Introduction
Mary Elizabeth Haskell, later Minis (December 11, 1873 – October 9, 1964), was an American educator, best known for having been the benefactress of Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist Kahlil Gibran.
Life
Haskell was born in Columbia, South Carolina, to Alexander Cheves Haskell and his second wife Alice Van Yeveren (Alexander, sister of Edward Porter Alexander). She was educated at the Presbyterian College for women, Columbia, South Carolina, and Wellesley College, Massachusetts, A.B., 1897.
In 1904, she met Kahlil Gibran at an exhibition of his work at Fred Holland Day's studio. She was then the principal of a private school for girls in Boston, the Haskell School for Girls.
On May 7, 1926, she married Jacob Florance Minis (1852–1936), whose first wife had died in 1921.