Marion Elza Dodd was born in 1883 in Glen Ridge, NJ, to Charles T. and Rebecca Northall Dodd. Her grandfather, Moses Dodd, was the founder of Dodd, Mead Publishing Co., and many uncles and cousins were also book collectors, editors, and publishers. She received a B.A. from Smith College in 1906 and attended Columbia University Library School from 1908-1909. Dodd then co-founded the Hampshire Bookshop (the predecessor to the Grecourt Bookstore) with Mary Byers (Smith '08) on April 7, 1916. She also co-founded the National Association of College Bookstores in 1923 and became the first woman to receive an honorable fellowship of the American Booksellers Association in 1925. Dodd was a member of the Executive Board of American Booksellers' Association for 25 years, where she was the first woman officer. She served as secretary, and was the third Vice President. While living in Northampton, Massachusetts with Esther Dunn, Dodd published under the Hampshire Bookshop, and wrote prefaces, book reviews, and articles for publications such as Yankee Magazine, Publisher's Weekly, and Atlantic Monthly. She also taught a course in bookselling at Columbia University Library School during the summers of 1930-1931, and for four years taught a course for Smith College at the Hampshire Bookshop on the History and Art of the Book. She received an honorable M.A. from Smith College in 1936, and retired with honors as president and manager of Hampshire Bookshop in 1951, but served as Chairman of the Board there from 1951-1957. She died on March 16, 1961 in Northampton at the age of 78.

The Marion Elza Dodd Papers cover 1895-1969 and contain biographical information, photographs, correspondence, publications, notes, catalogs, and publicity material. Of particular extent and interest are two sections: Hampshire Bookshop and Book Lover's Trail of New England. Hampshire Bookshop materials include store catalogs, fliers, newspaper advertisement clippings, and notes from store meetings. Items related to The Book Lover's Trail of New England, a series of articles written by Dodd about local authors, include most, if not all, of her research materials for each article. Here researchers can find detailed information, organized by state, on numerous local New England authors who wrote in the early 20th century.

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

Marion E. Dodd Papers, Box #, Smith College Archives.

The materials were donated over a period of time by Marion E. Dodd 1906 and acquired after her death by Smith College Archivist, Margaret Storrs Grierson 1922.