SMA Early History

The Society was founded in 1915 by a group of authors which included Hamlin Garland, Harriet Monroe, and Vachel Lindsay. Among its charter members were James Whitcomb Riley, Edna Ferber, George Ade, Clarence Darrow, and Zona Gale.

Other illustrious names from the roster over the years include - to mention only a few - Jane Addams, Margaret Culkin Banning, Daniel J. Boorstin, August Derleth, John Bartlow Martin, Elder Olson, Gene Stratton Porter, Carl Sandburg, Lorado Taft, and William Allen White.

In 1913, after much debate, wrote Hamlin Garland (winner of a 1922 Pulitzer Prize), the National Institute of Arts and Letters agreed to trek west to hold its annual meeting in Chicago.

Some considered Chicago the sparsely settled Border of Esthetic Culture. When Garland was appointed arrangements chairman, his first thought was to make the Cliff Dwellers' Club, of which he was president, host for the occasion. Instead, in order to involve as much as possible of the city's literary and artistic community, he invited 17 organizations to help him form a reception committee.

At the first meeting, the members elected Hobart Chatfield-Taylor chairman. It's not far-fetched to assume that this event may have triggered the birth of the Society of Midland Authors. Four years later, Chatfield-Taylor, Garland and others, including many members of the Cliff Dwellers' Club, founded SMA with Chatfield-Taylor as first president.

A note about the Cliff Dwellers Club:

The Society of Midland Authors and the Cliff Dwellers' Club, where SMA membership meetings have been held for many years previously, share a common heritage. Many of the original Cliff Dwellers were among the founders of the SMA.

The name "Cliff Dwellers" refers to the lofty location of its rooms, and not to the title of Henry Blake Fuller's novel. Hamlin Garland, the leading voice in the early management of the Cliff Dwellers, caused discomfort by his austere views on serving cocktails and wine. When more liberal governors came into control, someone posted a sign in the lounge: THIS PLACE UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT!