Coleman, Emily Holmes (1899–1974)

Emily Holmes Coleman was an American poet, short-story writer, novelist, and diarist. Emily Tyler Holmes was born on January 22, 1899, in Oakland, California, to John Milton Holmes, an insurance executive, and Lucy Adams Coaney, who was sent to a psychiatric home when Coleman was seven. After attending a New Jersey boarding school, Coleman studied English at Wellesley College from 1916–20, and in 1921 married Loyd (sic) ‘Deak’ Coleman, who joined the advertising firm of J. Walter Thompson in 1928. Following the birth of their only child, John (1924–1990), Coleman developed toxic exhaustive psychosis and was institutionalized for two months in the Rochester State Hospital. Her trauma informs her surrealistic novel, The Shutter of Snow (1930), groundbreaking for its treatment of post-partum depression.