Dorothy Agnes Bennett (August 31, 1909 – February 9, 1999) was an American anthropologist, astronomer, curator, publisher, and author. She was the first assistant curator of the Hayden Planetarium, and co-created the Little Golden Books franchise.

Early life and education

Born in Minneapolis, Dorothy Bennett was the only child of architect Daniel Bennett (born 1869) and wife Marion (born 1879). Bennett studied astronomy and anthropology at the University of Minnesota, where she also participated in the Women's Athletic Association. Upon graduating with a B.A. in English in 1930, she moved to New York, having been denied the chance to study in Africa with an anthropology professor on account of her gender.

Career

The American Museum of Natural History

Having been given a timeframe of 30 days to find a job in New York by her mother, Bennett was hired as an assistant by the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...

's Department of Public Education. Within a year, she was promoted to Assistant Curator, and she organized high-attending programs for the Evening Elementary School Students' Association (which consisted of international adult students), as well as for the Museum's Junior Astronomy Club. Nobel Prize winner

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was a member of the club and credited it for inspiring his passion in science. In the evenings, Bennett attended anthropology classes at Columbia University, taught by Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, and

Alfred Radcliffe-Brown Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown, FBA (born Alfred Reginald Brown; 17 January 1881 – 24 October 1955) was an English social anthropologist who helped further develop the theory of structural functionalism. Biography Alfred Reginald Radcli ...

. Bennett substitute-taught one of Mead's courses in 1931. Upon the opening of the Hayden Planetarium in 1935, Bennett was promoted to assistant curator of astronomy and the Hayden Planetarium, where she delivered over 1,000 lectures between 1935 and 1939. In 1937, she created and spearheaded the Hayden Planetarium-Grace Peruvian Eclipse Expedition to Cerro de Pasco, Peru to view a particularly long solar eclipse on June 8.

Publishing

Bennett's success in the Museum's education department led her to writing books for children and adolescents, with her first co-authored book on astronomy being published in 1935, staying in print for 60 years. In 1939, she left the Museum for a position as sales and promotion manager at University of Minnesota Press, publishing a bestselling biography of the

Mayo brothers The Mayo Clinic () is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit American Academic health science centre, academic Medical centers in the United States, medical center focused on integrated health care, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, e ...

. Bennett returned to New York in 1941, where she worked with Georges Duplaix to develop the Little Golden Books. Under Duplaix, Bennett became the editor of the Golden Books franchise, producing books by such authors and illustrators as

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, and Garth Williams. Bennett authored several Golden Books, as well as introducing some of the first recorded books for children with Little Golden Records in 1948. She was also involved with the production of the

Golden Nature Guide The Golden Guides, originally Golden Nature Guides, were a series of 160-page, pocket-sized books created by Western Publishing and published under their "Golden Press" line (primarily a children's book imprint) from 1949. Edited by Herbert S. Zi ...

s and regional guides in 1949.

Leaving publishing

After leaving Simon & Schuster in 1954, Bennett enrolled in a Foreign Service Institute Course on the Middle East at the

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...

and then in

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's archaeology courses at UCL Institute of Archaeology. Bennett then moved to University of California, Berkeley to become senior anthropologist at the

Lowie Museum of Anthropology The Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology (formerly the Robert H. Lowie Museum of Anthropology) is an anthropology museum located in Berkeley, California, on the University of California, Berkeley, campus. History Founded in 1901 under the pat ...

, where she managed collections. In the 1960s, Bennett worked with the

Berkeley Unified School District The Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) is the public school district for the city of Berkeley, California, United States. The district is managed by the Superintendent of Schools, and governed by the Berkeley Board of Education, whose mem ...

to create an interdisciplinary multimedia course called ''Educational Programming of Cultural Heritage'' (EPOCH), which lasted until 1969.

Retirement

After the end of EPOCH, Bennett and her companion, child psychologist Rosamund Gardner, moved to Taos, New Mexico where they built an adobe home. They associated with artists and painters like

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, and others. Bennett died in Taos in 1999.

Selected publications

* ''Handbook of the Heavens, Sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History'' with Hubert Jay Bernhard ( McGraw-Hill 1935) * "A Planetarium for New York."(November, 1935) '' The Scientific Monthly'' 41 (5): 474-477 * ''The Book of the Hayden Planetarium, the American Museum of Natural History'' (The Museum, 1935) * ''Sold to the Ladies! Or, the Incredible But True Adventures of Three Girls on a Barge'' (Cadmus Books, 1940) * ''The Golden Almanac'' ( Simon & Schuster, 1944) * ''The Golden Encyclopedia'' (Simon & Schuster, 1946)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Dorothy Agnes American women astronomers American curators American women curators American publishers (people) 1909 births 1999 deaths 20th-century American anthropologists 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers