Katherine Milhous (1894–1977) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

artist, illustrator, and writer. She is known best as the author and illustrator of ''

The Egg Tree ''The Egg Tree'' is a 1950 book by Katherine Milhous that won the 1951 Caldecott Medal.American Library AssociationCaldecott Medal Winners, 1938 - Present URL accessed 27 May 2009. It is based on the author's family tradition and tells the clas ...

'', which won the 1951 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration. Born into a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

family active in the

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...

industry in Philadelphia, Milhous is also known for her graphic designs for the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

(WPA). Her work has been exhibited at the

1939 New York World's Fair The 1939–40 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. It was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchas ...

and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Rural Pennsylvania WPA poster, ca

Life

Katherine Milhous was born November 27, 1894, to Osborn and Katherine Daly Milhous of Philadelphia, Quakers who made their living as printers. When she was young they moved to Pitman, New Jersey, a small camp-meeting town. She returned to Philadelphia to attend the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the

Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Mar ...

. Milhous helped support her schooling by illustrating magazines. In 1934, while at the Academy of Fine Arts, she won the Cresson Traveling Fellowship, which allowed her to study overseas. She then returned to Philadelphia where, for forty years, she shared a studio with her partner and fellow-artist Frances Lichten. From 1935 to 1940 Milhous was a supervisor for the Philadelphia

Federal Art Project The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administrati ...

(FAP), a branch of the

. Among her duties was the creation of posters promoting Pennsylvania. She incorporated familiar

Pennsylvania Dutch The Pennsylvania Dutch ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ), also known as Pennsylvania Germans, are a cultural group formed by German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. They emigrated primarily from German-spe ...

designs into her posters. Alice Dalgliesh, head of the Children's Book division of Charles Scribner's & Sons, saw Milhous' posters during an exhibition in an FAP gallery, and hired her as a staff designer. Milhous co-wrote and illustrated several books with Dalgliesh, who was also an award-winning children's writer. She also illustrated for others, as well as writing and illustrating her own books. Milhous was a member of the

American Institute of Graphic Arts The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional organization for design. Its members practice all forms of communication design, including graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience, branding and identity. T ...

. She died in Philadelphia on December 5, 1977. Her papers are held in the Free Library of Philadelphia's

Children's Literature Research Collection The University of Minnesota Libraries is the library system of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus, operating at 13 facilities in and around Minneapolis–Saint Paul. It has over 7 million volumes and 119,000 serial titles that are coll ...

and the University of Minnesota

Critical reception

Milhous' books were generally well received by reviewers, both for their writing and their illustrations. ''Appalonia's Valentine'' was called "distinguished… original and beautiful". On ''Patrick and the Golden Slippers'', about Philadelphia's Mummers' Parade, the same magazine wrote "This is a picture book of enduring value to young Americans." In her Caldecott Medal-winning ''The Egg Tree'', "Her use of bright tempera paints brought to life the bold borders and vibrant pages of the book."

Selected works

Written and illustrated

* ''Once on a Time'' (

Charles Scribner's Sons Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan Rawli ...

, 1938), edited by Alice Dalgliesh and Katherine Milhous * ''Lovina: A Story of the Pennsylvania Country'' (Scribner, 1940) * ''Herodia, the Lovely Puppet'' (Scribner, 1942) * ''Corporal Keeperupper'' (Scribner, 1943) * ''The First Christmas Crib'' (Scribner, 1944) * ''Snow over Bethlehem'' (Scribner, 1945) * ''

'' (Scribner, 1950) * ''Patrick and the Golden Slippers'' (Scribner, 1951) * ''Appolonia’s Valentine'' (Scribner, 1954) * ''With Bells On: A Christmas Story'' (Scribner, 1955) * ''Through These Arches: The Story of Independence Hall'' ( J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1964)

Illustrated

* ''Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales'' (Scribner, 1939), edited by Alice Dalgliesh * ''A Book for Jennifer, A Story of London Children in the Eighteenth Century and of Mr. Newbery's Juvenile Library'' (Scribner, 1940), by Dalgliesh * ''Billy Button's Buttered Biscuit'' (

Frederick A. Stokes Frederick Abbott Stokes (November 4, 1857 – November 15, 1939) was an American publisher, founder and long-time head of the eponymous Frederick A. Stokes Company. Biography Stokes graduated from Yale Law School in 1879. He worked at Dodd, Mea ...

, 1941), by

Mabel Leigh Hunt Mabel Leigh Hunt (November 1, 1892 – September 3, 1971) was an American writer of children's books. HuntShe is called "Ms. Hunt" by the curators of her papers, and her male-line genealogy indicates "Hunt" rather than "Leigh Hunt" as surname. w ...

* ''Wings around South America''(Scribner, 1941), by Dalgliesh * ''They Live in South America'' (Scribner, 1942), by Dalgliesh, illustrated by Milhous and Frances Lichten * ''The Little Angel: A Story of Old Rio'' (Scribner, 1943), by Dalgliesh * ''

The Silver Pencil ''The Silver Pencil'' is a children's novel by Alice Dalgliesh. Based on the author's life, it tells of the childhood and young adulthood of Janet Laidlaw in the early years of the twentieth century. She moves from Trinidad to England, then to the ...

'' (Scribner, 1944), by Dalgliesh * ''The Brownies'' (Scribner, 1946), by

Juliana Ewing Juliana Horatia Ewing (née Gatty, 3 August 1841 – 13 May 1885) was an English writer of children's stories. Her writings display a sympathetic insight into children's lives, an admiration for things military, and a strong religious faith. Li ...

(1865) * ''Old Abe: American Eagle'' (Scribner, 1946), by Lorraine Sherwood * ''Along Janet's Road'' (Scribner, 1946), by Dalgliesh

References

External links

*
Rural Pennsylvania
from the

World Digital Library The World Digital Library (WDL) is an international digital library operated by UNESCO and the United States Library of Congress. The WDL has stated that its mission is to promote international and intercultural understanding, expand the volume ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milhous, Katherine 1894 births 1977 deaths American children's writers Caldecott Medal winners American children's book illustrators Christian artists Quaker children's writers American poster artists Federal Art Project artists Artists from Philadelphia