Mary Hastings BradleyMary Hastings Bradley was a traveler and author who lived in Chicago from April 19, 1882 to October 25, 1976. Alice Sheldon ("James Tiptree, Jr." author) was her mother. Mary Wilhelmina Hastings was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA in 1882. She earned er bachelor's degree in English from Smith College in 1905. She traveled to Egypt with a cousin after graduation and was inspired to write "The Palace of Darkened Windows" and "The Fortieth Door," which chronicle the lives of Egypt's veiled and secluded women. Both of these stories were later adapted into films, bringing Bradley's work to a wider audience. She met her husband Herbert Edwin Bradley in Oxford while undertaking research for her book The Favor of Kings. Herbert Bradley was a lawyer, large game hunter, adventurer, and explorer who later assisted in the establishment of the Brookfield Zoo. They married in 1910 and had a daughter, Alice, five years later. Mary, Herbert, and Alice journeyed to the Belgian Congo in 1921 and 1922 with her uncle, Carl E. Akeley of the American Museum of Natural History, in search of mountain gorilla specimens for the museum. Her books On the Gorilla Trail, Alice in Jungleland, and Alice in Elephantland detailed these adventures. Read More Read Less