Mary's Story begins in 1874. Born to missionaries living in Turkey, Mary Borglum (née Montgomery) was raised abroad before returning to the United States to attend high school.
At a time when few women attended college, Mary graduated from Wellesley and left the United States to study further in Berlin, where she became the first American to earn a degree in Assyriology, as well as one of the first women to earn any degree from Berlin University.
Throughout her years abroad, she often wrote letters home to her brothers sharing stories of her successes and struggles. Drawn from Mary's personal correspondence, as well as other historical references, Mary's Story is an insightful look into the life of an educated nineteenth-century woman.
Though later she would more commonly be known as Gutzon Borglum's wife, Mary's life was already rich with experiences before she met the famous Mount Rushmore sculptor on the boat ride home from Berlin. And, while much has been said about Gutzon and his masterpieces, Robin Borglum Kennedy's book instead celebrates the early life of her grandmother Mary. Offering an insider perspective on a remarkable woman, this authoritative biography honors Mary's considerable contributions to society and her family.
About the Author: Robin Borglum Kennedy is the granddaughter of Mary and Gutzon Borglum, a scholar and a sculptor respectively. While Gutzon is more widely known, due to his world-famous sculptures, such as South Dakota's Mount Rushmore; Mary is a pioneer of women in education, particularly in the field of linguistics.
Sharing her grandmother's knack for language, and her grandfather's artistic prowess, Kennedy has mined the wealth of her family history to craft two biographies. Winner of the 2000 National Park Service Cooperating Awards for Interpretive Excellence and a Gold Award in the 2009 Black Hills Advertising Awards for Publication Design, her first book, Gutzon Borglum: His Life and Works, celebrates the remarkable accomplishments of her grandfather. Her second, Mary's Story, brings to light her grandmother's numerous academic achievements as a young, single woman in the nineteenth century.
Kennedy is currently writing more family vignettes.
