Emily Post (1872-1960)

She was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and was educated by governesses and at private schools in Baltimore and New York with summers spent at Bar Harbor and Tuxedo Park, both of which her father, a prominent architect, helped design and develop. As a debutante in New York she met Edwin Post and after they were married in 1892 they lived on Washington Square. They divorced in 1905 and with her two sons at boarding school she began to write high society romances that were serialized in several popular magazines, and published as books. Crossing the States by car and touring Europe she became a “traveling correspondent,” published in Vanity Fair, Collier’s and McCall’s.

It was her 1922 book Etiquette: In Society, In Business, In Politics and At Home that saw her top the nonfiction bestseller list, and the phrase “according to Emily Post” was soon accepted as the final word on the subject of American social conduct. She became a national celebrity and as well as publishing numerous books, she also had her own newspaper column and a regular network radio program. In her later years she lived at Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard. Her successor, her granddaughter-in-law Elizabeth Post, completed her first revision of the basic etiquette book in 1965 and until 1995 updated four major editions, in addition to other books on the subject of etiquette.