. Article published December 14, 2010.
Davis, M. E. M. Under the Man-Fig. 1895. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1980.
Davis, M. E. M. The Wire Cutters. 1899. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1997.
"Davis, Mollie Evelyn Moore." In vol. 1 of Notable American Women, 1607–1950. Edited by Edward T. James, Janet Wilson James, and Paul S. Boyer. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971.
"Davis, Mollie Moore (1844–1909)." In vol. 1 of Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women through the Ages. Edited by Anne Commire and Deborah Klezmer. Detroit: Yorkin Publications, 2007.
Davis, Thadious M. "Davis, Mollie Moore. " In vol. 1 of American Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide from Colonial Times to the Present. Ed. Taryn Benbow-Pfalzgraf. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000.
Graham, Don B. "Literature." Handbook of Texas Online. Accessed April 12, 2015.
Grider, Sylvia and Lou Rodenberger. "Women and Literature." Handbook of Texas Online. Accessed April 12, 2015.
Grider, Sylvia and Lou Rodenberger, eds. Texas Women Writers: A Tradition of Their Own. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1997.
Wilkinson, C. W. "Davis, Mollie Evelyn Moore." Handbook of Texas Online. Accessed April 12, 2015.
Wilkinson, C. W. The Broadening Stream: The Life and Literary Career of Mollie E. Moore Davis. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Illinois, 1947.
Spanish Translation
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