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Nolan, Jeannette Covert

Page history last edited by PBworks 16 years ago

Jeannette Covert Nolan (1897-1974) was a well-known author of children's books, especially dealing with American History. She lived in Indiana, USA, and wrote a few mysteries for grown-ups.

Nolan's series detective is middle aged spinster Lace White. White, an author and retired school teacher who lives with her cousin Effie, looks like a starchy Hoosier schoolmarm. But Lace White is not much like any other spinster sleuth in fiction. The Governor of the state has made her an honorary Lieutenant in the State Police. She has a badge, credentials, and when murder occurs, she can walk right in and start grilling suspects, interrogating witnesses, and issuing orders to the local constabulary.

In his brief, unenthusiastic review of Nolan's novel, Final Appearance (1943), Anthony Boucher said that Lace White was unconvincing as a detective. One has to agree. Still, the sheer oddness of the conception has its points.

- Mike Grost

The University of South Mississippi, de Grummond Collection, has Nolan papers, and provides this sketch:

Jeannette Covert Nolan was born on March 31, 1897 in Evansville, Indiana. After graduating from the Evansville School System, she worked as a reporter and features writer for an Evansville newspaper. She credits her experience as a reporter in helping her prepare for her work as a writer. Her first book, Barry Barton's Mystery, was published in 1932.

Ms. Nolan worked as a staff member at the Indiana University and the Rocky Mountain (University of Colorado) Writers Conferences. She was also an instructor on juvenile writing at Indiana University Extension, Indianapolis (currently Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis). During the early 1940's, she wrote a column, "Lines with a Hoosier Accent," for the Indianapolis Star.

Ms. Nolan wrote one book, John Marshall, the Great Chief Justice (1961) under the pseudonym Caroline Tucker, her grandmother's name. Many of her books have been selections of the Junior Literary Guild and she has been awarded The Indiana Authors' Day Award for the "most distinguished juvenile book by an Indiana author."

During her lifetime, Ms. Nolan wrote over forty-five children's books including biographies, essays, and historical non-fiction. Although she wrote for both children and adults, she is most noted for her work in children's literature. In 1961, she was awarded the Indiana Authors' Day Award for Spy for the Confederacy. In 1968, Ms. Nolan was added to the Indiana University Writers Conference Hall of Fame. The next year she was named a Litterarum Doctor, an honorary doctor of letters and literature. She died on October 12, 1974.

The Lilly Library has papers of Nolan's husband, and provides this sketch:

The Nolan, Val mss., 1907-1945, are the correspondence and speeches of Val Francis Nolan, 1892-1940, lawyer and trustee of Indiana University. He was the son of John J. Nolan, mayor of Evansville, Indiana, and married in 1917 Jeannette Covert, the daughter of Charles Grant Covert, mayor and postmaster of Evansville, Indiana. His wife became an author of children's stories and books as well as several non- fiction works.

After service in the first World War, Nolan practiced law and served as City Attorney in Evansville. It was during this time that he made a number of speeches, forty-two of which accompany this collection. In 1933 he was appointed United States Attorney for the southern district of Indiana and became more involved in the political life of the state. In 1935 Nolan was elected a trustee of Indiana University.