Timeline Louisa May Alcott

American novelist, Civil War nurse, abolitionist and suffragist. Raised among the Concord Transcendentalists, she wrote thrillers under a pen name before Little Women made her one of the best-selling authors of her century.

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Louisa May Alcott 21

1832 Louisa May Alcott born in Germantown Pennsylvania Louisa May Alcott is born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, on her father Bronson Alcott's 33rd birthday — the second of four daughters.
1834 – 1839 Bronson Alcott's Temple School Boston Louisa's father, the educational reformer Bronson Alcott, runs an experimental school in Boston. It closes after parents object to his methods and to his admitting a Black pupil.
1843 – 1844 The Fruitlands experiment A utopian farm The Alcotts join a utopian community at Harvard, Massachusetts, living on a strict vegan diet and refusing animal labour. It collapses within seven months. Louisa later satirises it in Transcendental Wild Oats.
1845 The Alcotts move to Concord Hillside In Concord the family's neighbours include Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, who takes the young Louisa on nature walks.
1854 Flower Fables Louisa May Alcott's first book Her first book, fairy tales first told to Emerson's daughter Ellen, is published.
1858 The Alcotts move into Orchard House Concord The family settles at Orchard House, where Louisa will write Little Women at a small desk her father built.
1858 Death of Louisa May Alcott's sister Elizabeth The model for Beth Her younger sister Lizzie dies aged 22 after a long illness following scarlet fever. She becomes Beth March.
1862 – 1863 Louisa May Alcott serves as a Civil War nurse Union Hotel Hospital, Georgetown She nurses wounded Union soldiers until she falls ill with typhoid pneumonia. The mercury-based medicine she is given may have damaged her health for life.
1863 Hospital Sketches Her first success Her letters from the hospital, published as Hospital Sketches, bring her first real literary success.
1863 The thrillers of A. M. Barnard A secret pen name Under the pen name A. M. Barnard, and anonymously, she writes sensational tales of revenge and passion. Scholars trace them to her only in the 1940s.
1864 Moods Her first novel Louisa May Alcott publishes her first novel, a story of an unhappy marriage.
1865 – 1866 Louisa May Alcott travels in Europe Meeting Laurie Travelling as a paid companion to an invalid, she meets the young Polish exile Ladislas Wisniewski in Switzerland — one inspiration for Laurie.
1868 Little Women is published Roberts Brothers, Boston Written in about ten weeks at the request of her publisher Thomas Niles, who wanted a book for girls, the first part is an immediate success.
1869 Good Wives The second part of Little Women The second volume follows the March sisters into adulthood. Readers beg for Jo to marry Laurie. Alcott refuses and pairs her with Professor Bhaer instead.
1870 An Old-Fashioned Girl After Little Women A country girl among wealthy city friends — Alcott's next novel for young readers.
1871 Little Men The first sequel Jo and Professor Bhaer run Plumfield, a school for boys.
1877 Death of Louisa May Alcott's mother Abigail The model for Marmee Abigail May Alcott, reformer and one of Massachusetts' first paid social workers, dies at Concord.
1879 Louisa May Alcott registers to vote First woman in Concord When Massachusetts lets women vote in school committee elections, Alcott is the first woman in Concord to register.
1879 Death of Louisa May Alcott's sister May The model for Amy Her youngest sister, the painter May Alcott Nieriker, dies in Paris weeks after giving birth. Louisa raises her niece Lulu.
1886 Jo's Boys The last March novel The final book of the series follows the boys of Plumfield into adulthood.
1888 Louisa May Alcott dies in Boston Two days after her father She dies aged 55, two days after Bronson Alcott, and is buried on Authors' Ridge in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, near Emerson, Thoreau and Hawthorne.