One of the most prolific -- and most forgotten -- authors of early nineteenth-century series for children was Harriette Newell Woods Baker. She was born in Andover, Massachusetts, on 19 August 1815 to Leonard and Abby Woods. Like a number of other nineteenth-century female series authors, Baker came from an educated family: according to the National Cyclopedia of American Biography, her father, Dr. Woods, "was the first professor in Andover Theological Seminary, and afterward [its] president." One of her girlhood friends (whom she later described as "my most intimate companion") was Elizabeth Stuart (later, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps), who also authored early girls' series and whose father was also a professor and Hebrew scholar at Andover Theological Seminary. [1] Indeed, for a time, the two girls even formed their own writing society and read each other's work.