Margaret Dean Smith or Lilian Gracie Copeman; Margaret Josephine Dean-Smith; Margaret Josephine Dean (7 November 1899 – 9 February 1997) was an English folklorist and librarian.

Life

Smith was born in

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...

in 1899 with the name of Lilian Gracie Copeman. Her mother, Frederica Henrietta Copeman, was a "mother's help" and the following year she was adopted by Clara Ellen (Nellie) Dean and given the new name of Margaret Josephine Dean. Her new mother married

Arnold Dunbar Smith Arnold may refer to: People * Arnold (given name), a masculine given name * Arnold (surname), a German and English surname Places Australia * Arnold, Victoria, a small town in the Australian state of Victoria Canada * Arnold, Nova Scotia Uni ...

in 1911 and her third name was Margaret Josephine Dunbar Smith. Her new step father was a shy but successful

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

architect who had designed the

Mary Ward House Mary Ward House is a grade I-listed building and conference centre in Bloomsbury, in London, England. It was the headquarters of the National Institute for Social Work Training, part of the settlement movement. Built between 1896 and 1898, the ...

(with Cecil Claude Brewer). From a young age she was surrounded by people involved in the revival of the Arts and Crafts Movement. She was educated by tutors before she went to

St Albans High School for Girls St Albans High School for Girls is a selective, private day school for girls aged 4 – 18 years, which is affiliated to the Church of England and takes girls of all faiths or none. There are approximately 328 pupils in the preparatory school w ...

, which she left in 1917. Her school education was complete but she went on to live in 1921 above the headquarters of the

Art-Workers' Guild The Art Workers' Guild is an organisation established in 1884 by a group of British painters, sculptors, architects, and designers associated with the ideas of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. The guild promoted the 'unity of a ...

. The following year she became an active member of the

English Folk Dance Society The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS, or pronounced 'EFF-diss') is an organisation that promotes English folk music and folk dance. EFDSS was formed in 1932 when two organisations merged: the Folk-Song Society and the English Folk Dan ...

meeting the folk singing revivalist

Charles Sharp Charles Sharp (6 February 1848 – 23 September 1903) was an English cricketer. Sharp was a left-handed batsman who bowled slow left-arm orthodox. He was born at Horsham, Sussex. Davey made his first-class debut for Sussex against Surrey ...

In 1933 she took a degree in history at London's

Birkbeck College Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public university, public research university, located in Bloomsbury, London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the federal Universit ...

. In 1939 she was working for the BBC cataloguing their large collection of gramophone records. She had decided that this was her role in life to bring order to libraries. In 1957 she completed her book ''Playford's English Dancing Master''. The 1651 book '' The Dancing Master'' by John Playford had been designed for teaching dancing. It was originally small so that the dancing master could hide it under his cloak and consult it surreptitiously. This work had been the first publication of English dance tunes and her publication established her as the expert on this work. Smith died in

Royal Surrey County Hospital The Royal Surrey County Hospital (RSCH) is a 520-bed District General Hospital, located on the fringe of Guildford, run by the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital has its origins in a facility at Farnham Road which opened i ...

in 1997.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Margaret Dean 1899 births 1997 deaths People from Lowestoft English librarians British women librarians