Esther Baker Steele

Esther Baker Steele (née, Baker; August 4, 1835 – November 23, 1911) was an American educator, author, editor, and philanthropist of the long nineteenth century. She aided her husband, Dr. J. Dorman Steele in his fourteen-week Barnes' Brief Histories series of books, these publications being, Brief History of the United States, 1871; France, 1875; Centenary History of United States, 1875; Ancient Peoples, 1881; Mediaeval and Modern Peoples, 1883; General History, 1883; Greece, with Selected Readings, 1884; Rome, with Selected Readings, 1885; and Revised United States, 1885. She did most of the work upon Brief History of the United States, which proved a phenomenal success. After her husband's death, she prepared new editions of these joint works and also of her husband's science books (Hygienic Physiology, enlarged edition, 1888; and General History, 1893). Steele traveled extensively and lectured before the Syracuse University in 1897. She was one of the most generous benefactors of the university, and served as Trustee from 1895.