{{Infobox writer |birth_date=2 January 1870 |birth_place=Oshkosh, Wisconsin, U.S. |death_date=23 November 1943 |death_place=Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |relatives=Helen Farnsworth Mears (sister) }} '''Mary Martha Mears''' (2 January 1870 - 23 November 1943) was an American fiction writer, screenwriter, and photographer. Her short stories appeared in ''Harper's'', ''Forum'', and ''McClure's''. Mears published her first of four novels in 1896.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Mary Mears - Artist |url=https://www.macdowell.org/artists/mary-mears |access-date=2026-01-05 |website=MacDowell |language=en}}</ref>
== Early life == Born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Mears was the daughter of Elizabeth Farnsworth Mears and John Hall Mears. Her mother was an early Wisconsin poet who published under the pen name Nellie Wildwood. Her sisters were sculptor Helen Farnsworth Mears and illustrator Louise Mears Fargo.<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 Nov 2003 |title=Elizabeth Farnsworth Mears {{!}} Photograph |url=https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM125028 |access-date=5 Jan 2026 |website=Wisconsin Historical Society |language=en}}</ref>
Mears and her sisters attended Oshkosh public schools. She was a graduate of the Oshkosh Normal school.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=queerplaces - Mary Mears |url=http://www.elisarolle.com/queerplaces/klmno/Mary%20Mears.html |access-date=2026-01-05 |website=www.elisarolle.com}}</ref>
Mears wrote her first novel, ''Emma Lou: Her Book,'' between the ages of fourteen and seventeen and sold the novel to Henry Holt.<ref name=":0" /> The novel was published in 1896, when Mears was 26 years old.
Mears died in Boston at the age of 73.
== Career == In 1900, Mears moved to New York and set up an art studio, residing with her sister Helen.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Mears, Mary {{!}} Oshkosh Public Museum |url=https://oshkosh.pastperfectonline.com/byperson?keyword=Mears,+Mary |access-date=2026-01-05 |website=oshkosh.pastperfectonline.com}}</ref>
In 1907, Mears and her sister Helen were among the first Fellows at the MacDowell artists' residency. Mears would go on to complete four additional residencies at MacDowell. She worked out of Bark Studio, later renamed the Schelling studio in 1933 after composer Ernest Schelling.<ref name=":0" />
After Helen's sudden death on 17 February 1916, Mears became an ardent promoter of her sister's work until her own death in 1943.<ref name=":2" /> She gifted numerous pieces to museums, including the Brooklyn Museum.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Awakening: American Art |url=https://opencollection.brooklynmuseum.org/objects/2648 |url-status=live |access-date=5 Jan 2026 |website=Brooklyn Museum}}</ref> Mears photographed many of Helen's sculptures with a large format camera, creating many surviving records of her sister's work.
Mears was a frequent contributor to ''The Christian Science Monitor''.<ref name=":1" />
== Bibliography ==
=== Novels ===
* ''Emma Lou: Her Book'' (Holt, 1896) * ''The Breath of Runners'' (Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1906) * ''The Bird in the Box'' (Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1910) * ''Rosamond the Second: Being the True Record of the Unparalleled Romance of One Claudius Fuller'' (Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1910)<ref>{{Cite web |title=ROSAMOND THE SECOND: BEING THE TRUE RECORD OF THE UNPARALLELED ROMANCE OF ONE CLAUDIUS FULLER . by Mears, Mary [Martha]: (1910) {{!}} Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB |url=https://www.abebooks.co.uk/first-edition/ROSAMOND-SECOND-BEING-TRUE-RECORD-UNPARALLELED/31329168543/bd |access-date=2026-01-05 |website=www.abebooks.co.uk |language=en-GB}}</ref>
=== Short stories (selected) ===
* "A realized romance" - ''Harper's'' (1897) * "The marrying of Esther" - ''Harper's'' (1897) * “Across the bridges” - ''Harper's'' (1900)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Across the bridges, by Mary M. (Mary Martha) Mears |url=https://harpers.org/archive/1901/07/across-the-bridges/ |access-date=2026-01-05 |website=Harper's Magazine |language=en}}</ref>
=== Plays ===
* ''Wings and the Woman''
== Filmography ==
* ''The Forbidden Thing'' (silent film) (1920)
== References == {{Reflist|30em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mears, Mary}} Category:1870 births Category:1943 deaths Category:19th-century American novelists Category:19th-century American short story writers Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century American novelists Category:20th-century American short story writers Category:20th-century American women novelists Category:American women dramatists and playwrights Category:American women short story writers Category:Novelists from Wisconsin Category:People from Oshkosh, Wisconsin Category:19th-century American women novelists