The words to one of the United States’ most beloved songs, America, The Beautiful, were originally a poem written in 1893 by Wellesley College English professor Katherine Lee Bates, who found inspiration on a trip to Colorado and Pike’s Peak. Bates’s words and composer Samuel Ward’s music were first published together in 1910. This 1911 collection of poems includes many more on the subject of country, as well as poetry dwelling on faith, nature, love, and death. Katherine Lee Bates was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts. The author of numerous poems, travel books, and children’s books, she popularized Mrs. Claus in her 1889 poem Goody Santa Claus on A Sleigh Ride.