Cornelia Lynde Meigs (1884–1973) was an American writer of fiction and biography for children, teacher of English and writing, historian and critic of

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

. She won the

Newbery Medal The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished cont ...

for her 1933 biography of Louisa May Alcott, entitled '' Invincible Louisa''. She also wrote three Newbery Honor Books.

Life

Cornelia Meigs was born December 6, 1884, to civil engineer Montgomery C. Meigs, Jr. and Grace Lynde Meigs in Rock Island, Illinois, the fifth of six daughters. Her sister Grace Meigs Crowder became a noted physician.The family moved to

Keokuk, Iowa Keokuk is a city in and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States, along with Fort Madison. It is Iowa's southernmost city. The population was 9,900 at the time of the 2020 census. The city is named after the Sauk chief Keokuk, who is ...

when she was one month old. After graduating from Keokuk High School in 1901 she attended

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United ...

, receiving an A.B. degree in 1907.Chevalier, Tracy (editor), ''Twentieth-Century Children's Writers'', St. James Press, 1989, pp. 673. Meigs began writing children's books while an English teacher at St. Katherine's School in Davenport, Iowa. Her first book, ''The Kingdom of the Winding Road'', was published by Macmillan US in 1915. In 1922 she was one runner-up for the inaugural Newbery Medal from the professional librarians, recognizing the previous year's "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children". Members of the American Library Association were asked to nominate a book and '' The Windy Hill'' by Meigs was the last of six that received at least two votes subsequently designated runners-up. She was one of the runners-up again in 1929 ('' Clearing Weather'') and 1933 ('' Swift Rivers''). Runner-up works are now called Newbery Honor Books, so latter-day editions are authorized to display a silver seal on the cover. Meigs won a Little, Brown and Co. prize competition with ''The Trade Wind''. Little, Brown published that book in 1927 and subsequently a few more of her works including the children's biographies of Louisa May Alcott and

Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage ...

. Meigs is best known for the Alcott biography, ''Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of "Little Women"'', which won the Newbery Medal in 1934. It follows Alcott from childhood in Pennsylvania and Boston through writing the classic novel '' Little Women''. '' Kirkus Reviews'' called Meigs "one of the best-loved authors of fiction for boys and girls", observed that ''Little Women'' is "virtually autobiographical", and recommended that the books be paired. In 1932, Meigs became a professor of English at Bryn Mawr, where she remained until her retirement in 1950. During World War II she took a year of absence for three years to work for the

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * D ...

. After leaving Bryn Mawr, Meigs taught writing at the

New School of Social Research The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

in New York City. She was the lead editor and one writer of ''A Critical History of Children's Literature'', published by Macmillan in 1953, which has been called "a landmark in the field of children's literature". It was revised under Meigs' leadership and re-issued in 1969. In her lifetime Meigs wrote over 30 fiction books for children, as well as two plays, two biographies, and several books and articles for adults. Meigs lived at

Sion Hill Sion Hill is a National Historic Landmark in Havre de Grace, Maryland, notable as an example of high-style Federal architecture and as the home of a family of prominent officers of the United States Navy. Work began at Sion Hill around 1785 ...

, Havre de Grace, Maryland; and

Brandon, Vermont Brandon is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,129. History On October 20, 1761, the town of Neshobe was chartered to Capt. Josiah Powers. In October 1784, the name of the town was chang ...

.''Newbery Medal Books: 1922-1955'', eds. Bertha Mahony Miller, Elinor Whitney Field, Horn Book, 1955, LOC 55-13968, p.119 She died at Havre de Grace, Maryland, on September 10, 1973. Most of her papers are in the Special Collections Library at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

. Others are in the de Grummond Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg and at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

Awards

*1915 Drama League prize, ''The Steadfast Princess'' *1922 Newbery runner-up, ''Windy Hill'' *1928 Newbery runner-up, ''Clearing Weather'' *1933 Newbery runner-up, ''Swift Rivers'' *1927 Beacon Hill Bookshelf Prize, ''The Trade Wind'' *1934

, ''Invincible Louisa'' *1963

Lewis Carroll Shelf Award The Lewis Carroll Shelf Award was an American literary award conferred on several books annually by the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education annually from 1958 to 1979. Award-winning books were deemed to "belong on the same shelf" ...

