Martha Van Marter

Martha Van Marter (December 31, 1839 – December 12, 1931) was an American editor and writer associated with the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC). She was a prominent figure in Sunday school and home missionary publishing, working for decades as an editor of church periodicals. Beginning her editorial career in 1876, she contributed to and later led several publications, including The Sunday School Advocate, The Picture Lesson Paper, Children's Home Missions, and Woman's Home Missions. She authored numerous stories and articles for church papers, as well as several books for children and Sunday school teachers. Born in New York, Van Marter lived and worked primarily in New Jersey, where she also taught and engaged in activities with the Woman's Home Missionary Society (WHMS) and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).

Early life and education Martha Van Marter was born on a farm in Lyons, New York, December 31, 1839, Van Marter had for six years been serving as editor of Children's Home Missions, and came to both positions with the qualifications that resulted from a long experience of exclusive devotion to literary work and sympathy with the aims of the WHMS. Woman's Home Missions had from its beginning a record of encouraging increase in subscriptions. Neither publisher nor editor ever felt quite satisfied with the advance in a given year, even though there was steady increase from year to year while Van Marter was the editor. At the annual meeting of the WHMS in 1916, held in Columbus, Ohio, Van Marter's resignation was announced and her successor, Mrs. Levi Gilbert, introduced.

Selected works Bible symbols; designed and arranged to stimulate a greater interest in the study of the Bible by both young and old (with Frank Beard), 1904 (text) Called to the colors (Council of Women for Home Missions, 1919) Jessie in Switzerland, 1875 (text) Light for the Little Ones (Phillips & Hunt, 1879) The Ministry of Service, 1917 The Primary Teacher: With Helps and Exercises, 1893 (text)