Ella Kaiser Carruth

Carruth was born in 1882 in Cleveland, Ohio. She attended Flora Stone Mather College and Western Reserve University which are both in Ohio. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. In 1907, Carruth married mathematics professor William M. Carruth, who taught at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. She worked for the Kirkland Library in Clinton as a part of the Board of Trustees and helped lead the creation of the library's Historical Room. After her husband died in 1943, Carruth moved to Winter Park, Florida in Alabama to live at a hotel. While in Winter Park, she worked as a part of the Winter Park Library and the Science Library at Rollins College.[1]

Carruth wrote the 1966 children's novel She Wanted To Read which is based on the life of American educator Mary McLeod Bethune. The novel was published when Carruth was 85 years old.[1] She Wanted To Read has been taught in American schools as part of the curriculum.[2][3] She wrote for magazines including Table Talk, Best Years, and Science Digest. Her planned second novel The Education of Zora Neale Hurston was rejected by publishers. Carruth died on March 13, 1974 and was buried in Clinton, New York.[1]