Martha Tolles papers

Martha Tolles is a Smith College graduate and author of numerous works of popular childrens' fiction, including the "Darci" and "Katie" series of books, which were published in the 1980s.

Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the daughter of Natalie Dunbar and Willis Gregory, Martha Tolles grew up in Rye, New York. She graduated from Smith College in 1943 with a degree in English. While at Smith, Tolles served as a reporter and then assistant editor for the college newspaper,"The SCAN" and was a member of the College Radio Board. After college, she worked as a reporter for"Port Chester Daily Item." Shortly after graduation, Martha Gregory married E. Leroy Tolles, founder of the prominent law firm Munger, Tolles and Olson, based in Los Angeles. Together, the couple had six children and were married sixty-three years; Mr. Tolles died in 2008 at the age of 85. In 1965, the busy mother of six was sidelined by a back injury. With time on her hands, Martha Tolles turned to writing children's fiction and saw her first novel, entitled "Too Many Boys"(a nod to the fact that of her six children, she had only one daughter) which would later be named"Katie and Those Boys."

Since then, Tolles has published more than a dozen titles, including "Who's Reading Darcie's Diary?" (1985), "Katie for President" (1988), and "Marrying Off Mom" (1990). A member of the Authors Guild and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and twice a recipient of the Children's Choice Book List Award, Tolles'fiction continues to delight young readers with more than 2.3 million copies sold to date.