Katherine Lee Bates

America's beauty inspired poet to write nation's 'other national anthem.'

By Judd Proctor and Brian Burns - Philadelphia Gay News

Katharine Bates

Katherine Lee Bates

America's beauty inspired poet to write verse for nation's "other national anthem"

Katherine Lee Bates, born in 1859 Massachusetts, developed an interest in writing early in life. By age 6, she started keeping a diary, her first being a tiny red leather notebook with the notation "DIARY 1866" in gold. At age 9, one entry stated, "I like women better than men" and "Sewing is always expected of girls. Why not boys?"

Just before turning 12, the family moved just outside Boston, where she would attend Wellesley High School, graduating in 1874. Bates would also graduate from the more advanced Newton High School two years later.

At age 17, Bates began her long association with Wellesley College. She would be president of her class, the second to graduate from Wellesley. At the time, it was a bold move, as women were considered not bright enough to tackle to rigors of academic life. But to Bates, it was what she craved.

Bates' writing began to flourish. with her first poem, "Sleep." published in The Atlantic Monthly during her undergraduate years.

After receiving her bachelor's degree in 1880, Bates started career as a teacher. Her big break came in 1885, when she was invited back to Wellesley College to join the English department. It began a 40-year legacy at her alma mater.

Bates became a prolific author of travel books, volumes of poetry and children's books.

She is credited with popularizing the notion that Santa Claus had a wife in the book Goody Santa Claus On A Sleigh Ride. Written as a long poem in 1889, it depicts Mrs. Claus as wanting to accompany Santa on his Christmas Eve trip to deliver his toys.

Santa's wife takes a feminist stance, demanding credit for her hard work in making Christmas possible, including cooking to make Santa plump. Like Bates, this Mrs. Claus would stand up for herself and beg the same question: Why can't women do the same work as men?

Bates took trips abroad during sabbaticals and summers off. But it would be her cross-country train trip to Colorado Springs in 1893 — she'd been asked to teach a summer session at Colorado College — that would spark the start of her work on her best known poem, "America the Beautiful."

A monument commemorating ''America the Beautiful'' at Pike's Peak in Colorado.

The trip would be a long one with picturesque views through her train coach window. Passing through Massachusetts and then to New York, there was a brief stop at one of the continent's most famous attractions, Niagara Falls.

Then it was off to Chicago, where Bates would have a weekend stopover at the family home of Katherine Coman, professor of economics and history at Wellesley. The two had met in 1887, and would live together for more than a quarter of a century in what was then known as a "Boston marriage."

From Chicago, the women boarded a train bound for their summer classes in Colorado, passing field of wheat as they traveled west through Kansas and onto Colorado Springs. They would together view the Rocky Mountains for the first time.

At Colorado College for three weeks, the two instructors had time to tour the area. Bates' most exciting excursion occurred when a group of instructors were invited to travel to the top of the mountain that loomed over their town. At 14,110 feet above sea level, Pike's Peak commanded the best view for miles around.

The group went by horse-drawn wagon, which included the sign "Pikes Peak or Bust!"

"When I saw the view, I felt great joy," Bates wrote. "All the wonder of America seemed displayed there, with the sea-like expanse."

Inspired by the majestic view, Bates wrote some verses in her notebook — the start of what would become known as "America the Beautiful."

It would not be until Bates' return to Wellesley College that she would polish up her verses from Colorado. Her first version of the poem "America the Beautiful" appeared in the Congregationalist on July 4, 1895.

While many tunes, including "Auld Lang Syne," were matched to the poem's words and meter, the one that stuck was "Marterna," written by American organist and composer Samuel Ward in 1882. Ward never knew of the union of his tune and Bates' poem: He never met Bates and died in 1903. Known as "the other national anthem," Bates' ode has touched many lives "from sea to shining sea."

Both Bates and Coman had successful careers at Wellesley College. Bates chaired the English department. Coman chaired the economics department and was dean of the college. Their relationship grew over the years until they soon considered themselves bound as one. Their friendships included other female couples at the college.

While today less well-known than her partner, Coman was ahead of her time as the first woman institutional economist, writing books and articles on the topic.

Coman was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1912. After surgery, Bates helped care for her, even installing an elevator in their home to aid her partner in getting to her office on the third floor of their custom-built house just outside the college.

Coman died in 1915, at age 57. Bates expressed her grief to a friend saying, "So much of me died with Coman that I'm sometimes not quiet sure whether I'm alive or not."

Bates wrote of their relationship in a volume of poetry published in 1922 titled Yellow Clover, A Book of Remembrance. The poem took its name from the little yellow flowers each had pressed into the letters they wrote to each other when apart.

Bates continued at Wellesley until 1925. During her final years, she continued to write and review the works of others. She died on March 28, 1929, upon which the flag at Tower Court at Wellesley was flown at half-staff.

The local newspaper printed her obituary: "The death of Katherine Lee Bates means the passing away of one of the most notable citizens of Wellesley, one of the most important figures connected with Wellesley College, and much more than that, a considerable author and creative influence in the whole of American life." -E

Judd Proctor and Brian Burns host "The Rainbow Minute," a community radio show devoted to LGBT history and culture. Proctor is a retired elementary school teacher and gay activist. Burns is an author and horticulturalist. The couple resides in Richmond, Va.