Louisa Rossiter Shotwell (May 1, 1902 – January 16, 1993) was an American writer and college administrator. She was also a national official of the National Council of Churches.

Early life

Shotwell was born in Chicago, the daughter of Trumbull Smith Shotwell and Ruth Eleanor Clough Shotwell. She was raised in Skaneateles, New York. She graduated from

Skaneateles High School Skaneateles Senior High School is a public high school in Onondaga County, New York, United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located ...

and earned a bachelor's degree from

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

in 1924. She completed a master's degree in English at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1928.

Career

Shotwell taught in Skaneateles after college. She was Dean of Women at Hanover College in Indiana, and head of residence at Wilson College in Pennsylvania. She was executive secretary at the First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn in the 1940s. In the 1950s, she was president of the National Religious Publicity Council, and associate secretary of the Division of Home Missions for the National Council of Churches. She addressed national and regional meetings of the National Council of Churches in that work, and studied

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

programs in India, Thailand, Hong Kong, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Shotwell wrote booklets for church use and books for young readers, often on

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

themes. Books and booklets by Shotwell included ''This is the Indian American'' (1955), ''This is Your Neighbor'' (1956), ''This is the Migrant'' (1958), ''The Harvesters: The Story of The Migrant People'' (1961), ''Roosevelt Grady'' (1963, illustrated by Peter Burchard), ''Beyond the Sugar Cane Field: UNICEF in Asia'' (1964), ''Adam Bookout'' (1967), ''India'' (1969), ''Thailand'' (1969), and ''Magdalena'' (1971). She also wrote a skit for church use, ''The Fruit of the Vine'' (1954), and a play, ''The Dark Valley'' (1964). Shotwell won the 1964 Nancy Bloch Award for "best children's book on intergroup relations", and the 1964 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, for ''Roosevelt Grady''. Her ''Adam Bookout'' was a finalist for the William Allen White Children's Book Award in 1970.

Personal life

Shotwell died in 1993, aged 90 years. Her papers, including manuscripts of some of her books, are at the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

's American Heritage Center.

References

External links

* KIHM (July 25, 2010)
"Louisa Shotwell’s Wild Ride"
''Skaneateles''; a blog post about Shotwell {{DEFAULTSORT:Shotwell, Louisa R. 1902 births 1993 deaths People from Skaneateles, New York Wellesley College alumni American women writers Wilson College (Pennsylvania) faculty