Alma Frances McCollum

Alma Frances McCollum (7 December 1879, near Chatham, Ontario – 21 March 1906, Toronto) was a Canadian poet and composer. She is best known for her collection of poems Flower Legends and Other Poems.

Early life and education Alma Frances McCollum was born on 7 December 1879, in a village near Chatham, Ontario to Edward Lee Collum (1826 – 1887) and Mary Ann Sharpe (1833 – 1919). She was the youngest daughter of six in her family. Her parents both were born and brought up in Ireland. Her father, Edward Lee Collum, died when McCollum was still a child, and the family moved to Peterborough, Ontario, where they lived till 1905 before moving to Toronto.

McCollum graduated from the Collegiate Institute at Peterborough and studied at the Toronto Presbyterian Ladies College, as well as in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A collection of her poems named Flower Legends and Other Poems was published in 1902. McGrill University Library, Plymouth State University Library and others.

Her poems are also anthologized in following collections: Campbell, Oxford Book of Canadian Verse (1913); Caswell, Canadian Singers and Their Songs (1925); Garvin, Canadian Poets (1916); Garvin, Canadian Verse for Boys and Girls (1930); Whyte-Edgar, Wreath of Canadian Song (1910).

List of selected poems

Why Blossoms Fall Love A Song of the Forest The Angel of the Sombre Cowl The Silent Singer Little Nellie’s Pa Forest Sounds The Angel’s Kiss Where Sings the Whippoorwill