, ''Invincible Louisa''

Letter

For a glimpse into her life, here are excerpts from a letter sent to an Albert Northrop, presumed husband to her niece Elizabeth (Betty):

January 29, 1950. Dear Albert, Your nice birthday letter should have had an answer long before this, but so many things do seem to come between me and writing even the letters that I want so much to write. The birthday was a very portentous one, my sixty-fifth, which means I am no longer eligible for Bryn Mawr after June; they have to keep me until then. By a singular chance they have given me more work to do than ever before, quite regardless of the fact that in six months I shall be considered totally unfit ... You were so good to speak so kindly of Violent Men and Two Arrows. The former had been in hand for a very long time, quite the largest piece of work I had ever undertaken, but it has been the one that I most enjoyed. I have a real passion for history, which grows as the years go by, and was whetted ever more by my seeing some of it being made first hand while I was doing a very humble job in Washington. I realized that if I did not finish it while I was at Bryn Mawr I never would, so I finally succeeded in getting it finished and out of my hands. The Macmillan Company had it for a long time before they published it, so, since I had promised a child's book as the very next thing, I wrote that last year and they came out rather embarrassingly close together. You were a very good friend to read them both. You always give such nice detailed comments, not like the reviewers, or sometimes even the writer of the blurb on the cover who have visibly not got much farther than Chapter six or so ... Nina (signed in her hand)

Selected works

Children's fiction

* ''The Kingdom of the Winding Road'',

The Macmillan Company Macmillan Inc. is a defunct American book publishing company. Originally established as the American division of the British Macmillan Publishers, the two were later separated and acquired by other companies, with the remnants of the original A ...

, 1915 * ''Master Simon's Garden'', Macmillan, 1916 * ''The Pool of Stars'', Macmillan, 1919 * '' The Windy Hill'', Macmillan, 1921 * ''The Trade Wind'', Little, Brown & Co., 1927 *''The Wonderful Locomotive'', Macmillan, 1928 * '' Clearing Weather'', Little Brown, 1928 * ''The Crooked Apple Tree'', Little Brown, 1929 * '' Swift Rivers'', Macmillan, 1934 *''The Covered Bridge'', Macmillan, 1936 * ''Young Americans'', Ginn & Co., 1936 * ''The Scarlet Oak'', Macmillan, 1938 *''Call of the Mountain'', Little Brown, 1940 *''The Two Arrows'', Macmillan, 1949 * ''The Dutch Colt'', Macmillan, 1952 * ''Wild Geese Flying'', Macmillan, 1957 * ''Mystery at the Red House'', Macmillan, 1961 * ''Willow Whistle'' * ''As the Crow Flies'' * ''The Mounted Messenger'' * ''The New Moon'' * ''Rain on the Roof'' * ''The Vanished Island'' * ''Wind in the Chimney'' * ''Fair Wind to Virginia''

Fiction as Adair Aldon

* ''The Island of Appledore'', Macmillan, 1917 * ''The Pirate of Jasper Peak'', Macmillan, 1918 * ''At the Sign of the Two Heroes'',

The Century Company The Century Company was an American publishing company, founded in 1881. History It was originally a subsidiary of Charles Scribner's Sons, named Scribners and Company, but was bought by Roswell Smith and renamed by him after the Century Associ ...

, 1920 * ''The Hill of Adventure'', Century, 1922

Plays

*''The Steadfast Princess'', Macmillan, 1916 *''Helga and the White Peacock'', Macmillan, 1922

Biographies

* '' Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of "Little Women"'', Little Brown, 1933 * ''Jane Adams: Pioneer for Social Justice: A Biography'', Little Brown, 1970

For adults

*''Railroad West'', Little Brown, 1937, (novel) *''The Violent Men: A Study of Human Relations in the First American Congress'', Macmillan, 1949 *''A Critical History of Children's Literature: A Survey of Children's Books in English from Earliest Times to the Present, Prepared in Four Parts Under the Editorship of Cornelia Meigs'', Macmillan, 1953 (624pp); Cornelia Meigs with Anne Thaxter Eaton, Elizabeth Nesbitt and Ruth Hill Viguers : Second edition, ''A Critical History of Children's Literature: A Survey of Children's Books in English'', Macmillan, 1969 (708pp) *''What Makes a College? A History of Bryn Mawr'', Macmillan, 1956

References

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

Authorities — with 52 catalog records
The Papers of Cornelia Meigs
at Dartmouth College Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Meigs, Cornelia 1884 births 1973 deaths American academics of English literature American children's writers American women academics Bryn Mawr College alumni Bryn Mawr College faculty Children's literature criticism Newbery Honor winners Newbery Medal winners People from Havre de Grace, Maryland People from Rock Island, Illinois Journalists from Illinois