Francelia McWilliams Butler (April 25, 1913 – September 18, 1998) was an American scholar, pioneer and writer 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 ...

."A Guide to the Francelia Butler Papers"
https://archives.lib.uconn.edu/islandora/object/20002:860130365 Retrieved 30 December 2018. She is also known for creating the International Peace Games.

Biography

Butler was born in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. She received a BA from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

, an MA from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

, and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. Francelia married Jerome Butler who worked as a journalist for the

Paris Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the '' New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and compete ...

(which became the

International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...

). Her husband died in 1949. First a journalist, then a professor, Francelia Butler taught at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

from the 1960s to the early 1990s. Officially titled "Children's Literature 200," the class was affectionately nicknamed “Kiddie Lit” by students. Its curriculum included guest lecturers such as Dr.

Benjamin Spock Benjamin McLane Spock (May 2, 1903 – March 15, 1998) was an American pediatrician and left-wing political activist whose book '' Baby and Child Care'' (1946) is one of the best-selling books of the twentieth century, selling 500,000 copie ...

and

Madeleine L'Engle Madeleine L'Engle DStJ (; November 29, 1918 – September 6, 2007) was an American writer of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and young adult fiction, including ''A Wrinkle in Time'' and its sequels: ''A Wind in the Door'', ''A Swiftly Tilting Plan ...

. Butler retired from UCONN in 1992. Francelia Butler created the International Peace Games, then

Peace First Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

and now Peace by PEACE. She founded the scholarly journal ''

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 ...

'' at

Hollins University Hollins University is a private university in Hollins, Virginia. Founded in 1842 as Valley Union Seminary in the historical settlement of Botetourt Springs, it is one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women in the United States ...

. When much of the university's collection was ruined in a flood, Butler donated her own extensive collection of children's literature. The Graduate Program of Children's Literature at Hollins University founded an annual conference in her memory. The university student-run program she developed as "Peace Games" at the University of Connecticut in 1989 lives on today as Peace by PEACE at the University of Connecticut and the University of Toronto, York University, and McGill University in Canada.

Books and articles

* ''The Lucky Piece'' * "The Relationship Between Moral Competence and Old Age in Richard II, 2 Henry IV, and Henry V" * "Sharing Literature With Children: A Thematic Approach to Children's Literature" * "Skipping Around the World: The Ritual Nature of Folk Rhymes" * ''The Melted Refrigerator: Comedy and Combat in the Life of a Woman'' (2013) * "With many battles won, a retired professor of children's literature fights fiercely for peace." New York Times Education Wednesday, May 11, 1994 Michael Winerip

References

External links

PeaceFirst

International Peace Games
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Francelia 1913 births 1998 deaths Writers from Cleveland Academics from Ohio Oberlin College alumni Georgetown University alumni University of Virginia alumni University of Connecticut faculty 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers American women non-fiction writers Scholars of childhood American women academics